The Kongô Class Battleship of the Imperial Japanese Navy: Volume 4 - Haruna Technical and Historical Development 1915 to 1945, Full Color Edition Paperback – March 15, 2024

This book is the last of a four-part series detailing the construction history of the Kongô class battlecruiser/battleship – with this one covering Haruna. Although the four ships were of the same class, they were different in numerous ways - Some differences were very significant, while others were more subtle. Included in this book are the specific modifications she went through in her thirty years of service between 1915, when she was first completed as a battlecruiser, to 1928 when she was reconstructed and reclassified as a battleship, and as she was sunk in 1945.Although the general modification/reconstruction of this ship has been covered in other publications, this is the first book that attempts to cover all fifteen major and minor modifications in detail, many of which have never been documented. Each modification is illustrated with detailed notated line drawings, and the rationale for the overall changes during each period is summarized. The drawings are accompanied by the best period photographs of the ship, and drawings that show the documented features added and/or changed during that period.With this book, the reader will obtain a clear detailed view of how her pagoda bridge came to be, how her masts, armament, control instruments such as rangefinders, directors, searchlights, communications equipment, aircraft, and engine/funnel arrangements progressed through her life, and the rationale for these changes.This was only possible due to access to extensive English and Japanese published data, and detailed examination of approximately 1,600 images/drawings of this ship collected through a period of fifty years. The exact dates of the changes are not always published or known, but the most accurate information is given when available. Each drawing documents the specific feature changes since the last period.This information will be very useful for ship identification, model building, and for historians to understand changes made to the ship, and the rationale for these changes.Starting from this volume is the inclusion of a highly detailed study of one specific IJN weapon, in this case the Japanese 8cm/40 Type 3 HA (high angle) gun and various related weapons. The goal is to avoid inclusion of material already covered in previous publications, and to offer a much more detailed study of one specific gun used on this ship plus variants. As such, this will be the most detailed coverage of this gun ever published, and is part of the author’s effort to include only new and never covered information in these books. Read more