The Ships of Battlegroup: Japan Haruna (BB)

Displacement	31,700 tons	Belt Armor	8 inches
Overall Length	728.5 feet	Deck Armor	2.75 inches
Beam	102.3 feet	Main Turret Armor	9 inches
Speed	30.5 knots	Main Guns	8 × 14″

Laid down on March 16, 1912, launched on December 14, 1913 and commissioned on April 19, 1915, the ship carried a main armament of eight 14 inch main guns mounted two per turret; two superfiring centerline forward, one centerline aft and one centerline aft placed up one deck to allow it to fire over the other aft turret. Haruna was part of the four-ship Kongo battlecruiser class that had coal-fired turbine engines with oil-fired supplementary burners. Japan lacked experience in designing large warships at the time and wanted a "model" like the ones in the Royal Navy. Since Great Britain and Japan were close allies (the Anglo-Japanese Alliance of 1902) at the time, the new class was designed by Sir George Thurston, with the lead ship, the Kongo, built in Great Britain. In common with all British battle cruisers, her armor was thin. The later H. M. S. Tiger battle cruiser was a close copy of the Kongo .

The remaining ships in the class, Haruna, Hiei and Kirishima, were all built in Japan. The name "Haruna" refers to a mountain in Japan. During World War One, Haruna was damaged by a mine in the Pacific laid by the German raider Wolf . The ship had torpedo bulges added in 1924–1928, which slowed the ship enough that she was re-designated as a "battleship." A further comprehensive overhaul from August 1933 to September 1934 saw a new set of oil-fired turbines installed that increased speed to 30.5 knots, protection improvements (the belt armor remained the same but deck armor was thickened from 2 to 4.75 inches) that increased displacement from 27, 500 to 31,700 tons, the addition of a characteristically Japanese "pagoda" foremast and yet another re-designation as a "fast battleship." Although these modernization changes, which were made to all four ships of the class, made them useful fast carrier escorts, the shipsd lacked the armor protection to be considered real "fast battleships."

During World War II, the Haruna and her sisters were often called on to use their speed to accompany the fast carriers in operations against Indonesia, Ceylon, Midway, Guadalcanal and at the Battle of the Philippine Sea. At Guadalcanal, the Haruna and all her sisters were also used in a surface role and sent down the "Slot" to bombard Henderson Field. Haruna was damaged by American air attacks during the Battle of the Philippine Sea in June 1944. At the Battle of Leyte Gulf on October 20–25, 1944, she was part of the Japanese surface force (which also included Kongo, Nagato and Yamato) that broke through and engaged U. S. escort carriers with disappointing results for the Japanese. On November 21, 1944, after a short refit, advanced radar and additional antiaircraft guns were added. It is interesting to note that the Japanese Navy, so well-trained for night fighting and with even heavy cruisers armed with the legendary "Long Lance" torpedo, was equipping even capital ships with decent radar so late in the war (Haruna had much cruder radar installed more than a year earlier). By then, even American PT-boats had decent radar and Allied capital ships carried entire electronic suites. Haruna was sunk by US Navy carrier aircraft in the shallow waters off Kure naval base on March 19, 1945. She was broken up in 1945 - 1946.

For other nation’s "battlecruisers" that served in World War II, see: Dunkerque, Gneisenau, Guam, Repulse and Scharnhorst .

For other World War One ships extensively modernized between the wars, see: Andrea Doria, Caio Duilio, Conte di Cavour, Giulio Cesare and Repulse .

For a further discussion of what happened to the battleships of World War One, see the Introduction to these articles.