Launch of Japanese Battlecruiser Haruna

Date: December 14, 1913 • Location: London, United Kingdom

Haruna (pictured), the fourth and last Japanese battlecruiser of the Kongō class, was launched and went on to serve in both world wars.

Haruna was a warship of the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War I and World War II. Designed by the British naval engineer George Thurston, she was the fourth and last battlecruiser of the Kongō class, amongst the most heavily armed ships of their type in any navy when built. Laid down in 1912 at the Kawasaki Shipyards in Kobe, Haruna was formally commissioned in 1915 on the same day as her sister ship, Kirishima.