1915–1926: Battlecruiser On 19 April 1915,
Haruna was formally commissioned at Kobe. On 13 December 1915, after eight months of trials, she was assigned to the 3rd Battleship Division of the
2nd Fleet. On 9 April 1916, she departed
Sasebo Naval Base for operations in the
East China Sea, returning to Japan 10 days later. On 1 December 1916, Captain Saburo Hyakutake assumed command of
Haruna until 15 September 1917, when Captain Naomi Taniguchi replaced him. On 1 December 1917, she was placed in reserve, as hostilities in the Pacific theatre of World War I concluded. The treaty also banned Japan from building any new capital ships until 1931, with no capital ship permitted to exceed . Provided that new additions did not exceed , existing capital ships were allowed to be upgraded with improved
anti-torpedo bulges and deck armor.
1926–1933: Reconstruction into battleship Unable to construct new capital ships until 1931, Japan resorted to upgrading battleships and battlecruisers. In July 1926,
Haruna became the first of Japan's vessels to undergo extensive modernization and modification, in drydock at Yokosuka Naval Arsenal. For the next 12 months, she operated between Sasebo,
Port Arthur, and the East China Sea. On 1 February 1929,
Prince Takamatsu, the younger brother of
Emperor Hirohito, was assigned to the crew. On 20 November 1929, she was reassigned to the 1st Battleship Division. She was placed in reserve on 1 December 1930. After minor fitting-out work, her reconstruction begun in 1926 was declared complete on 1 October 1931.
1933–1941: Fast battleship Haruna was reactivated and assigned to the 1st Battleship Division on 20 May 1933.
Harunas armor was also extensively upgraded. Her main belt was strengthened to a uniform thickness of 8 inches (up from varying thicknesses of 6 to 8 inches), while diagonal bulkheads of depths ranging from now reinforced the main armored belt. The turret armor was strengthened to , while were added to portions of the deck armor. One month later,
Haruna transported Japanese Army forces to mainland China in preparation for campaigns into
Chinese Nationalist territory. On 1 December 1937, she was again placed in reserve. On 4 December 1941, the Main Body arrived off the coast of Southern
Siam and Northern
Malaya, in preparation for
the invasion of Siam and the Malayan Peninsula four days later. When Britain's "Force Z"—consisting of the battleship and the battlecruiser —was
sunk by
IJNAS land-based torpedo bombers,
Harunas battlegroup withdrew from Malayan waters. The battlegroup subsequently sortied from Indochina for three days in mid-December to protect a reinforcement convoy traveling to Malaya and again on 18 December to cover the Army's landing at
Lingayen Gulf in the
Philippines. The Main Body departed
Cam Ranh Bay in
French Indochina on 23 December bound for Taiwan, arriving two days later. On 18 January 1942, Kondō's Main Force arrived in
Palau alongside two fast carriers, with the intention of covering Japan's invasion of
Borneo and the Dutch East Indies. Following the destruction of on 5 April 1942,
Haruna was sent southwest to locate the remainder of the
British Eastern Fleet, under the command of Admiral
James Somerville. On 9 April, one of her floatplanes spotted the carrier south of
Trincomalee; Japanese airstrikes sank the carrier the same day. On 4 June, she was attacked in multiple airstrikes by American
torpedo bombers, but she took no hits and succeeded in shooting down five American aircraft. On 20 September, the fleet was ordered to return to Truk.
Bombardment of Henderson Field In the aftermath of the
Battle of Cape Esperance, the Japanese Army opted to reinforce their positions on
Guadalcanal. To protect their transport convoy from enemy air attack, Admiral Yamamoto sent
Haruna and
Kongō, escorted by one light cruiser and nine destroyers, to bombard
Henderson Field. Because of their high speed, the two battleships could bombard the field and withdraw before being subjected to air attack from aircraft carriers. On the night of 13–14 October, the two battleships shelled Henderson Field from a distance of , firing 973 14-inch shells. In the most successful Japanese battleship action of the war, The Japanese troop convoy reached the island the next day. During 15–20 February 1943, the 3rd Battleship Division transferred from Truk to Kure Naval Base. From 23 February to 31 March 1943,
Haruna was drydocked in
Kure Naval Arsenal for upgrades, receiving additional Type 96 antiaircraft guns and armor. On 17 May 1943, in response to the American invasion of
Attu Island,
Haruna sortied alongside , the 3rd Battleship Division, two fleet carriers, two cruisers and nine destroyers. Three days later, the submarine discovered the task group, but was unable to attack. On 22 May 1943, the task force arrived in Yokosuka, where it was joined by an additional three fleet carriers and two light cruisers; the force was disbanded when Attu fell before the necessary preparations were finished. Throughout June 1943,
Haruna was refitted at Yokosuka. On 18 September 1943,
Haruna left Truk as part of a counterattack force in response to American raids on the Brown Islands in Micronesia, but no contact was made and the ship returned to the base. During the
Battle of the Philippine Sea,
Haruna escorted Japanese fast carriers, and was hit by two armor-piercing bombs on 20 June 1944 from U.S. carrier aircraft. On 24 June, she was drydocked in Kure for repairs and refitting. In August 1944 she transferred to Lingga. The next day, air attacks from US
aircraft carriers persisted.
Haruna survived with only minor damage from bomb splinters, but
Musashi was sunk and the heavy cruiser was crippled and forced out of the battle alongside two more destroyers to escort her.
Battle off Samar A false retreat tricked the US into believing the Japanese center force was well out of the battle, leading to
Admiral Halsey chasing
Admiral Ozawa's decoy force. On the 25th, the diminished center force located
Taffy 3, a small US task force of six escort carriers, three destroyers, and four destroyer escorts, prompting
Haruna to fire away. She initially targeted the destroyer with her 6-inch (152 mm) secondary guns, but missed her shots before reengaging the escort carriers. At 7:54,
Haruna hit the escort carrier with a 14-inch (356 mm) shell to her hangar bay from a distance of 16,400 yards (15,000 meters), disabling her aircraft elevator.
Haruna was then targeted by destroyer-launched torpedoes, but they all missed. At 8:10,
Haruna (probably) hit the escort carrier with a 14-inch (356 mm) shell to her stern, causing negligible damage, as almost simultaneously
Yamato hit her with an 18.1-inch (46 cm) shell that punched through her hangar bay.
Haruna failed to hit
Gambier Bay again as
Yamato caused the majority of the fatal damage which sank the flat top. Following the Japanese Navy's defeat at Leyte Gulf,
Haruna returned to Brunei and Lingga for repairs. On 22 November 1944, she ran aground on a coral reef near Lingga, suffering serious damage to her watertight compartments and forcing her to return to Sasebo, where the hull was patched and repaired.
1945: Sinking at Kure On 1 January 1945,
Haruna was removed from the deactivated 3rd Battleship Division and transferred to the 1st Battleship Division of the 2nd Fleet. On 10 February,
Haruna was assigned to the
Kure Naval District. On 19 March 1945, American carrier aircraft
attacked the remainder of the Japanese Navy at Kure. The base was defended by veteran Japanese fighter instructors flying
Kawanishi N1K-J "Shiden" or "George" fighters, led by the man who planned the
attack on Pearl Harbor,
Minoru Genda. They surprised the attackers, destroyed several American aircraft, and defended the base from the brunt of the attack.
Haruna sustained light damage from a single bomb on the starboard side, On 24 July 1945, the U.S. Navy's
Task Force 38 began a series of
aerial attacks on Kure Naval Base to destroy the last remnants of Japan's navy. The same day, the battleship was sunk, and
Haruna was hit by a single bomb which caused light damage. File:U.S. Navy carrier aircraft attack the Japanese battleship Haruna near Kure, Japan, on 28 July 1945 (80-G-490226).jpg|alt=
Haruna anchored near the shore, shortly after two aerial-dropped bombs narrowly missed her|
Haruna at her moorings near Kure, Japan, under attack by U.S. Navy carrier aircraft, 28 July 1945 File:Japanese battleship Haruna under attack on 28 July 1945 (80-G-490224).jpg|Under attack by U.S. Navy carrier aircraft, 28 July 1945 at close range. File:Japanese battleship Haruna sunk.jpg|alt=a heavily damaged
Haruna, having sunk from the stern, several days after coming under attack at her moorings|
Haruna sunken at her moorings, 8 October 1945 File:470519 battleship Haruna.jpg|Wreck of
Haruna partially scrapped, with her superstructure and guns removed, 19 May 1947 == Explanatory notes ==