The reconstruction did more than add armour: it reorganized internal arrangements and increased subdivision. That reduced the class's suitability for the old long-cruising role and moved it toward the fast-battleship end of the spectrum. Those material changes support describing the rebuilt ships as fast battleships of a type. The classification remains debatable because Japanese terminology continued to call them battlecruisers.
Notable Point · 10:08-11:09
The Kongo rebuild and the fast-battleship debate
The Kongo class illustrates why reconstruction can move a ship toward fast-battleship status without making the terminology uncontested.