¹⁄700

The folks at Fujimi have been really putting in the overtime lately and have announced the release of their kitset of the 1/700 IJN Battleship "Haruna”.

This exciting new release expected in July looks great from the information available.

Please join me in viewing the current information and images.

Full details are outlined as follows:

1/700 IJN Battleship "Haruna”
Manufacturer: Fujimi
Scale: 1/700
Item code: FUJ 42013
Expected release date: July 2009

As always we will update you on this kitset as and when we have more detail.

Ship History
The IJN Haruna was a Kongo class battlecruiser. Unlike the British built Kongo, the Haruna was built by Kawasaki in Japan from mostly Japanese parts. She served in the fairly quiet waters of the Pacific during World War I.

During the mid to late 1920's, the Haruna and her sisters were significantly rebuilt with thicker armour, better propulsion, and equipment and were re-rated as battleships.

The Haruna saw plenty of action during World War II, being involved in The Battle of The Philippine Sea and The Battle of Leyte Gulf among others. During the Battle Off Samar, the USS Heermann fired torpedoes at Haruna that missed, but caused the Yamato and Nagato to steam north for ten miles until the torpedoes ran out of steam.

All told, Haruna was a fairly lucky ship and almost survived the war until attacked at Kure and holed by a massive force of USAAF bombers on July 28, 1945 (and even then, she had survived an attack by 70 B-24's earlier that day). She sank in shallow water next to a pier, her wreckage raised and broken up from 1946-1948.

Images courtesy of Fujimi Models.
Ship History courtesy of Mr. Dade W. Bell.