Japanese battleship Hiei

Japanese battleship Hiei was a Kongō-class battlecruiser of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN), the second of her class. Initially laid down as a battlecruiser in 1911, she was extensively reconstructed twice, first into a fast battleship in the 1930s and later as a training ship. *Hiei* served in both World War I and World War II, participating in major operations including the attack on Pearl Harbor and the Battle of Midway before being crippled and scuttled after intense surface combat during the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal in 1942.

Design and description

The *Hiei* was designed by the British naval architect George Thurston and built at the Yokosuka Naval Arsenal. As originally constructed, she was a battlecruiser with a main armament of eight 14-inch guns arranged in four twin turrets. Her secondary battery consisted of sixteen 6-inch guns and she was protected by an armor belt up to 8 inches thick. Her propulsion system, featuring Brown-Curtis steam turbines and Yarrow boilers, could propel the ship at a design speed of 27.5 knots. Following the Washington Naval Treaty, *Hiei* was partially disarmed and converted into a training ship, but was later completely rebuilt at Kure Naval Arsenal between 1937 and 1940. This major reconstruction transformed her into a fast battleship, with her armor significantly increased, her machinery replaced with modern Kampon boilers and geared steam turbines, and her speed raised to over 30 knots, allowing her to operate with aircraft carrier task forces.

Construction and career

*Hiei* was laid down on 4 November 1911, launched on 21 November 1912, and commissioned into the Imperial Japanese Navy on 4 August 1914. During World War I, she was assigned to patrol duties in the vicinity of China and Singapore. In the interwar period, she served as a guard ship and, following the terms of the Washington Naval Treaty, was converted for use as a training vessel and as an emperor's state ship. Her second, more comprehensive reconstruction began in 1937, overseen by the Kure Naval Arsenal, which restored her to full combat status as a fast battleship. By 1941, she was assigned to the 3rd Battleship Division under Vice Admiral Gunichi Mikawa, forming part of the Kido Butai, the Imperial Japanese Navy's primary carrier strike force.

World War II

*Hiei* played a significant role in the opening stages of the Pacific War. She was part of the distant screening force for the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941. Subsequently, she supported Japanese invasions throughout the South-East Asian theatre, including operations in the Dutch East Indies and the Indian Ocean raid. She was part of the Main Body during the Battle of Midway in June 1942. Her most critical engagement came during the Guadalcanal campaign. On the night of 12–13 November 1942, *Hiei* led a bombardment force under Vice Admiral Hiroaki Abe into Ironbottom Sound to attack Henderson Field. There, she engaged American forces in the intense, close-range Naval Battle of Guadalcanal. *Hiei* was subjected to relentless attack by U.S. cruisers and destroyers, including the USS *San Francisco*, and was severely damaged, with her steering gear disabled.

Wreck

Crippled and unable to steer after the surface battle, *Hiei* came under repeated aerial attack from American aircraft based at Henderson Field and from the aircraft carrier USS *Enterprise* throughout 13 November 1942. Struck by multiple aerial bombs and possibly torpedoes, she took on a severe list. With no hope of saving the ship, her crew was evacuated and she was scuttled by torpedoes from Japanese destroyers, including the *Yukikaze*. She sank northwest of Savo Island, becoming the first Japanese battleship lost in World War II. Her wreck lies in approximately 900 meters of water in the Solomon Islands and was located and filmed by the research team of Paul Allen's vessel RV Petrel in 2019.

Legacy

The loss of *Hiei* was a significant psychological and material blow to the Imperial Japanese Navy, demonstrating the vulnerability of even heavily armored capital ships to determined air and surface attack in confined waters. Her sinking marked a turning point in the attritional struggle for Guadalcanal. The discovery of her wreck provided important historical and archaeological data on World War II naval warfare. *Hiei* is remembered as a symbol of the intense and costly naval battles fought in the Solomon Islands campaign, and her design evolution from a battlecruiser to a fast battleship reflects the rapid technological changes in warship development during the first half of the 20th century.

Category:Kongō-class battlecruisers Category:World War II battleships of Japan Category:Ships sunk in the Solomon Islands