 Therefore , while the Navy did not react as Germany and Britain built increasing numbers of battlecruisers , it took a very different tack when Japan laid down its first ship of this class , the Kongō , in Britain on 17 January 1911 . On 13 June , U.S. Naval Intelligence confirmed she was to be the first of four ships , the other three to be built in Japan , which would form a fast division for the IJN . The following day , the Secretary of the Navy asked the General Board to consider the construction of American battlecruisers for Pacific service , as the Pennsylvanias and Tennessees would no longer be viable units in the face of such opposition . The General Board , not willing to forego battleship construction in favor of auxiliary types such as battlecruisers , balked . On 29 August , it suggested that C & R research a ship under 30 @,@ 000 tons that could steam at 29 knots ( 54 km / h ) , carry eight 14 @-@ inch ( 360 mm ) and twenty @-@ four 5 @-@ inch ( 130 mm ) guns and have a protective system comparable to the Nevada @-@ class battleships . In other words , the board requested an American version of the Kongō . 
