Description
Kongo ("Indestructible Diamond", named for Mount Kongo) was a warship of the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War I and World War II. She was the first battlecruiser of the Kongo class, among the most heavily armed ships in any navy when built. Her designer was the British naval engineer George Thurston, and she was laid down in 1911 at Barrow-in-Furness in Britain by Vickers Shipbuilding Company. KongÅ was the last Japanese capital ship constructed outside Japan. She was formally commissioned in 1913, and patrolled off the Chinese coast during World War I.