Kongou

Appearance

 * Artist: Konishi (コニシ)
 * Has long, brown hair bunched into two braided buns and wears a black skirt. Uses a ship-like rig.
 * All ships of her class wear a modified miko uniform with distinctly different colored skirts and thigh highs. They also wear the same signature winged headband.

Personality

 * Seiyuu: Nao Touyama (東山奈央)
 * Hyperactive and very cheerful.
 * She is overly fond of the admiral. Her Marriage line suggests, however, that she may be romantically picky when it comes to "real action", as, when proposing to her, she points out rather boldly that the Admiral will have to try some other time when the "variables" meet her requirements. Same goes for her Secretary (2) line, as she tells you to hold your sea horses.
 * Loves black tea, on account of her construction in England. Her dietary preferences in general, really - scones to go along with your five o'clock, anyone?
 * Loves to mix her Japanese speech with random English words.
 * Ends many of her statements with "ネー" (Ne) and "デース" (Desu), usually in an exaggerated, whimsical manner.
 * Signature catchphrase: "Burning Love!"

Appearances in derivative works

 * Kongou appears in the anime adaptation of Kantai Collection, and was also featured in the adaptation's first trailer. She played a big role in it, as she appeared to be the only member of the Fifth Mobile Fleet Fubuki could get along with.
 * Kongou appeared as one of the main characters in side:Kongou.
 * Kongou - along with other ships voiced by Nao Touyama - were featured in the first KanColle Drama CD, titled "Hiei's Curry" (比叡、カレーを作る). Due to only having one seiyuu voicing all the characters, the CD's short story is also referred to as "One Nao Show". (Found here with translations).

Original ship

 * All parts used in her construction were manufactured by Vickers Shipbuilding Company in the U.K.
 * She shares a similar design to the Revenge class and Queen Elizabeth class Battleships of the Royal Navy (her cousin battleships).
 * The IJN converted her from a battlecruiser into a full-fledged battleship in 1929, bolstering her fighting ability while maintaining the speed necessary to escort carriers.
 * She was the only Japanese battleship sunk by submarines in the Second World War, and the last battleship sunk by submarines in history.
 * Coincidentally, the Revenge-class HMS Royal Oak and the Queen Elizabeth-class HMS Barham, her cousin battleships, were sunk by submarines in the same fashion. All three were British built battleships sunk by submarine attack in World War II.
 * Sunk by USS Sealion in Formosa Strait, 21 November 1944. After the torpedo hits, she tried to go back to Keelung in Formosa, but she was flooded uncontrollably and after listing 45 degrees, the front magazine exploded, sinking her.
 * Only 237 survivors were rescued by Hamakaze and Isokaze.

Trivia

 * Her name is after Mount Kongou, located between Nara and Osaka prefectures, and literally means "Indestructible" or "Diamond".
 * The radar wings that she and her sisters wear share a similar coloration and design to the alternate name for "金剛" which means "vajra", but more accurately "ghanta" (bells). See this page (scroll to 12th Century) to compare the CGs.
 * She and her sister-ships start at 3 slots, a reference to their start as "Battlecruisers".
 * Received her Kai Ni on November 1, 2013.
 * Her name is currenlty listed in the JDS as JDS Kongou, as is Kirishima's.
 * Launched in May 1912, she is currently the oldest ship in Kantai Collection.