Designed by British naval architect George Thurston, she was the second launched of four Kongō-class battlecruisers, among the most heavily armed ships in any navy when built.

She patrolled off the Chinese coast on several occasions during World War I, and helped with rescue efforts following the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake.

After the treaty fell apart in 1937, she underwent a full-scale reconstruction that completely rebuilt her superstructure, upgraded her powerplant, and equipped her with launch catapults for floatplanes.

On the eve of the US entry into World War II, she sailed as part of Vice-Admiral Chuichi Nagumo's Combined Fleet, escorting the six carriers that attacked Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941.

As part of the Third Battleship Division, Hiei participated in many of the Imperial Japanese Navy's early actions in 1942, providing support for the invasion of the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) as well as the Indian Ocean raid of April 1942.

Hiei was the second of the Imperial Japanese Navy's Kongō-class battlecruisers, a line of capital ships designed by the British naval architect George Thurston.

From 1917 to the end of World War I, Hiei remained primarily at Sasebo, patrolling the Chinese and Korean coasts with her sister ships on several occasions.

[5] Following the end of World War I, the Japanese Empire gained control of former German possessions in the central Pacific per the terms of the Treaty of Versailles.

[12] Due to Japan's warm relations with the British Empire and the United States at the time, Hiei and other Japanese warships became significantly less active after the war.

Following the Great Kantō earthquake of September 1923, the capital ships of the Japanese Navy assisted in rescue work until the end of the month.

Hiei arrived at Kure Naval Base on 1 December 1923 for a refit which increased the elevation of her main guns from 20 to 33 degrees and rebuilt her foremast.

[14] Provided that further additions did not exceed 3,000 tons, existing capital ships were allowed to be upgraded with improved torpedo bulges and deck armor.

[5] To avoid having to scrap Hiei under the terms of the Washington Treaty, the Imperial Japanese Navy decided to convert her into a demilitarized training ship.

This also signaled its exit from the Washington and London Naval Treaties, which removed all restrictions on the Imperial Japanese Navy's construction of capital ships.

[5] No longer bound by the restrictions of the Washington and London Treaties, the Imperial Japanese Navy proceeded to reconstruct Hiei along the same lines as her sisters.

[21] She participated in the Imperial Fleet Review in October 1940, where she was inspected by Emperor Hirohito, members of the royal family, Navy Minister Koshirō Oikawa, and Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto.

[5] On 26 November 1941, Hiei departed Hitokappu Bay, Kurile Islands, in the company of Kirishima and six Japanese fast carriers of the First Air Fleet Striking Force (Akagi, Kaga, Sōryū, Hiryū, Shōkaku, and Zuikaku) under the command of Vice-Admiral Chuichi Nagumo.

On 7 December 1941, aircraft from these six carriers attacked the United States Pacific Fleet at their home base of Pearl Harbor, sinking four US Navy battleships and numerous other vessels.

[5] On 17 January 1942, Hiei departed Truk Lagoon Naval Base with the Third Battleship Division to support carrier operations against Rabaul and Kavieng.

In February, she deployed alongside a force of carriers and destroyers in response to American raids on Japanese bases in the Gilbert and Marshall Islands.

[5] In April 1942, Hiei and the Third Battleship Division joined five fleet carriers and two cruisers in a massive raid against British naval forces in the Indian Ocean.

[22] On 8 April, Japanese carrier aircraft attacked the Royal Navy base at Trincomalee, only to find that all of Admiral James Somerville's remaining warships in the British Eastern Fleet had withdrawn the previous night.

[5] On 27 May 1942, Hiei sortied with Kongō and the heavy cruisers Atago, Chōkai, Myōkō, and Haguro as part of Admiral Nobutake Kondō's Invasion Force during the Battle of Midway.

[19] On 10 November 1942, Hiei departed Truk alongside Kirishima and eleven destroyers, all under the command of Rear Admiral Hiroaki Abe, to shell American positions near Henderson Field in advance of a major convoy of Japanese troops.

The initial salvos from the IJN battleships were thus not capable of dealing severe damage to the enemy's vital armor protected hull, engines and gun turrets.

The destroyer USS Laffey found herself as close as 20 feet (6 meters) away from the battle wagon, and hit Hiei's bridge, injuring Admiral Abe himself and killing his chief of staff, Captain Masakane Suzuki, followed closely by Hiei crippling Laffey with a 14-inch (356 mm) shell hit (later finished off by a torpedo from the destroyer Yukikaze).