The two ships completed in the class, Amagi, and Kagami, were works of art, with the same long forecastle, clipper bow, and swept decks of the Yamato class, only with nine 12.2-inch guns. They were also better protected than any heavy cruiser they might encounter, with 210mm belt armor and 180mm on the conning tower, and they were very fast at nearly 34 knots, with a 12,000 nautical mile endurance. Some called them fast battlecruisers, but the Japanese classified them as super Type A cruisers. Their analogue in the Royal Navy was the new Knight Class battlecruiser that had been a scaled down version of the KGV class battleship, only with ten 10-inch guns instead of 14-inchers.
These two ships had completed early war service, covering the invasion of the Philippines, and then returned to Sasebo for additional work on their AA suite and more recently, the addition of radar. The next two hulls would be built out as carriers, two ships Yamamoto had also mentioned to Captain Harada, the Shirane and Mikasa. And a fifth hull in that class was already afloat. Originally planned as the battlecruiser Ashitaka, it had instead been built out as the carrier Akagi.
Yet Yamamoto had not revealed everything to Harada and Fukada. Concerning the two Kii Class ships that he had mentioned, there had actually been four hulls laid down, with two completed to become the superb new fast battleships Hiraga and Satsuma. The last two hulls were wreathed in that shadow that lay over this hidden fleet construction program. Now the Navy would produce something more, born of that same compromise between battleship and carrier that had led so many nations to design hybrid ships.
Those last two hulls meant for the Kii Class had been well on their way to becoming fast battleships as originally conceived when that construction was halted, then secretly resumed to convert those ships to carrier designs. They already had two of the five twin 41cm main guns installed forward when that order was given, (one on each of the two hulls), and designer Yuzuru Hiraga soon argued that it would slow construction down considerably if they had to be removed, along with the barbettes and magazines, with the entire forward section reconfigured.
Hiraga was a very influential man, who had first learned his craft in the Royal Naval College at Greenwich. He then led the design team for the battleships Yamashiro and Hiei before becoming Director of Shipyards in 1913. The driving force behind Japan’s naval programs, Hiraga had a particular genius for getting as much power and speed possible within the limits of existing treaties before the war. This was why many Japanese ships had as many as five main gun turrets, and the Kii Class was one of those designs.
The guns were already placed up front, he argued, so why not leave well enough alone, and then simply build out the rest of the ship as a carrier? The Germans had the Goeben, the Americans had Shiloh, Antietam, Vicksburg and Gettysburg, and the Japanese already had commissioned two small hybrid scout carriers, Mezu and Gozo, though both were lost in the Gilberts the previous year. Very pleased with the battleship class that now bore the designer’s name, (Hiraga), the navy relented and sanctioned the secret program. Hiraga delivered.
Now the two ships sat in the harbor at Sasebo, just turned over to the fleet at Nagano’s order, and with the newest planes off the production lines, ready for trials. There was still a good deal of fitting out to do, and the crews were still adjusting the boilers for proper pressure. Normally, these ships would take another six months before being fully commissioned, but the need was very great, and Admiral Nagano had decided to put the ships into the hands of his navy professionals and see what could be done. The first was Kinryu, the ‘Golden Dragon,’ and its sister ship was the Ryujin, the ‘Dragon God,’ mythical ruler of the sea.
Without the other main gun turrets and barbettes, and a much simpler superstructure, the weight of the ships was reduced from an anticipated 48,500 tons to 38,000, about the same general displacement as Kaga and Akagi. Along with that weight reduction, four knots of extra speed were gained, pushing the ship to an expected 34 knots. Endurance was also improved by 50% to 12,000 nautical miles. A single vertical stack was retained but moved to the port side allowing for a long flight deck of 200 meters, only 5 meters shorter than the Blue Dragon. Interior spaces allowed for a carrier air wing of 48 planes to be stored on the hangar deck, with additional room for 12 planes on the flight deck.
The twin 16-inch gun turret up front also made this ship a perfect commerce raider, and one that could either outrun or engage enemy cruisers at the Captain’s discretion. The ship also had 16 of the new 10 cm/65 (3.9") Type 98 AA guns, eight per side, which was perhaps the best Naval AA gun Japan would produce in the war. To compliment these there were 16 upgraded 25mm AA guns on each side with improved elevation, range finding, and magazine capacity. Radar gave the ship night vision, making it a good ship for forward picket deployment as well.
These new dragons were going to be pressed into service as soon as possible, and complete the lengthy testing and shakedown period during active service. The very existence of these ships had been a closely guarded secret, and they were also a reason why the Navy was so desperately short of carrier strike planes. The wings allocated to Kinryu and Ryujin, along with those for the Shirane and Mikasa fleet carrier conversions, had been segregated from the main fleet and jealously protected. They were being allocated the newest aircraft off the production lines as well.
When Admiral Nagano first toured the Golden Dragon, he was so impressed that he quickly authorized several other conversion proposals that had been subject to debate. The carriers always needed fast cruisers to run with them. The four Takao class ships were excellent in that role, and later, four more ships were planned with improvements, two of which were built out as Tone and Chikuma. That was a new class that combined the firepower and speed of a heavy cruiser with the scouting ability of a seaplane carrier, with six Aichi E13A float planes that could range our 1300 miles.
“Why not use these hybrid designs to fulfill that same role?” asked Nagano, and the answer was soon to come. Two additional hulls had been completed for another pair of Tone Class cruisers, but they had been cancelled, the hulls scheduled for scrapping to provide steel for other projects. That order was quickly rescinded when Chikuma was beaten to near scrap by Mizuchi, along with the old battleship Mutsu.