Japanese battleship Kirishima, 1942, 1: 1100, Eaglemoss

apanese battleship Kirishima, 1942, 1: 1100, Eaglemoss

1: 1100 scale
Length Approx: 20.00 cm.
Total height Approx: 7.00 cm.
Manufacture diecast, metal with plastic accessories.
Assembled and painted by hand with original decorations.
Includes base with the Japanese name of the battleship (see photo).

HISTORY

The Kirishima was a battleship of the Kongō class belonging to the Imperial Japanese Navy. He was the third member of his class actively participating in the first phase of the Pacific front, during World War II. Initially it was assigned to operations in waters of China and Korea.

The Kirishima was built by the Mitsubishi company; his helmet was launched on March 17, 1912, completed on December 1, 1913 and commissioned on April 19, 1915. Between 1927 and 1930 his first modification was made, among which was the addition of anti-torpedo bulges, an increase in horizontal armor, change of chimney configuration and reconstruction of the bridge to a pagoda-type mast, typical of Japanese design. These modifications were extended to the entire Kongō class.

In 1932, he participated in the so-called Manchuria Incident. From 1933 to 1934 it was modified at the Kure naval base; catapults were added for reconnaissance seaplanes type Nakajima E8N; being classified as a fast warship, increasing its tonnage by 4,000 tons. In the interwar period it remained in the waters of China during the Second Sino-Japanese War.

In the preamble of the opening of the Pacific front, during World War II, he was assigned to the Combined Fleet. During the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, their planes were used in aerial reconnaissance prior to the attack.

He participated in different warlike scenarios of the Pacific, giving coverage in several amphibious operations during the Japanese territorial expansion. On March 1, 1942, along with the twin battleship Hiei, they sank the American light cruiser USS Edsall (DD-219) into the Java Sea. During the Battle of Midway in June 1942, it was the closest heavy unit to the attack force and gave anti-aircraft coverage to the Akagi aircraft carrier when it was bombed by US B-17 aircraft. In that same action he prepared to tow the burning Hiryu aircraft carrier, but this order was canceled by Admiral Chuichi Nagumo. He participated in August of that same year in the Battle of the Eastern Solomon and in the following month in the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands.

On November 15, 1942, during the second Naval Battle of Guadalcanal, operating against the US fleet, he was surprised by the USS Washington, when he was holding an artillery duel with the battleship USS South Dakota. The US-led radar fire proved very effective and fatally damaged the Kirishima by leaving it out of control. Captain Sanji Iwabuchi ordered the abandonment of the ship, the crew being transferred to a destroyer; subsequently ordering the opening of the battleship valves. The Kirishima finally went down, turning northwest of the island of Savo, not far from where his twin battleship, the battleship Hiei had been sunk two days before, in the first action in this war scenario.

In 1992, Dr. Robert Ballard discovered it when he explored the so-called Bay of the Iron Fund in the immmediations of the island of Savo, more than 1100 m deep, completely turned.

source: Wikipeida