The Missing Sister - Where is the Shipwreck of IJN Kongō? 

She was sunk in shallow waters north of Taiwan, it is almost a possibility that she was completely harvested by the Chinese. Or explorers found her , but never said her location in fear of Chinese salvage. Chinese salvage is so much of a bane that ship wreck finders doesn't give the exact location of wrecks anymore.

Kongou's wreck might be physically gone, but at least her history remains with us through the hard work of people like you.

Apparently, Kongō’s explosion was so bright that Sealion’s captain described it as “a sunset at night.”

From a Battlecruiser to a battleship and serving for 30+ years, the Kongo class has some impressive service history

For those curious as to why these pre-WWII ships are so sought for salvage, it is for their rare low background steel. A.k.a, pre-war steel. Basically low radiation steel. Extremely valuable for use in medical and scientific equipment. Basically steel produced before the nukes fell. I'm sure this has been explained 20 times already, but I'm a lazy reader.

The Kongos were the IJN's oldest battleships, and had started life as battle cruisers - fast, heavily armed, lightly armored (the latter in comparison to battleships). Being comparatively old and designed as a battle cruiser, even in her upgraded form she probably was not going to handle a modern torpedo very well, and evidently didn't. The USN kept their contemporary battleship class, the New Yorks, in the Atlantic until late in the war. What made the Kongos so useful, though, was their speed. They could steam with Kido Butai's carriers and with the cruisers attacking Henderson Field (i.e. able to do their bombardment and then retreat out of range before daylight).

Once again, another feature episode of the Silent Service of the USS Sea Lion. They were sure they had sunk a battle wagon, but they were met with speculation as the Japanese didn't want to admit to the loss of Kongo. They were finally given the respect they deserved as there weren't too many battleships that were sunk during either great wars.

She is one of three battleships sunk by a submarine and all three of them were British built!

Those who salvage War Graves deserve retribution.

As the descendent of a crew perished with one of the ships that got plundered by those Chinese grave robbers, I couldn’t find enough words to describe the revulsion I feel. (And I myself is a mixed-Chinese! I never understood how those people give zero thought about destroying others grave, not just a wreck, but I have seen they bulldozed a gravesite on China mainland many times and nobody seems to care at all).

Thanks for this video. Edit: Other cultures/nations do not respect those lost in battle. We find it hard to believe, but I don't think they give a second thought to raping the wreck site.

About the torpedoes that struck Kongo - Eli T. Reich ordered them named prior to launch. They were name for 4 of Commander Reich's old shipmates on the first USS Sealion, which was destroyed by an aerial bomb during the December 10, 1942 raid on the Cavite Navy Yard while it was in drydock.

Nice presentation, as usual from you guys. Lots of food for thought there. Thank you very much and I’m looking forward to your next shipwreck story.

The thing that makes me mad is the fact that these people are salvaging ships that had people who sacrificed their lives for them to even be alive just to be treated with this level of disrespect afterwards.

I have a confession to make.... She's in my garage. Ive put most of her back together but I've run into a lot of issues because I can't read Japanese....😢

Kongo was damaged during the battle of Samar and after her fuel stop was send to Japan for repairs/refitting/weapons upgrades (more of the useless 25mm guns) due to the damage she was unable to sail at her full speed of around 30 knots and even if she could sail at 30 knots her fuel was not of the best quality and a ship at that time could not do full speed for unlimited periods. The us Submarine spotted the Japanese task force on her radar, they where over the horizon so she in turn could not be spotted, they decided to see if they could dump a few fish into the Japanese and even with a heavy storm where able to do over 20 knots on the surface, the engineers telling the captain that after the chase the engines would need to be repaired, they managed to get close enough to launch the spread and then tried to keep in touch but the engines where not running that well anymore and the storm was almost over, the staff on the conning tower saw a flash and smoke in the distance and the "big" blip on the radar disappeared, the kill could not be confirmed right away as the Japanese destroyers where active looking for the sub and picking up the few survivors. Kongo was a "version" of the HMS Tiger but with heavier guns (just out of development) and more armor, the Japanese had been impressed by the HMS Tiger who in turn was a development of the HMS Lion class, the deal was made whereby the Japanese would build 3 ships at home with British help and parts and the 4th ship (Kongo) would be build in British dockyard with Japanese observers/workers so they could learn. the Kongo's where in a way the most successful of the "conversions" but always lacked side Armour, 9 inches is not enough to stop 16 inch shells (ask Kirishima) and the thinner plating above the belt was penetrated by American 8 inch shells and possibly even 5 and 6 inch shells.

If she hasn’t been touched yet her wreck is probably like that of her sisters upside down with her bow and stern broken off

EXCELLENT, THANK YOU FOR THIS SHARE.

So many ijn ships are missing today may those sailors find eternal peace

Don't do this to me man. I started loving witha BURNING LOVE and passion all the Kongo sisters 😢 Not Knowing the final resting place of Kongo hurts me big time.

IJN Kongo was the last warship Japan commissioned from a "foreign power", in this case the UK, military planners for the War against Japan should have taken note just how quickly Japan had learned to build warships given her three sister ships were built in Japan! It would be interesting to know though if the "Vickers Cemented Armour" that Kongo used was better than the "modified" Krupp Cemented Armour that was used on her sisters? Did Japan manage to mimic the highly technical European steel making that quickly? Making a samurai sword is one thing but armouring a whole ship? By the 1940's Japan would have learnt and maybe exceeded the standards of others but was Kongo tougher than her sisters as built, always remembering that the Kongo class were remodelled several times to become the work-horses of the IJN. What is a very sad inflection made by the presenter and undoubtedly certain to be true is that for almost FIFTY YEARS China, aided by neighbours friendly to that state, have been destroying war graves in order to acquire "Pre-war steel (low radiation)"! How would China feel if "grave robbers" stole all of the "terracotta army" to make coffee cups for the West! As a British citizen it is hugely sad that the wreck of the cruiser HMS Exeter has been stolen piece by piece, I think not about her sad but almost inevitable end at the hands of the Japanese, but that such a symbol of the fighting determination of the Royal Navy should have been shown such poor respect.

I am completely amazed that the Chinese would salvage these war graves, it's a complete desicration of these men's tombs with complete disregard for them and their families 😢. How would the salvagers like it if other nationalities came and trashed their ancestors graves?

With low background steel being as valuable as it is, it certainly sounds reasonable that Kongō might have been surreptitiously salvaged. I hope not, but as time goes on, with a shallow depth wreck not having been found, this sounds more and more likely.

I'd really love to know in depth how the Japanese went about building the 3x sisters in home ship yards after Kongo arrived from the UK in Japan. Did they have detailed plans, I presume they did and set off from there. Imagine having to reverse engineer such a thing!!

I am using this video to get a lead on how Kongo looks and I will make a model of the Kongo's wreck theory

Dude your videos are so awesome and interesting!

If it was in shallow water somewhere in Taiwan, maybe it was salvage by Japanese during war, or it was hidden the exact location to avoid looters, like IJN Musashi somewhere in Romblon, Philippines, they didn't give the exact location

she might have been salvaged by ww2 steel thieves

I would not be surprised if the wreck of the Kongo is intact; well, except for the magazine explosion. There is a major qualitative difference between diving on a wreck that is 150 ft. deep (45.72 meters) or even 200 ft. deep (60.96 meters) and a shipwreck that is 350 ft. deep (106.68 meters). In fact, you can't dive below 216 ft. (66 meters) using ordinary scuba without the risk of oxygen toxicity setting in, which causes convulsions, unconsciousness and death. At 350 ft. that could happen within a few minutes. Plus, at 350 ft. a diver would suffer from nitrogen narcosis that could be so bad they might not be able to tell up from down. Divers would need to use exotic mixed air that largely substitutes helium for nitrogen. Even then, dive time would be severely limited. The best way for divers to work on a wreck at this depth would be for them to dive from a bell with their mixed-air supplied by long hoses from the bell. It's called saturation diving. The divers live at that depth while working on the wreck until they are brought up in the bell and immediately transferred into a decompression chamber. It's not that China or Taiwan doesn't have people trained to do this kind of diving, but it would be an expensive operation and would be very noticeable in an area that sees a lot of ocean traffic. You would have a ship that wasn't moving, just sitting over the wreck and diving bell; probably for several days, while divers went out to plant explosives on the Kongo's hull. Even if you could substitute ROV's for divers to do this work; which is a lot easier said then done, you are talking massive expense for use and maintenance of that kind of equipment. Then there would be the dredging of the blown apart wreck, which would also take a lot of time and be very noticeable. I think Kongo's wreck would have to lie off the normal shipping lanes for such an operation to happen in secret, but this seems unlikely in the area where it went down.

How very curious and serendipitous. I was only wondering about this late last night!. 👍🏻🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🇬🇧🇺🇸

It makes one wonder if the wreck of the USS Tang hasn't been salvaged as well. Shallow, in Chinese coastal waters. Did the US Navy dive on it between 1945-49. The Chinese PLA Navy later? It could also be that the wreck has been protected, by PRC bureaucracy if nothing else. Has anyone checked on USS Lagarto lately? Sad to think that Frank Latta's resting place is no more.

Has anyone ever done a detailed map of the wreck of IJN Musashi?

The sea bed of Taiwan's north was very deep, like a cliff suddenly dived down to 1000 meters of the Pacific Ocean's basin.

I've wondered about other ships, like Tosa.

In my opinion is still there. Covered with nets. To close to Taiwan to do it without beeing spoted by Taiwan Navy. Of course in case of Chinese salvage.

I like Japanese battleship Kongo

I highly doubt much of Kongo is left at all, even if we find her wreck, were probably only going to find small bits of the once proud ship, and we will be VERY lucky if we even find a piece of her that's Identifiable maybe potentially one of her turrets but even that is a long shot at best. Just like the modern day remains of the Tirpitz, there will not be much left of her or she might just be entirely gone.

HMS Audacious could be a accurate representation of what realistically happened or HMS Barham both of those explosions were massive and tore the ships apart I mean you could also say the case with HMS Hood as well we just don’t know how big the explosion was on Congo to really say whether or not that it was as big as those two ships are even as big as the one that totaled Hood. P.S Could you do a Video about HMS Audacious

I always thought she was in deep water. Not sure if her exploding means she in small pieces and will be a hard time finding the wreck. Or easier to illegally salvage cause of veing in shallow water

All my gaming friends who play all remark, Kongo is most beautiful looking Battleship. It has WW1 feel with just more of everything.

Pre-Atomic steel, She's gone I'm sure

Are you doing a video on the wreck of HMS Royal Oak

may have been blown into pieces as the magazine went off after the hit from one of the torpedoes

I wonder if she was salvaged post-war and nothing was ever said. I think it might be worth contacting Woods Hole and seeing if they could organize an expedition.

As a Navy veteran, I find these jerks who salvage WW2 wrecks absolutely horrid. These ships are GRAVE SITES!!!! They should be left alone.

Really telling that 3 suffered magazine explosion while sinking. So did HMS Barham which capsizing and explosion were filmed. And IJN Yamato blew up ( famous picture of “mushroom cloud). Is there something about capsizing that rattles or shocks ammunition in the magazines?

Being in that shallow water! Made her susceptible to being pirated by unscrupulous reclamation and may have been predated ! By salvagers

Shallow water what a shame. I get a certain degree of practicallity, but not war graves.

Burning love.

Capt. Reich on-board Sea Lion...yeah I bet he was glad he was in the Pacific.

No need to speculate here! That pre-nuclear steel is worth it’s weight in gold! The IJN in Congo was illegally salvaged years ago! Of course, the salvagers will never tell because they don’t wanna get in trouble.

@Skynea History I bet you also love her Kantai Collection incarnation.

This shipwreck was cut up by salvage hunters, right? I heard an Australian ship vanished because of salvagers.

I would be in favor of taking shellfish from the area of shipwrecks growing them in a tank with strontium then releasing them on the shipwrecks

Rip 🙏 crew of Kongo

There's nothing left the chicoms picked it clean

There is an extra hot place on hell for those who salvage these historic wrecks.

IJN battleships KONGO, MUSASHI and Major assets they destroy during american liberation of philippines, i think kongo is on sibuyan sea together with musashi because it was part of convoy for battle of leyte gulf

Pls Review the "Lucky Ships" Yukikaze and Shigure

Why is its assumed that the massive explosion was the forward magazine. Could it not be that it was a boiler explosion. At a 45 degree a flooding event could have cause the kind of explosion we see in the video of the royal navies HMS Barham.

Gone….salvaged to an inch of her life…

Was it ship design, damage control, or something else that made these ships so fragile? You would think that flooding of threatened magazines would be a priority.

They live on in a game called World of Warships.

Entirely possible that some scumbag salvagers with no respect for war graves has stripped the wreck to nothing.

If Kongo is indeed illegally salvaged like what the others said, i'd be saddened knowing her because of KC

The twisted sister

Yeah, what's north of Taiwan the chi-com's and as sure as I am sitting here she is gone, but I have her in my collection she will live forever

Hmmm, she sank in shallow waters spitting distance from the Chinese coast (at least compared to other WWII capital ships). She’s gone…….

The Chinese probably cut her up for salvage.

貴重な映像有り難うございました。英語なので詳細はわからないのですが、コメントから金剛は沈没地点が浅かった為に、中国の盗掘によって船体を荒らされていた。やるせないですね。まぁ他国にとっては領海内にある単なる資源でしかない。ですが、できれば静かに眠らせてあげて欲しかったなぁ。墓標であると同時に歴史的な遺産、資料でもあったわけだし。沈んだ金剛からしたら、自分の身体が人の役に立っていた事は幸運だったのかなぁ？

I thought by shallow water you meant tirpitz level of shallow for a second

Bro, you are going to go supernova

What's up with all the Japanese battleships suffering magazine explosions after they've already gone under

So she was found...

its pretty sad people salvage ww2 wrecks, its a disrespect to the people who died in it, just leave them in peace

Ultimately, only the Taiwanese government knows, but no one's talking...

Well also she was blown apart when sinking from torpedoes from sea lion 2

Any big typhoons go through the straight. That will move the wreck by miles.

i believe the Kongo class were heavy cruisers, though heavily armed, were not battleships? Keep up the excellent work!

Why not salvage her? If she hasn’t been salvaged. I concur that salvage probably happened. The former owners of Kongo participated in war crimes to the max. See what I am saying?

Very nice battleship...