On November 21st, 1912, at the Yokosuka Naval Arsenal, a new super battleship was launched into the water.
This was JN Hi, named after the sacred Mount Hay near Kyoto.
She was the second battleship of the Congo class, four of the most powerful battleships of the Imperial Japanese Navy at that time.
Hi was designed by British engineer George Thirsten with an original displacement of 27,500 tons.
The ship measured 214 m in length, 28 m in beam, and was armed with eight 356 mm main guns arranged in four twin turrets.
He’s firepower was strong enough to penetrate the armor of any battleship in the world at the time of her birth.
But that was only the beginning.
During the 1930s, he underwent a comprehensive modernization overhaul.
Her engines were upgraded, increasing maximum speed to 30 knots, an impressive figure for a battleship weighing over 30,000 tons.
Her armor was reinforced.
Modern fire control systems were installed.
He became one of the fastest and most powerful battleships of the Imperial Japanese Navy.
Throughout 30 years of service, he was the pride of the fleet.
She participated in countless exercises, diplomatic visits, and was the vessel upon which Emperor Hirohito embarked on numerous occasions.
Among the 1400 sailors who served aboard her, many considered he their second home.
In December 1941, when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, he was part of the force protecting the attacking aircraft carriers.
During the first months of the war, as Japanese forces swept through Southeast Asia like a storm, he escorted carriers to achieve dominance at sea, participated in the capture of Singapore and Java, and ventured deep into the Indian Ocean.
But in the summer of 1942, the situation changed.
The Battle of Midway in June was the first heavy defeat.
In August, American forces landed on Guadal Canal, opening the Allies first counteroffensive campaign in the Pacific.
And it was at Guadal Canal that he’s fate would be decided.
By November 1942, Guadal Canal had become the hottest spot in the Pacific War.
Though small, this island held critical strategic importance.
Whoever controlled Guadal Canal would control the sea lanes between Australia and America, determining the entire Pacific campaign.
The center of the conflict was Henderson Field.
Originally built by Japan, this airfield fell into American hands in August 1942.
From here, American aircraft continuously attacked any Japanese ship that dared approach.
Daylight belonged to the Americans, but night belonged to the Japanese.
Each night, Japanese ships would sneak down the Tsavo Sound, bringing weapons and ammunition to troops on the island.
The Americans called these ships the Tokyo Express, but these were only smallcale operations.
The Japanese high command wanted a more decisive solution.
The plan was devised in early November.
Instead of just supplying, they would completely destroy Henderson Field with a naval bombardment.
And to do this, they needed the biggest guns, battleship guns.
On the night of November 12th, a powerful fleet departed Tru Base heading toward Guadal Canal.
Admiral Abbe Hiroaki commanded from the battleship Hay.
Alongside he was the battleship Kirishima, light cruiser Nagara and 14 destroyers.
This was the strongest force Japan had ever mobilized for a night operation at Guadal Canal.
What was special was that this time PA did not carry armor-piercing shells for fighting warships.
Instead, she carried high explosive shells, the type designed to destroy targets on land.
Each 356 mm shell was packed with explosives capable of creating craters dozens of meters wide.
Just a few dozen such shells would turn Henderson Field into a field of ruins.
But what Admiral Abe did not know was that American intelligence had discovered this plan.
Admiral William Holy, Commander South Pacific, had ordered Admiral Daniel Callahan to gather every available warship to intercept the Japanese fleet.
Callahan’s force was much weaker.
Five cruisers and eight destroyers, no battleships.
Theoretically, this was an unfavorable battle.
But Callahan had one advantage that Abbe did not.
Radar.
This technology, still new in 1942, allowed American ships to detect enemies in darkness from dozens of kilometers away.
In a night naval battle, where enemies could not be seen with the naked eye, radar was a life or death advantage.
1:00 in the morning, November 13th.
The sky was moonless, starless.
Darkness was nearly absolute.
The Japanese fleet was sneaking into the Tsavo Sound in a long formation.
Destroyers in front, followed by the two battleships, Hi and Kiroshima, then the cruiser and destroyers behind.
A total of 16 warships advancing in almost complete silence.
On Heay’s bridge, Admiral Abbe stood gazing into the darkness.
According to plan, they would proceed directly to Guadal Canal, bombard the airfield for 1 hour, then withdraw before dawn.
Simple and effective.
But to the north, about 30 nautical miles away, the American fleet was also entering the Savvo Sound.
Radar on the cruiser USS Helena had detected the Japanese fleet from a distance of 27,000 m.
Information was quickly relayed to the flagship USS San Francisco where Admiral Callahan was commanding.
Callahan made a bold and dangerous decision.
Instead of firing from distance, he ordered the fleet to charge straight into the middle of the Japanese formation.
He wanted to fight at close range where the Japanese battleship’s firepower advantage would be partially neutralized.
141.
Radar showed the distance was only 5,000 mters and decreasing rapidly.
On American ships, sailors were at maximum battle readiness.
They knew that a Japanese battleship was somewhere in the darkness ahead.
148 distance dropped to 3,000 m, a terrifyingly close distance for a naval battle.
Suddenly, Japanese destroyers switched on search lights pointing straight at American ships.
In an instant, the element of surprise vanished.
Both sides could see each other.
The command rang out across every warship.
Hell erupted on the SEO sea.
Hundreds of guns from both sides fired simultaneously.
Fire from naval guns tore through the darkness.
Shells from 127 mm to 356 mm flew back and forth in the confined space.
Some ships were so close that machine gunners could see enemy faces.
He with her massive hull and illuminated by search lights immediately became the primary target.
Cruiser USS Atlanta from a distance of only 1,600 m poured 127 mm shells into he superructure.
USS San Francisco with more powerful 203 mm guns also concentrated fire on the Japanese battleship.
A 203 mm shell penetrated straight into Heay’s bridge.
The terrible explosion killed dozens of officers instantly.
Admiral Abe was seriously wounded.
Shrapnel embedded in his shoulder and chest.
The fleet chief of staff was killed on the spot.
Within minutes, the command center of the entire Japanese fleet fell into chaos.
But worse was coming.
A series of shells struck he’s stern, destroying the steering system.
The rudder no longer responded to commands from the bridge.
The 32,000 ton battleship began turning in circles, completely losing maneuverability in the dense fire.
He’s gun crews, despite losing contact with command, continued firing.
Hi’s 356 mm shells had devastating destructive power at such close range.
Destroyer USS Cushing was hit by a 356 mm shell directly in the engine room.
The explosion tore apart the ship’s midsection.
Cushing began sinking immediately.
USS Atlanta also could not escape a similar fate.
While concentrating fire on HEA, Atlanta was suddenly hit by friendly fire from San Francisco in the chaos.
Immediately after, he turned her guns and poured a salvo into Atlanta.
Admiral Norman Scott, aboard Atlanta, was killed.
The ship caught fire violently and was forced to withdraw from the battle.
26 minutes.
Only 26 minutes, but those were 26 minutes of hell at sea.
The fire density in this battle was perhaps the densest in all of World War II.
More than 10,000 shells were fired in that brief period.
As dawn began to break, both sides withdrew with horrific casualties.
On the American side, two cruisers sunk, two others heavily damaged, four destroyers sunk or seriously damaged.
Admirals Callahan and Scott both killed.
Nearly 1500 American sailors killed or wounded.
But on the Japanese side, although casualties were fewer, they had lost something more precious, their strategic mission.
The plan to bombard Henderson Field had completely failed.
And most importantly, he was too severely damaged to retreat safely.
When the first rays of sunlight shone on the Savo waters, the scene it illuminated was truly tragic.
Battleship Hay was drifting alone about 25 nautical miles north of Tsavo Island.
Black smoke rose from many places on the hull.
The superructure looked like a pile of scrap metal.
The main bridge was almost completely destroyed.
Captain Masau Nishida, who was lucky to survive the terrible night, was commanding from a backup control station.
He reviewed the damage reports and the situation was worse than he had imagined.
The steering system was completely broken.
Engine room number two was flooded.
Maximum speed was only 5 knots, the speed of a sailing boat.
Worse was their position.
Daytime near Guadal Canal, within operating range of Henderson Field.
This was the most dangerous place a damaged battleship could be.
Nishida knew that American aircraft would come.
It was just a matter of time.
7:00 in the morning.
News of a damaged Japanese battleship lying about 30 nautical miles away spread like wildfire through Henderson Field.
This was the opportunity every American pilot dreamed of.
An enemy battleship almost immobile within striking range.
The first wave appeared at 8:30.
Six SBD Dauntless dive bombers from Marine Scout Bombing Squadron 142 flew in.
From an altitude of 3,000 m.
They saw he a giant ship drifting slowly like a wounded beast.
The aircraft dove one by one.
He tried to evade, but with a speed of 5 knots and severely limited maneuverability, it was a futile effort.
The first 500lb bomb punched through the deck, exploding in an ammunition compartment.
The secondary explosion shook the entire hull.
This was just the beginning of a long, terrible day.
For eight straight hours, from 8:00 in the morning to 4:00 in the afternoon, he had to endure wave after wave of attacks.
Aircraft from Henderson Field, from Espiritu Santo, and finally from carrier USS Enterprise successfively found PA.
TBF Avenger aircraft carrying Mark13 torpedoes attacked from low altitude.
One torpedo struck the starboard side, punching a large hole.
Seawater rushed in at a rate of dozens of tons per minute.
The damage control team tried their best, but with so much damage, they could not keep pace with the flooding.
At 11:00 noon, B7 bombers from a Spiritu Santo base appeared.
They dropped bombs from high altitude, a tactic usually ineffective against moving targets.
But he was no longer a moving target.
With a speed of only a few knots, he was almost stationary.
Some 500 lb bombs hit, causing additional damage and fires.
At 2:00 in the afternoon, the largest wave appeared.
USS Enterprise operating more than 200 nautical miles away had dispatched a formidable strike force.
17 SBD Dauntless dive bombers and eight TBF Avenger torpedo bombers.
This was a perfectly coordinated attack.
Dive bombers attacked from above while torpedo bombers flew low over the water.
He’s anti-aircraft fire, weakened after many hours of continuous fighting, could not deal with both threats simultaneously.
Another torpedo struck the bow.
Two bombs hit turret number two, putting it completely out of action.
Inside the ship, conditions were no less catastrophic.
Fires spread throughout many compartments.
Toxic smoke spread everywhere, making breathing difficult.
Temperature in some compartments reached 60° C.
Medical personnel worked non-stop with hundreds of wounded.
Medicine and bandages had been exhausted long ago.
The firefighting team, despite their best efforts, could not control the fires.
Each new bomb, each new explosion, created new fires.
In some compartments, temperatures were so high that metal began to melt.
4:00 in the afternoon, he had endured more than 10 waves of attacks with a total of more than 80 sorties.
By estimate, the ship had been hit by at least five torpedoes and more than 20 bombs.
The entire superructure looked like a pile of ruins.
The ship was listing 15° to starboard and continuing to list.
5:00 in the afternoon, Captain Nishida summoned the surviving officers to discuss.
The situation was clear.
Pa could not be saved.
The ship was slowly sinking.
Even if they could repair the steering system.
Maximum speed of 5 knots meant they would need more than 20 hours to reach the nearest safe base.
20 hours in daylight under continuous attack by American aircraft AF.
No one could survive that.
5:30 a telegram arrived from combined fleet headquarters.
The content was brief.
Scuttle Hay.
Evacuate all crew.
This was an order no captain wanted to receive.
Nishida had served aboard he for nearly 10 years.
He knew every corner of this ship.
And now he had to order its scutling with his own hands.
But there was no other choice.
They could not let he fall into enemy hands.
A Japanese battleship, even damaged, still contained many military secrets.
And above all, this was a matter of honor, the honor of the Imperial Japanese Navy.
6:00 in the evening, the evacuation order was issued.
More than 1,200 sailors began leaving the ship.
The wounded were given priority.
They were carefully lowered into lifeboats, then transferred to destroyers Yuki Kaz and Teruzuki, waiting nearby.
Meanwhile, the engineering team was performing their final mission.
They went throughout the ship, opening all sea valves.
Every watertight door, which would normally be kept sealed to prevent water spread, was now opened wide.
They wanted to ensure that he would sink quickly with no chance of salvage.
7:00 in the evening.
Most of the crew had been evacuated, but he still floated.
Captain Nishida as the last to leave the ship according to naval tradition ordered Yukaz and Teruzuki to fire torpedoes into he to accelerate the scuttling process.
Four torpedoes were fired into the hull.
The massive explosions shook Hay.
Sea water poured in at an unprecedented rate.
6:30 in the evening, November 13th, 1942.
He began to sink.
The bow slowly submerged into the water.
The Pacific oceans swallowed the deck meter by meter.
The stern gradually rose toward the sky.
The 356 mm guns, once the pride of the fleet, now pointed toward heaven like a final prayer.
From the destroyers, more than,200 sailors stood silently watching their ship sink.
Many could not hold back tears.
They had fought with everything they had, done everything possible, but it was not enough to save he.
With a final rumbling sound like the sigh of a giant, he slipped beneath the waves.
The battleship took about 5 minutes to sink completely.
The sinking position was at coordinates 9° 11 minutes south, 159° 45 minutes east at a depth of about 900 m, only a few nautical miles from Tsavo Island.
He became the first Japanese battleship sunk in World War II.
But the historical significance of this loss went far beyond losing one battleship.
The night naval battle of November 12th to 13th, despite heavy American casualties, had prevented the plan to bombard Henderson Field.
Thanks to this, the airfield continued operating.
American aircraft continued controlling the daytime skies.
This played a decisive role in the Guadal Canal campaign.
Just two nights later, on November 14th to 15th, another naval battle occurred.
This time, battleship Kiroshima, K’s sister ship, was also sunk.
Within 48 hours, Japan lost two of the four precious battleships of the Congo class.
This was a loss that the Imperial Navy could never fully recover from.
In terms of human cost, he lost approximately 188 sailors in the final battle.
Hundreds more were wounded.
Each number represented a life, a family, an untold story.
In 1992, exactly 50 years after sinking, he’s wreck discovered by American explorer Robert Ballard, a same person who found the wreck of the Titanic.
He lies upright at a depth of 900 m, like a silent monument to those who fought and died upon her.
The story of Ha is a reminder of the cruelty of war, the courage of soldiers, and the price paid for military ambition.
More than 80 years later, that lesson remains fully relevant.
