Challenge Entry: an IJN Surprise

This entry is a surprise to me. I used part of my tax refund to order a squadron of Imperial Japanese Navy ships for task for US ships to scrimmage. Naval games are fun and at 1/2400 scale very portable making them a great set to have in reserve for those nights when another game falls through. I was stunned when these arrived yesterday as I had only ordered them on Friday from Panzerschiffe. Needless to say they are fast to paint up needing only a little scrapping.


First up two Kongo class ships some call them Battle Cruisers others Battleships they were a British design but were rebuilt in the 1927.

The First is the Kirishima which went up against the USS Washington
(part of my US fleet) and lost of Savo Island

Her Sister ship Hiei was sailing with Kirishima on that fateful night.

I did my best to research IJN color but found only a few pictures so these colors are highly speculative. Above is the Hiei the dark gray on the lower deck is to distinguish her from her sister ship.

Note the Lighter gray on the Kirishima' main deck.

The preferred view of a Japaneses battle ship from the USN perspective (moving away)

Cruisers carried the bulk of surface combat in the South Pacific I have 2 Light Cruisers (on the flanks) and 4 Heavy Cruisers in the center. The IJN frequently had cruiser Squadrons made of different classes so each of my six cruisers is of a different class

Agano was a class that was launched after the start of the war and was one of the most modern designs. 8 Torpedoes in centre line tubes give these guys a dangerous punch. The 9 152mm main battery guns are smaller than their US counterparts but still dangerous.

Nagara an older class from the 1920s by the second World War she is almost an large destroyer with 7 140mm (5.5 inches) guns along the center line. Again 8 Torpedoes provide the main punch.

Takao here we have a true heavy weight with 10 Eight inch guns (in 5 twin turrets) and 16 Long Lance Torpedoes. This is the most heavily armed cruiser in the IJN the ship was perhaps a bit to top heavy for its size.

Aoba and older and lighter design with 6 eight inch guns (in 3 twin Turrets) and again 8 torpedoes.

Furutaka similar to Aoba (a few years older) with the same armament.

Mogami The Mogami Class takes the prize for most egregious and blatant violation of the Washington Naval Treaty. This monster was said to be under 10000 tuns but was actually 13000 and while designed with 6 inch guns they were replaced with 8 inch guns. They also had 12 Long Lance Torpedoes. Like the Takao it suffered form a top heavy design. Ships of these classes were active in the water off Guadalcanal which is the era I find most interesting for gaming.

4 Matsu Class Destroyers Once again I have painted the different sections of the super structure or deck a darker gray for identification. These are a War time class built to counter Sub but Destroyers are small enough at this scale you can use them for other classes... just squint and they look right trust me.