The Kongô Class Battleship of the Imperial Japanese Navy: Volume 1 – Kirishima Technical and Historical Development 1911 to 1942

At a very young age, I became a naval history enthusiast. I vividly remember seeing grainy footage of Imperial Japanese Navy battleships in numerous TV documentaries; their silhouettes as alien and sinister to me as an Imperial Star Destroyer's would be to a later generation. The Kongo, the first true Japanese Dreadnought (uniform main gun armament) was an impressive ship when she was laid down in 1912. Their 14" guns and speed caused a stir in British naval circles when compared to the Royal Navy's Lion class battlecruisers with their 13.5" guns. The lead ship, Kongo, was built by a British yard and her three sisters, Haruna, Hiei, and Kirishima were built in Japan. These vessels went on to serve their country in two world wars. As built, they mirrored the Royal Navy's concept of the battlecruiser, all big gun ships that sacrificed armor protection to have a 6-8 knot speed advantage over battleships. Between the wars, these ships would be modernized extensively, but were still inadequately protected against the main guns of their contemporary battleship opponents (the Japanese officially redesignated them as battleships in June 1931). Unfortunately, advances in marine technology produced "fast battleships" that were nearly as fast with better protection and heavier armament. Even so, the Japanese valued their speed and gunpower and they were integral ships in the "Decisive battle" strategy designed to meet an American naval advance on Japan. Their speed and gunpower made them perfect escorts for the new carrier strike force formed just before Pearl Harbor.Outside of the standard references and some specialist monographs, there was little information available on these remarkable ships. The destruction of many naval records at the end of the war and language difficulties made research difficult with only a couple of western authors tapping into the reservoir of information available in Japanese. Joseph Ed Low is one of them and has published the first of an anticipated series of monographs on the class beginning with Kirishima. Kirishima escorted the Japanese aircraft carriers to attack Pearl harbor and participated in the desperate First and Second Naval battles of Guadalcanal in November 1942.Mr. Low notes in his preface his lifelong research into the Imperial Japanese Navy and gathering an extensive number of documents. His bibliography is heavily weighted with primary and secondary Japanese sources including official documents and there is much new information included on the ship's modifications over her career and her combat activity in the First and Second Naval Battle of Guadalcanal in November 1942. He includes information gathered from survivors and Lt Cdr Ikeda, her gunnery officer in the battle. Mr. Low reveals new details on her duel with the two US Navy battleships, Washington and South Dakota, during the second battle where she was sunk as well as information of the two subsequent underwater expeditions to her wreck by Dr. Robert Ballard and the late Paul Allen's research vessel, the Petrel. An analysis of the damage she suffered provides a fuller picture of what happened in one of the handful of World War II battleship engagements including her main gun ammunition expenditures.Mr. Low's publication is a softcover, 94 page book that includes detailed full page line drawn profiles of Kirishima as built and after each of her modifications. Each diagram is annotated with a description of modification and its location on her silhouette. His writing style is clear and concise, and he includes a glossary of essential terms for the reader that maybe unfamiliar with them. The last 35 pages of his book is a detailed look at her "pagoda" foremast using a combination of line drawings and computer-generated 3D images, a bonus for ship modelers. Mr. Low has included no photographs, but the well-executed drawings and 3D images make up for that. A line drawing of the ship's armor scheme would have been welcome but does not detract from the overall quality of Mr. Low's efforts.Mr. Low is breaking new ground here using "web based" publishing avoiding established publishers to provide an excellent and essential reference at a modest price. I highly recommend this volume and look forwards to additional volumes by the author.

"The Kongo Class Battleship of the Imperial Japanese Navy, Vol 1 -- Kirishima" by Dr. Joseph Ed Low and Mr. Sander Kingsepp is a clear demonstration that size isn't everything in historical documentation. This slim volume is absolutely packed with detailed information on this battleship of the Imperial Japanese Navy, combining detailed records of her service history with equally detailed records of her construction and modernizations over her long career, and contains the most detailed description of her loss in battle written to date. Ed Low is someone I am familiar with from our long association on several websites dedicated to the Imperial Japanese Navy. I consider him to be one of the foremost experts on the wartime and peacetime Imperial Japanese navy writing in English today, a worthy successor to the renowned naval constructor Shizuo Fukui, who preserved so much of the history and photography of the Imperial Japanese navy. Mr. Kingsepp is equally well known for his accurate and detailed ship movement histories through his work on the tabular record of movements of the vessels of the Imperial navy. Combining their efforts has produced an outstanding reference on Kirishima that gives a superb view of this ship and her history. For those of us with an interest in the Pacific War of 1941 -1945, this volume is a valuable addition to the history of those dark and bloody days. I would highly recommend it to anyone who loves ship histories, and am looking forward to future productions from this excellent team of writers.

Elegant renderings and a detailed operational and technical history of the battleship/battlecruiser Kirishima, best known for her loss to USS Washington at Guadalcanal. The two guys who wrote this know their stuff. It’s not a narrative - it’s a reference book, and one we’ve needed on this class of ship for a long time. Hopefully they do the other three sisters. Japanese navy buffs will welcome this volume for its comprehensiveness and deep research. Plus the renderings are just so damn good, and in color…

From Dan Kaplan:Most books that refer to Kirishima do so in conjunction with her sisters. This book's sole focus is Kirishima. It’s meticulously researched and beautifully illustrated. With a technical orientation, hints of Anatomy of the Ship, and an excellent narrative on both design and ship history, it’s the best single volume reference on Kirishima that I know of, particularly in English.Highly recommended.

This book represents the trend in naval history publications. As publishers have become more conservative and publish the same old stuff repeatedly, we will see authors putting out their own books. The material here is all new so it will be a valuable addition to your library.

By focusing entirely on Kirishima, rather than the Kongo class, the book manages to pack a huge amount of detailed information, much of which was unavailable (at least in English) before, into a small package.The first part of the book contains a chronology of events involving the ship, both operations and alterations to her design and appearance.It's a different approach from most "one ship" books that are usually split into "technical description" and "operational hisrory", it works very well but assumes the reader already has some familiarity with the ship's design and career as it avoids repeating information that has already been widely published.A number of computer generated images make up the rest of the book. I usually don't like CAD as it can easily "fill in" details about which there is no info, creating a false depiction of a ship, but this one is an exception to the rule, the authors seem to have researched practically every line that went into the CAD models that show the ship, or parts of it, at various times during her career.

Dieses 94-seitige Heft im A4-Format ist durchaus eine Empfehlung wert. In ihrer Einleitung haben die Autoren klar begründet warum ihr Werk in dieser Form entstand. Am Aufbau und Inhalt des Heftes gibt es nichts zu kritisieren. Man vermisst lediglich zu Beginn einige Erklärungen warum diese Schiffsklasse für die japanische Marine entstand. Der gesamte Werdegang der „Kirishima“ ist dann ausführlich beschrieben. Positiv hervorzuheben sind die Beschreibungen beider Umbauten. Die im 2. Teil des Heftes gezeigten 3D-Renderings sind dann ein besonderer Leckerbissen für die Modellbauer.Noch kurz eine Erklärung warum habe ich einen Stern abgezogen habe.1. Den vielen guten Zeichnungen von den einzelnen Ausrüstungszuständen fehlt es an Kontrast worunter besonders die kleinen Details leiden. Leider gibt es nur eine einzige Draufsicht. Der sehr gute Text zu den Zeichnungen hätte etwas größer ausfallen können. Ein großformatiges Foto der „Kirishima“ nach dem 2. Umbau hätte dem Werk gut getan.2. Der sehr beeindruckende voluminöse Quellennachweis läßt einen doch stutzig werden. Da werden Bücher und Artikel aufgelistet welche so gut wie gar nichts mit dem Schlachtschiff zu tun haben. Noch erstaunlicher allerdings jene Werke die nicht von den Autoren genutzt wurden. Da sein an allererster Stelle Hans Lengerer genannt. Er ist doch wirklich ein Experte über japanische Kriegsschiffe. Und was verwendeten die Autor von ihm ? Nur einen Beitrag aus „Warship“ 2012. Dabei hat Herr Lengerer doch mehrere Bücher zum Thema japanische Großkampfschiffe geschrieben. Hier sei nur auf eines der letzten Werke hingewiesen – „Armourclad Fuso to Kongo Class Battlecruisers“ (2019). Ein Quellenverweis auf „The Maru special – Japanese Naval Vessels“ Nr. 35 und 112 wäre auch angebracht. Über den Untergang des Schlachtschiffes schreiben die Autoren recht ordentlich. Als wichtige Quelle vermißt man jedoch den ausgezeichneten Artikel von Robert Lundgren „Kirishima Damage Analysis“ von 2010.Fazit - dieses noch recht preiswerte Werk gehört in jede Sammlung über die japanische Marine !ERGÄNZUNG: Habe die Rezension von "Musicfan 1965" gelesen. Ein sehr harte Kritik ! Aber vielleicht wäre der Herr so nett seine Rezension zu ergänzen und wirklich gutes Quellenmaterial aufzulisten. Mein Materialbestand ist auch reichlich mit jap. Literatur versehen, doch man stößt bei deren Übersetzung an Grenzen und es kommt zu zahlreichen Sinnentstellungen.

Livre indispensable pour les amateurs de l'IJN.Des plans, du texte précis et concisVu 3DVivement conseilléSeule étude connue disponible du KIRISHIMA

was hoping for more not just the forward superstructure

Für den Modellbau etwas dürftig bei dem Preis