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Gakken
Pacific War series 21 - IJN BB Kongo Class
Kongo, Haruna, Kirishima, Hiei
Review by Tom Kristiansen |
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| Bookseries | Pacific War | |
| Book Title | Pacific War 21 - Kongo class | |
| Author | ||
| Publisher | Gakken, Japan | |
| ISBN Number | ISBN 4-05-602016-7 | |
| Published | 1999 | |
| Retail Price | 1800 JPY | |
| Subjects | Imperial Japanese Navy Battleships Kongo, Haruna, Kirishima, Hiei | |
| Language | Japanese text + a handful english captions | |
| Gakken
Pafific War Series
The Pacific War series from Gakken
are devoted to land, sea and air -vehicles and equipment used during at
the pacific theater during WWII. The naval-titles are highly regarded by
IJN modeling-enthusiasts as a fantastic source of information of Japanese
IJN ships. Altough the
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Pacific War 21 - Kongo class
190 pages:
31 pictures of superdetailed 1/200
Kongo & Haruna anno 1944
106 B/W-photos
62 drawings
3 illustrations/paintings
4-page foldouts:
- illustration of Hiei, July 1942
- (?) table of re-construction/re-fittings
on Kongo-class ships (?) japanese text
- color photos of 1/200 Kongo &
Haruna 1944, 1/500 photoscale, top & side
- BW-photo Kirishima 1938
- linedrawing Kirishima 1/350, top
& side
The 4 Kongo-sisters were laid down and completed as fast battlecruisers in the period 1911 to 1915 at shipyards in England and Japan. Kongo was built in England as all the previous capital japanese warships, but as the japanese expanded their shipyards and shipbuilding capabilities, the remaining 3 battlecruisers could be built under licence in Japan. The Kongo-design was similar to the british Incincible-class battlecruisers, but with 365mm main guns instead of 300mm. The japanese design also had an additional 75mm armourbelt added. (In response the brits designed the Tiger-class followed by the Renown-class). The steamboilers used coal as fuel but with the new technology of spraying extra oil into the boilers to get higher temperatures, the Kongo battlecruisers was able to reach 28 knots on trials. This made the battlecruisers among the fastest of its kind during WWI.
Two modernization and refitting-periods in 1927-32 and 1933-1939 gave the 4 Kongo-sisters increased armour, increased length and beam, torpedo-bulges, better aircraft-facilities, 2 funnels, new controltower behind funnels and a completely new brigdeconstruction. Altough the weight was increased by 10-12% the new machinery added 2 knots to the original top speed. Kongo, Haruna and Kirishima had similar brigdeconstructions but the Hiei differed from her sisters with an experimental brigdeconstruction that would later be used on the Yamato-class battleships. By the japanese the battlecruisers could now be rerated from battlecruisers into fast battleships because of the added protection from the two modernization-periods.
In Dec1942-Mar1943, Kongo and Haruna
received a third re-construction of the brigde in addition to the fire-direction/
AA-refittings that was gived to all 4 kongo-class battleships during their
respective servicelifes in WWII.
Haruna and Hiei was sunk at Guadacanal
in Nov1942. Kongo sunk Nov1944 and Haruna in July1945
The PacWar21 does a good job in showing
most of the differences between these 4 ships. The trademark of the GakkenPacWar-series
is the superb color-pictures of superscale models depicting the subjects.
However not all ships in the classes are honoured with a photoshoot. As
an example only Ise is depicted in her 1941-configuration in PacWar26.
The sistership Hyuga is not depicted. In PacWar21 only Kongo and Haruna
are depicted. As usual with the PacWarbooks the quality of the supermodel-photos
are fabulous! The models are among the cleanest 1/200 models I have seen.
I could not find any bent railing or rough finish at all. The antenna lines
are almost completely free of any twisting. In other PacWarbooks one can
find some of theese imperfections but not in this volume. The detaillevel
is not as superdetailed as fineartmodels's, but not so far behind.
Photos are sharp and mostly the
photos are in overall-focus. With this I mean that you can study the details
that are furthest away from the camera as well as the details that are
closest to the camera. Of many of the model-photos I have seen only a part
of the photo are in focus, the rest of the photo is blurred. The photos
are arranged in pairs of the same area so that it is easy to compare the
ships.
51 B/W photos of the Kongo-class shows the ships constructional evolution and their servicelifes. Mostly the pictures are taken in peacetime and during trials but there are also photos of Harunas demise and afterlife damage photos. The closeupphotos provide interesting views of details interesting for modelers.
A techical historysection provides several useful drawings and photos of the hull and superstructure. The drawings of the superstructure are particulary valuable when it comes to comparing the ships differating details. The captions are in Japanese, but it is easy to identify the japanese Katagana-symbols for the shipnames from the english cations other places in the book. This section also gives an insight in the contruction-process and the mechanical aspects of the ships armament. Several drawings and photos shows the foundring-process and the cutting/drilling of the main gunbarrels.
The 4-page foldouts of this volume are also worth taking a closer look on. A huge illustration of Hiei points out the brigde-details and other differences. The illustration shows Hiei in July1942. The scale is probably close to 1/350. Kirishima also gets some attention as a linedrawing in 1/350 is provided. Turn the linedrawing over and you will find a famous B/W-photo of Kirishima in 1938 enlarged to 1/350 scale. The detail on this photo is slightly soft, but sharp enough to be interesting. The 1/200 supermodels of Kongo and Haruna is minimized to 1/500 photoscale and shows the top and sides of the two ships. Many details are pointed out in japanese captions.
A historical section with japanese
text deals with the ships' operational history with some photos, seabattle-maps
and other illustrations/ greyscale paintings.
Conclusions
As always the conclusion with the PacWar-books is: This book is a excellent source of visual information on the Kongo-class battleships. I would have love to see supermodels of Kirishima and Hiei as well since there are several differences to be aware of if one wants to superdetail a 1/700 or a 1/350 model of this class. But luckily the PacWar-series gives enough illustrations, drawings and photos of the ships not supermodel-depicted as a compensation. So do not worry - you are never left in the dark by Gakken if you just use some time in finding the details you are wondering of. For a japanese reader it would be easier to find these differences in the text so PacWar21 would probably be the only source you would need for your project. For an english reader it will be of great help with an extra english source to help you interperate the timeperiod of the drawings. For me the Classic Warships Prictorial 13 - IJN Kongo battleships provided just the help I needed. With the comments and tabular movement records in CWP-13 at hand it is easier to get a hold of the secrets hidden in the drawings/photos in PacWar21.
As an afterthought I would like to
say that every time I looks into a Gakken Pacific War-series book the same
prayer pops into my mind:
"SOMEONE - PLEASE - SOMEONE SIMPLY
HAVE TO TRANSLATE THESE GREAT BOOKS INTO ENGLISH !!!! "
I am not sure of the sizes of the japanese IJN modelwarket vs. the rest of the world but I would think that the japanese could sell a whole lot more books of this series if they were translated into english. Let us hope someone pick up my (and many other IJN-enthusiasts's) prayer and translate this one.
This title is (if not sold out) available
from Hobbylink Japan and
retails for for 1800 JPY ; about $17 USD ; €14 Euros
Review by Tom Kristiansen
Gakken Pafific War Series - March2004 (Japanese text)
GAKPW-01 Pearl Harbor Attack
GAKPW-02 The Battle of Malay Sea
GAKPW-03 The Operation In Indian
Ocean
GAKPW-04 The Battle of Midway **
**Discontinued**
GAKPW-05 The Battle of Solomon Sea
GAKPW-06 The Battle of Guadalcanal
GAKPW-07 Battle of Rabaul ** **Discontinued**
GAKPW-08 The Battle of Mariana Sea
** **Discontinued**
GAKPW-09 The Battle of Leyte Sea
GAKPW-10 IJN's End
GAKPW-11 IJN BB Yamato Class #1
GAKPW-12 Mitsubishi Zero Fighter
GAKPW-13 IJN CV Shokaku Class
GAKPW-14 Carrier Strike Force
GAKPW-15 IJN BB Nagato Class **
**Discontinued**
GAKPW-16 IJN CA Takao Class ** **Discontinued**
GAKPW-17 IJN Submarine I-Goh
GAKPW-18 IJN DD Toku Type
GAKPW-19 IJN DD Kagero Class **
**Discontinued**
GAKPW-20 IJN BB Yamato Class #2
** **Discontinued**
GAKPW-21 IJN BB Kongo Class ** **Discontinued**
GAKPW-22 IJN CV Taiho & Shinano
GAKPW-23 Akizuki-class IJN Destroyers
GAKPW-24 IJN Shiden-Kai
GAKPW-25 IJA Armored Division
GAKPW-26 IJN BB Ise Class
GAKPW-27 IJN CA Myoko Class
GAKPW-28 Japanese vs USA: Analysis
of Bases
GAKPW-29 IJN Interceptor Raiden
GAKPW-30 IJN BB Fuso Class
GAKPW-31 IJA & IJN Experimental
Fighter
GAKPW-32 IJN CA Kuma, Nagara, Sendai
Class
GAKPW-33 Mitsubishi Zero Fighter
Vol. 2
GAKPW-34 Tank & Tank Gun
GAKPW-35 IJN A-Target & Kohryu
GAKPW-36 IJN Kairyu & Kaiten
GAKPW-37 IJN & IJA Naval Auxiliaries
GAKPW-38 IJN Heavy Cruiser Mogami
Class ** **Discontinued**
GAKPW-39 IJA Food, Clothing &
Shelter
GAKPW-40 Reppu & Reppu Kai
GAKPW-41 Battleship of the World
GAKPW-42 IJN Type 1 Bomber
GAKPW-43 IJN Matsu Class DD
GAKPW-44 IJN CA Furutaka, Aoba Class
GAKPW-45 IJN Warship True History
** Discontinued/sold out from the publisher - March2004
Hobbylink
Japan says that Gakken has no current plans at this time (march2004)
to reprint the discintinued titles.
If Gakken decides to reprint the
titles, HLJ will notify their customers on the book-section of their web-pages.
