Strictly speaking, at this place there should have been an article devoted to the British battle cruiser "Tiger", but due to the fact that its creation was greatly influenced by the "Congo" being built at the Vickers shipyard, it makes sense to give it a separate article.
The history of Japanese battlecruisers dates back to the Battle of Yalu, during which the cruiser's fast wing played a significant, if not decisive, role. However, based on the results of the analysis of this battle, the Japanese came to the conclusion that their small armored cruisers did not quite meet the tasks of a squadron battle with battleships, and that for this they needed completely different ships. Without a doubt, the new cruisers were supposed to become fast, armed with rapid-fire artillery of 8 inches inclusive, but at the same time they should also be protected by armor capable of withstanding shells of the same caliber. As a result of this decision, the Japanese fleet received six very powerful armored cruisers, and then, on the eve of the war with Russia, was able to buy at the most reasonable price two more Italian ships, which received the names "Nissin" and "Kasuga" in the United Fleet.
As you know, the naval power of the Russian Empire in the war of 1904-1905. was crushed. The Japanese were very pleased with the actions of their armored cruisers, and all their subsequent shipbuilding programs necessarily provided for the presence of such ships in the fleet.
To be honest, this decision of the Japanese is, to say the least, controversial. After all, if you think about it, then what have their armored cruisers achieved? Without a doubt, the Asama's gunners, protected by quite good armor, found it easy to shoot the Varyag armored cruiser, even if the Russian gunners could drive several of their shells into the Japanese armored cruiser.
But "Varyag" in any case was doomed, regardless of whether Chemulpo had "Asam" or not - the superiority in numbers among the Japanese was colossal. In the battle on January 27, the armored cruisers of Japan did not show themselves in anything. Four Japanese armored cruisers fought in the Yellow Sea, but how? "Nissin" and "Kasuga" were put in one column with the battleships, that is, the Japanese deliberately refused the benefits that were given to them by the use of armored cruisers as a high-speed wing. Instead, the Nissin and Kassuga were forced to portray classic battleships, but they were too poorly armored and armed for this role. And only the poor shooting of the Russian gunners saved these cruisers from heavy damage.
As for the other two armored cruisers, they also did not earn any laurels - the "fast" Asama was never able to join Togo's battleships and did not take part in the battle, but the Yakumo still succeeded, but only in the second half of the battle. Some serious achievements are not listed for him, and the only 305-mm Russian shell that fell into it caused significant damage to the Yakumo, which confirmed the danger of using cruisers of this type in battle against full-fledged squadron battleships. In Tsushima, the Nissin and Kassuga were again forced to pretend to be "battleships", and the Kamimura detachment, although it had a certain independence, also did not act as a "fast wing", but simply acted as another battleship detachment. As for the battle in the Korean Strait, here the Japanese suffered a real fiasco - after a successful hit knocked out the Rurik, four Kamimura armored cruisers, having in front of them a two-fold outnumbered enemy (Thunderbolt and Russia), during the many hours of battle, they could neither destroy nor even knock out at least one of these ships, and this despite the fact that the Russian armored cruisers opposing them were never supposed to be used in a squadron battle.
Without a doubt, any Japanese armored cruiser cost significantly less than a full-fledged battleship of 15,000 tons, and it can be assumed that two battleships of the Asahi or Mikasa type cost about the same as three armored cruisers. However, there is also no doubt that if the Japanese at the beginning of the war had 4 battleships instead of 6 armored cruisers, their fleet could have achieved greater success. In general, according to the author of this article, the armored cruisers of the United Fleet as a class of warships did not justify themselves at all, but the Japanese obviously had a different opinion on this issue.
Nevertheless, the Japanese admirals made some conclusions, namely, they realized the absolute insufficiency of 203-mm guns for a squadron battle. All battleships and armored cruisers Togo and Kamimura were built abroad, and after the Russo-Japanese War, two more battleships built in England joined the United Fleet: Kasima and Katori (both were laid down in 1904). However, subsequently, Japan stopped this practice, and began building heavy warships at its own shipyards. And the very first Japanese armored cruisers of their own construction (type "Tsukuba") were armed with 305-mm artillery systems - the same as those of the battleships. Both the Tsukuba-class ships, and the Ibuki and Kurama that followed them, were ships with the main caliber, like those of battleships, while a higher speed (21.5 knots versus 18.25 knots) was achieved due to weakening medium caliber (from 254 mm to 203 mm) and armor (from 229 mm to 178 mm). Thus, the Japanese were the first in the world to realize the need to arm large cruisers with the same main caliber as the battleship, and their Tsukuba and Ibuki alongside the Kasimami and Satsuma looked very organic.
But then the British shocked the world with their "Invincible" and the Japanese thought about the answer - they wanted to have a ship that was in no way inferior to the English. Everything would be fine, but in Japan they did not know the exact tactical and technical characteristics of the Invincible, and therefore a project was created for an armored cruiser with a displacement of 18 650 tons with armament of 4 305 mm, 8 254 mm, 10 120 mm and 8 small-caliber cannons, as well as 5 torpedo tubes. Reservations remained at the same level (178 mm armor belt and 50 mm deck), but the speed had to be 25 knots, for which the power of the power plant had to be increased to 44,000 hp.
The Japanese were already ready to lay down a new armored cruiser, but at that time, at last, reliable data on the main caliber of the Invincibles appeared. Admirals Mikado grabbed their heads - the designed ship was clearly outdated even before the laying, and the designers immediately began work. The displacement of the armored cruiser increased by 100 tons, the power of the power plant and the booking remained the same, but the ship received ten 305-mm / 50 guns, the same number of six-inch guns, four 120-mm cannons and five torpedo tubes. Apparently, the Japanese "conjured" properly over the contours of the ship, because with the same power they now expected to get 25.5 knots of maximum speed.
The Japanese drew up several projects of the new ship - in the first of them the main caliber artillery was located like the German Moltke, in the next five towers were placed in the center plane, two at the ends and one in the middle of the hull. In 1909, the project of Japan's first battle cruiser was completed and approved, all the necessary drawings and specifications for the start of its construction were developed, and funds for construction were allocated by the budget. But at that very moment, reports came from England about the laying of the battle cruiser "Lion" … And the completely finished project was outdated again.
The Japanese realized that progress in the creation of naval weapons was still too fast for them, and that, trying to repeat the projects of England, they were unable to create a modern ship - while they were replicating what Britain had built (albeit with some improvements), English engineers create something completely new. Therefore, when developing the next project, the Japanese made extensive use of English help.
Firm "Vickers" proposed to create a battle cruiser according to the improved project "Lion", "Armstrong" - a completely new project, but after some hesitation the Japanese inclined to the proposal "Vickers". The contract was signed on October 17, 1912. At the same time, the Japanese, of course, counted not only on assistance in designing, but on obtaining the latest British technologies for the production of power plants, artillery and other ship equipment.
Now the battle cruiser for the United Fleet was created as an improved Lion, and its displacement quickly "grew" to 27,000 tons, and this, of course, ruled out the possibility of building this ship in Japanese shipyards. As for the caliber of the guns, after lengthy discussions about the benefits of increasing the caliber, the Japanese were still convinced that the best choice for their ship would be 305mm / 50 guns. Then the British arranged a "leak" of information - the Japanese naval attaché got top secret data from comparative tests, during which it turned out that the 343-mm artillery systems installed on the latest British battle cruisers, in terms of rate of fire and survivability, significantly exceed the 305-mm / 50 guns Englishmen.
After reviewing the test results, the Japanese radically changed their approach to the main caliber of the future ship - now they were not even satisfied with the 343-mm cannon, and they wanted a 356-mm artillery system. Of course, much to the delight of the Vickers, which was tasked with developing a new 356 mm gun for the Japanese battle cruiser.
Artillery
It must be said that the main caliber of the Congo-class battlecruisers is no less mysterious than the British 343-mm cannon. As we said earlier, the artillery of the "Lion" and the dreadnoughts of the "Orion" type received 567 kg of shells, subsequent British ships with 13, 5-inch guns received heavier ammunition weighing 635 kg. As for the initial speed, there are no exact data - according to the author, the most realistic figures are V. B. Muzhenikov, giving 788 and 760 m / s for "light" and "heavy" shells, respectively.
But what is known about the 356 mm / 45 cannon of the Japanese fleet? Obviously, it was created on the basis of the British artillery system, while its design (wire) repeated the design of the heavy British guns. But practically nothing is known about the shells for them: we only know that the British, no doubt, supplied Japan with a certain amount of armor-piercing and high-explosive 356-mm shells, but later the Japanese mastered their production at domestic enterprises.
There is some clarity only with post-war ammunition - the Japanese Type 91 armor-piercing projectile had a mass of 673.5 kg and an initial speed of 770-775 m / s. With a high-explosive, it is already more difficult - it is assumed that the Type 0 had 625 kg at an initial speed of 805 m / s, but some publications indicate that its mass was higher and amounted to 652 kg. However, I would like to note that against the background of 673.5 kg and 775 m / s of an armor-piercing projectile, 625 kg and 805 m / s of a high-explosive projectile look quite organic, but 852 kg and 805 m / s do not, which makes us suspect a banal typo (instead of 625 kg - 652 kg).
Thus, we can assume that initially the 356-mm / 45 guns of the Congo-class battlecruisers received a projectile equal in mass to the British 343-mm 635 kg projectile, which this gun sent into flight with an initial speed of about 790-800 m / s, or about that. By the way, similar characteristics very well "resonate" with the American 356-mm / 45 guns mounted on battleships of the New York, Nevada and Pennsylvania types - they fired 635 kg shells with an initial velocity of 792 m / s. Unfortunately, there are no data on the filling of explosive shells supplied by England, but it can be assumed that the content of explosives did not exceed that of similar 343-mm shells from the British, that is, 20.2 kg for armor-piercing and 80.1 kg for high-explosive, but these are only guesses.
Without a doubt, the Japanese received an excellent gun, which in its ballistic qualities was not inferior to the American one, while slightly exceeding the 343-mm cannon of the British, and besides, it had a great resource - if the British guns were designed for 200 rounds of 635 kg shells, then the Japanese - for 250-280 shots. Perhaps the only thing that can be reproached for them is the British armor-piercing shells, which turned out to be of very poor quality (as shown by the Battle of Jutland), but subsequently the Japanese eliminated this shortcoming.
I must say that the Japanese ordered the 356-mm guns "Congo" to the British even before they learned about the transition of the US fleet to the 14-inch caliber. Therefore, the news of the 356-mm caliber on the New York was received by the Japanese admirals with satisfaction - at last they managed to correctly predict the direction of the development of heavy artillery ships, the United Fleet did not become an outsider.
In addition to the superiority of the artillery systems themselves, "Congo" received an advantage in the location of artillery. As you know, the third tower of the Lion-class battlecruisers was located between the boiler rooms, that is, between the chimneys, which limited the angles of its firing. At the same time, the third tower of the "Congo" was placed between the engine and boiler rooms, which made it possible to place all three pipes of the battle cruiser in the space between the second and third towers, which made the ship's "retreat" fire in no way inferior to the "running" one. At the same time, the separation of the third and fourth towers did not allow them to be taken out with one hit, which the Germans feared and as it actually happened with the Seydlitz in the battle at Dogger Banka. Probably, all the same, the location of the tower between the engine rooms and boiler rooms had its drawbacks (yes, at least the need to pull steam pipes next to the artillery cellars), but the Lyon was the same, so in general, of course, the location of the main caliber " Congo "was noticeably more progressive than that adopted on the British battle cruisers. The firing range of 356-mm guns for the Japanese fleet, apparently, also exceeded British ships - confusion is possible here, since the towers of the Congo-class battle cruisers were repeatedly modernized, but presumably, their maximum vertical guidance angle reached 25 degrees already at creation.
As for the average artillery of the Congo, there are some oddities here too. There is no mystery in the artillery systems themselves - the first battle cruiser in Japan was armed with 16 152-mm / 50 guns, developed by the same Vickers. These guns were quite at the level of the best world analogues, sending 45, 36 kg shells into flight with an initial speed of 850-855 m / s.
Sources usually indicate that the Japanese did not approve of Fischer's ideas about a minimum mine action caliber, because they knew very well from the experience of the Russian-Japanese war that heavier guns are needed to reliably defeat attacking destroyers than 76-102 mm artillery systems installed on British battleships and battle cruisers. But this, seemingly completely logical point of view, categorically does not fit the presence of the second mine-action caliber on the battle cruisers of Japan - sixteen 76-mm / 40 installations, located partly on the roofs of the main caliber towers, and partly in the middle of the ship. All this allows one to suspect the Japanese of a purely German approach, because in Germany they did not see any reason why the concept of "only big guns" should exclude the presence of a medium caliber. As a result, German dreadnoughts and battle cruisers were armed with both medium (15 cm) and mine action (8, 8 cm) calibers, and we see something similar on battle cruisers of the Congo type.
The torpedo armament of the Japanese ships was also strengthened - instead of two 533-mm torpedo tubes "Lion", "Congo" received eight.
Reservation
Unfortunately, the initial booking of the Congo-class battlecruisers is highly controversial. Perhaps the only element of the ship's protection, according to which the sources came to a unanimous opinion, is its main armor belt. The Japanese did not like the British "mosaic" protection system, in which the engine and boiler rooms of the Lion-class battlecruisers were protected by 229 mm, but the areas of the artillery cellars of the bow and stern towers were protected by only 102-152 mm armor. Therefore, the Japanese chose a different path - they reduced the thickness of the citadel to 203 mm, but at the same time it protected the side, including the areas of the main caliber turrets. More precisely, the armored belt slightly did not reach the edge of the fourth tower barbet facing the stern, but an inclined traverse with a thickness of 152-203 mm went from it (from the edge of the armored belt through the hull to the barbet). In the bow, the citadel was covered by a traverse of the same thickness, but located perpendicular to the side.
So, yielding 229 mm to the protection of the "Lion" in thickness, the main armor belt "Congo" had a great length, as well as a height, which was 3, 8 m against 3.5 m for the "Lion". With a normal displacement, the 203-mm armored plates of the "Congo" were submerged in the water by about half, which also favorably distinguished the protection of the Japanese ship from its English "predecessors" (the 229-mm armor-belt "Lion" deepened by 0, 91 m). At the same time, below 203 mm of the armor belt along the entire length from the bow to the aft towers, inclusive, the underwater part of the hull was also protected by a narrow (65 cm in height) strip of 76 mm of armor.
Outside the citadel, the side was protected by 76 mm armor, which had the same height in the bow as the 203-mm armor belt, but in the stern the height of the 76-m armor plate was significantly less. The extremities of the "Congo" were armored almost all the way, the protection only slightly did not reach the stem and sternpost. Above the main armor belt, the side was protected by 152 mm armor up to the upper deck, including the casemates of 152 mm guns located in the ship's hull.
The horizontal defense of the "Congo" is the subject of much controversy, and, alas, nothing is known for certain about it. O. A. Rubanov, in his monograph devoted to battle cruisers of the "Congo" class, writes:
“So, for example, Jane's, Brassey and Watts indicate the thickness of the main deck at 2.75 dm (60 mm), and Breeder says 2 dm (51 mm). Now, based on the comparison of "Congo" with "Lion" and "Tiger", many foreign experts believe that the above data is most likely."
I would like to immediately note a typo - 2.75 inches is approximately 69.9 mm, but it is extremely doubtful that the armored deck had a similar or similar thickness. You just need to remember that the Lion had several decks, some of which (main deck, forecastle deck) had increased thickness. For example, the thickness of the Lion's armored deck both in the horizontal part and on the bevels was 25.4 mm (that is, one inch), but the upper deck within the citadel was also thickened to 25.4 mm, so that theoretically, there is reason to claim a 50mm vertical defense for the Lion. And over a small area, the forecastle deck in the chimney area was 38 mm thick - and this, again, can be "counted" in addition to the previously calculated 50 mm. But even without resorting to such manipulations, it is easy to remember that in the bow and stern, outside the citadel, the Lion's armored decks reached 64.5 mm in thickness.
In other words, we see that the Lion's booking is completely impossible to characterize by naming one particular thickness, because it will not be clear what is included there. It is quite possible, for example, that the armored deck of the Congo really reached 70 mm - outside the citadel, where the Lion had 64.5 mm armor, but what can this tell us about the horizontal protection of the Congo as a whole? Nothing.
Nevertheless, the author is inclined to think that within the citadel "Congo" was protected by 50 mm armor, since this thickness is quite consistent with the protection that the Japanese provided in the preliminary projects of battle cruisers. In addition, the Combined Fleet assumed that its future battles would take place at great distances and it would be prudent if its horizontal armor requirements exceeded those of the British. At the same time, the 50 mm armored deck does not look too heavy for a battle cruiser of the size of the "Congo". But, of course, it cannot be ruled out that the battle cruiser, like its English "colleagues", had a 25 mm armored deck and a 25 mm upper deck.
On the protection of the towers, alas, there is also no complete data, it is indicated that the towers and barbets were protected by 229 mm armor (although a number of sources indicate 254 mm), but it is obvious that the barbets could have such protection only above the upper deck - below, opposite the sides, protected first by 152 mm, and then, perhaps, by 203 mm of armor (unfortunately, it is completely unknown at what height the armored deck was from the waterline), the barbets, obviously, should have had a smaller thickness.
Unfortunately, the author of this article does not know anything about the conning tower, it can only be assumed that its maximum thickness, by analogy with the "Lion", did not exceed 254 mm.
Power plant
The nominal capacity of the Congo machines, which consisted of 4 Parsons turbines and 36 Yarrow boilers, was 64,000 hp, which was even slightly less than the Lion's 70,000 hp. At the same time, the "Congo" was heavier, its normal displacement was 27,500 tons versus 26,350 tons of the British battle cruiser, but still the chief designer D. Thurston believed that the Japanese ship would reach 27.5 knots, that is, half a knot above the contract speed "Lion". The maximum fuel reserve reached 4,200 tons of coal and 1,000 tons of fuel oil, with this reserve the range of the "Congo" was supposed to be 8,000 miles at a speed of 14 knots.
In general, we can state that the "Congo" has become a battle cruiser in the traditional British style - little armor and a lot of speed with the largest guns. But with all this, he was superior to the ships of the "Lion" and "Queen Mary" - his artillery was more powerful, and protection - more rational. Accordingly, a funny situation has developed - a more perfect ship is being built for the Asian power at the British shipyards than for the fleet of His Majesty. Of course, this was unacceptable, and the fourth battle cruiser in Great Britain, carrying 343-mm guns, which was originally supposed to be built with a copy of Queen Mary, was created according to a new, improved project.
