Kongou
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Kongou is the lead ship of the four Kongou-class fast battleships. Her sister ships are Hiei, Haruna and Kirishima.
Classified as a Fast Battleship in-game. The Kongou-class boasts good all-around stats for daytime surface combat and a slightly higher evasion than other battleships. Battleships generally do not have torpedoes and thus they can not take part in the closing torpedo phase, nor gain an additional boost to their night-time firepower. In addition for being the largest surface vessels armed with conventional ballistic weapons, battleships have four equipment slots once fully upgraded and have access to catapult-based seaplanes that can enable daytime artillery spotting with the appropriate equipment setups.
Furthermore, due to her Fast speed she can take part in fleets that require a fleet consisting entirely of fast ships, opening up opportunities for alternate routes in select maps that have branching rules related to fleet speed. As a battleship, she enables an additional surface shelling phase in all daytime combat for both friendly and hostile forces.
However, battleships do not come equipped with anti-submarine warfare (ASW) capabilities and are thus susceptible to enemy submarine squadrons, which is why battleships are highly reliant on lighter ships like Destroyers or Light Cruisers to dispatch them. This is generally advised, as having a single battleship in an ASW-fleet enables an additional attack for all surface ships to dispatch submarines without the submarines gaining any additional attacks outside their opening and closing torpedoes. An Aviation Battleship is typically recommended, since they are capable of attacking submarines with their seaplane bombers but currently all aviation battleships are slow and might lead to unfavorable routes.
Kongou is generally a good battleship for most situations due to her lower resource consumption compared to other battleship-classes and decent combat statistics. She should often be used in a fleet composition that requires a battleship, unless resources allow it and there is a need for a heavier battleship like Nagato, an aviation battleship such as Ise Kai or even a capital battleship like Yamato.
Service History
Full article: Wikipedia
Kongou (金剛, "Indestructible", named for Mount Kongō) was a warship of the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War I and World War II. She was the first battlecruiser of the Kongou-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. Kongou 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.
Kongou underwent two major reconstructions. Beginning in 1929, the Imperial Japanese Navy 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-Japanese War, Kongou operated off the coast of mainland China before being redeployed to the Third Battleship Division in 1941. In 1942, she sailed as part of the Southern Force in preparation for the Battle of Singapore.
Kongou fought in a large number of major naval actions of the Pacific War during World War II. She covered the Japanese Army's amphibious landings in British Malaya (part of present-day Malaysia) and the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) in 1942, before engaging American forces at the Battle of Midway and during the Guadalcanal Campaign. Throughout 1943, Kongou primarily remained at Truk Lagoon in the Caroline Islands, Kure Naval Base (near Hiroshima), Sasebo Naval Base (near Nagasaki), and Lingga Roads, and deployed several times in response to American aircraft carrier air raids on Japanese island bases scattered across the Pacific. Kongou participated in the Battle of the Philippine Sea and the Battle of Leyte Gulf in 1944 (22–23 October), engaging and sinking American vessels in the latter. Kongou was torpedoed and sunk by the submarine USS Sealion while transiting the Formosa Strait on 21 November 1944. She was the only Japanese battleship sunk by submarine in the Second World War, and the last battleship sunk by submarine in history.
Acquisition
Available. Buildable from Basic Construction and Large Ship Construction or as a drop from selected worlds.
| 1-1 | Nodes: Does Not Drop |
1-2 | Nodes: Does Not Drop |
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| 1-3 | Nodes: Does Not Drop |
1-4 | Nodes: Does Not Drop |
| 1-5 | Nodes: Does Not Drop |
1-6 | Nodes: Does Not Drop |
| 2-1 | Nodes: Boss Node |
2-2 | Nodes: All Nodes |
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| 2-3 | Nodes: All Nodes |
2-4 | Nodes: All Nodes |
| 2-5 | Nodes: Boss Node |
| 3-1 | Nodes: All Nodes |
3-2 | Nodes: All Nodes |
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| 3-3 | Nodes: All Nodes |
3-4 | Nodes: All Nodes |
| 3-5 | Nodes: Does Not Drop |
| 4-1 | Nodes: All Nodes |
4-2 | Nodes: All Nodes |
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| 4-3 | Nodes: All Nodes |
4-4 | Nodes: All Nodes |
| 4-5 | Nodes: All Nodes |
| 5-1 | Nodes: All Nodes |
5-2 | Nodes: All Nodes |
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| 5-3 | Nodes: Boss Node |
5-4 | Nodes: Boss Node |
| 5-5 | Nodes: Does Not Drop |
| 6-1 | Nodes: H, J, Boss Node |
6-2 | Nodes: Boss Node |
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| 6-3 | Nodes: E, F, Boss Node |
6-4 | Nodes: Boss Node |
| 6-5 | Nodes: Boss Node |
Quotes
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Gallery
Standard
Damaged
Kai Ni
Kai Ni damaged
Trivia
- All parts used in her construction were manufactured in the U.K.
- She shares a similar design from the Revenge-class and Queen Elizabeth-class Battleships of the Royal Navy (her cousin battleships).
- Coincidentally, her cousin battleships, the Revenge-class HMS Royal Oak and the Queen Elizabeth-class HMS Barham were sunk by submarine in the same fashion. In total, there were three British built battleship sinkings in World War II caused by a submarine attack along with Kongou.
- The radar wings that she and her sisters wear share a similar coloration and design to the alternative name for "金剛" which also means "vajra", but may be more accurately "ghanta" (bells). See this page (scroll to 12th Century) and compare to the CG artwork.
- Her affinity for tea is based on her British heritage.
- She probably if not most definitely has feelings for her admiral, as seen in her lines.
- She received her Kai Ni on November 1, 2013.
- She is still an existing JDS name as of present, along with Kirishima.
- She is required by quest A16 and quest A40 as Kai Ni.
Appearance in derivative works
- Kongou appears in the anime adaptation of Kantai Collection, and was also featured in the adaptation's first trailer, where she played a big role in it, appearing to be the only member of the Fifth Mobile Fleet Fubuki can get along with.
- Kongou appears as one of the main characters in side:Kongou.
- Kongou - along with other ships voiced by Nao Touyama - was featured in the first KanColle Drama CD, titled "Hiei's Curry" (比叡、カレーを作る). Due to one seiyuu doing all the voices, the CD's short story is also referred to as "One Nao Show". A translated version of the short story can be found here.