Which US submarine sank the Japanese battleship Kongo in November 1944?

The US submarine that sank the Japanese battleship Kongō in November 1944 was USS Sealion. The Balao-class submarine, commanded by Lieutenant Commander Eli T. Reich, attacked Kongō in the Taiwan Strait on 21 November 1944.

Kongō was a fast battleship originally designed as a battlecruiser. Built in Britain before World War I, she became the lead ship of a class that included Hiei, Kirishima, and Haruna. Japan rebuilt the ships extensively, improving their armor, propulsion, and anti-aircraft defenses, but they remained vulnerable to submarine attack.

Sealion fired torpedoes at the Japanese formation and struck Kongō, which suffered flooding and sank. The attack also sank the destroyer Urakaze. Kongō was the only Japanese battleship sunk by an American submarine during World War II, making the action a notable submarine success.

The answer is sometimes confused with other famous American submarine victories. USS Albacore sank the Japanese carrier Taihō, USS Archerfish sank the carrier Shinano, and USS Tang sank several Japanese ships before being lost to one of her own torpedoes. USS Sealion also had a tragic earlier association with the war: the first submarine named Sealion was destroyed at Cavite in the Philippines in 1941.