Japanese battleship Kongō

Uncommon card · No. 144399

Kongō (Japanese: 金剛; named after Mount Kongō) was a warship of the Imperial Japanese Navy during World Wars I and II. She was the first battlecruiser of the Kongō class, among the most heavily armed ships in any navy when built. Her designer was British naval engineer George Thurston, and she was laid down in 1911 at Barrow-in-Furness in Britain by Vickers Shipbuilding Company. Kongō was the last Japanese capital ship constructed outside Japan. She was commissioned formally in 1913 and patrolled off the Chinese coast during World War I. Kongō underwent two major reconstructions. Beginning in 1929, the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) rebuilt her as a battleship, strengthening her armor and improving her speed and power capabilities. In 1935, her superstructure was completely rebuilt, her speed was increased, and she was equipped with launch catapults for floatplanes. Now fast enough to accompany Japan's growing carrier fleet, Kongō was reclassified as a fast battleship. During the Second Sino...

Read on Wikipedia · Image Unknown authorUnknown author; assumed official photographer as this a high-quality photo unlikely to be taken by an amateur and the IJN severely restricted professional photography of its ships after…, Public domain