The Kongo-class cruisers were built for one purpose, and one purpose only—the complete and utter annihilation of any carrier battle group they might come across. True and straightforward to that role, the Kongo-class vessels featured armanents heavier than any other surface vessel within her displacement range, being quite literally built around her main battery of sixteen brand-new Type 70 ship-attack cruise missiles, each capable of bringing a 905kg payload towards any place within a 550km radius. Despite that, however, the ship also features a much more powerful powerplant capable of generating significantly more power than most other cruisers, as well, enabling her a top speed of 37 knots, more than enough to keep up with a carrier battle group as escorts or to hunt down enemy carriers. To further add to this, the class posesses the longest radar visibility of any other ship class within Japanese service, at a whopping 3,700km compared to the 1,700km range of the Type 60 air/surface-search radar installed on older vessels.
The closest Japan had to such a class operating within the Imperial Naval Arm or the Imperial Japanese Navy was the older, historical Kongo-class battlecruisers, and as such, ships of the class follow in the IJN's naming convention of being named after mountains, with the first four ships being named in tribute of the four ships within the Kongo-class battlecruisers, respectively.

Twenty vessels have been ordered by Dresia to operate under the subclass name of Göherna-Trëfal with deliveries sceduled for the spring of 1980. Swann has also ordered twelve vessels with deliveries sceduled for the same date.

Class overview
Manufacturer: Enoshima Fleet Yards, Kure Naval Arsenal, Maizuru Fleet Yards, Nagasaki Naval Yards
Operators: Japanese Imperial Naval Arm, Dresia Federal Navy (planned), Swann Maritime Defense Force (planned)
Preceded by: None
Succeeded by: Type-1B nuclear-powered super-cruiser (planned)
Subclasses: Göherna-Trëfal-class, Type-80-class (presumed)
Built: 1968-1972
In commision: 1970-present
Ordered: 8
Completed: 8
Commissioned: 8
Active: 8

General characteristics

Type: Ship-attack guided-missile cruiser
Displacement: ~17,000 tons standard
Length: 202.2m (663 ft 3 in)
Beam: 30.0m (98 ft 6 in)
Installed power: 14 Kampon water-tube boilers (144,000 shp, 107,381 kW)
Propulsion: 3 shafts, turbo-electric, 8 high-pressure geared impulse turbines
Top speed: 37 knots (69 km/h; 43 mph)
Range: 8,000 nmi (15,000 km; 9,200 mi) at 21 knots
Armor: 37mm waterline and deck, 25mm superstructure, Kevlar anti-splinter plating
Aviation facilities: 1 helipad, 1 helicopter hangar
Aircraft embarked: 2x helicopters

Sensors, processing systems, and electronic equipment
Type 60 air/surface search radar (4 arrays)
Type 57 sonar array (4 emitters, 4 recievers)
Type 57 towed sonar emitters (4 emitters)
Type 64 fire-control radar (2 mounts fore and aft, retracting)
Type 68 air-search over-the-horizon radar (2 arrays)
Type 70 surface-search surface-wave radar (2 arrays)
Type 64 Eihei intergrated combat system (lit. Sentry)

Electronic warfare & decoys
Type 57 flare launchers (2 launchers)
Type 58 sonar interference emitters (4 emitters)
Type 57 electronic warfare system (4 emitters)
Type 62 towed torpedo countermeasures (4 modules)

Armament
1x Type 53 130mm/70 naval gun (single mount)
2x Type 68 close-in weapon system
16x Type 70 supersonic ship-attack cruise missiles (8 twin launchers)
36x Type 58 anti-submarine missiles (4 9-cell canisters)
Type 64 vertical launch system (96 cells)

Type 64 anti-ship-anti-air missile
Type 58 land-attack cruise missile
Type 57 anti-ship missile
Type 63 anti-submarine missile
Type 62 anti-supersonic missile

Ships of the line
note: only ships built for Japan were listed. Export vessels were named by the purchasing nations.
JS Kongo (CA-01, 1970)
JS Hiei (CA-02, 1970)
JS Kirishima (CA-03, 1970)
JS Haruna (CA-04, 1970)
JS Sakurajima (CA-05, 1972)
JS Kasa (CA-06, 1972)
JS Aino (CA-07, 1972)
JS Naka (CA-08, 1972)

Controls
Throttle + Yaw: Piloting the ship
AG1: nothing, since no chopper