Japanese cruiser Mikuma
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was a
heavy cruiser The heavy cruiser was a type of cruiser, a naval warship designed for long range and high speed, armed generally with naval guns of roughly 203 mm (8 inches) in caliber, whose design parameters were dictated by the Washington Naval T ...
of the
Imperial Japanese Navy The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN; Kyūjitai: Shinjitai: ' 'Navy of the Greater Japanese Empire', or ''Nippon Kaigun'', 'Japanese Navy') was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945, when it was dissolved following Japan's surrend ...
. The second vessel in the four-ship ,Whitley, ''Cruisers of World War Two'', pp. 181-184 she was laid down in 1931 and commissioned in 1935. During
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
she participated in the
Battle of Sunda Strait The Battle of Sunda Strait was a naval battle which occurred during World War II in the Sunda Strait between the islands of Java, and Sumatra. On the night of 28 February 1 March 1942, the Australian light cruiser , American heavy cruiser , ...
in February 1942 and the
Battle of Midway The Battle of Midway was a major naval battle in the Pacific Theater of World War II that took place on 4–7 June 1942, six months after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor and one month after the Battle of the Coral Sea. The U.S. Navy under ...
in June 1942, being sunk the last day of the latter engagement, on 6 June. The ship was named after the Mikuma river in
Oita prefecture Oita often refers to: * Ōita Prefecture, Kyushu, Japan * Ōita (city), the capital of the prefecture Oita or Ōita may also refer to: Places * Ōita District, Ōita, a former district in Ōita Prefecture, Japan *Ōita Stadium, a multi-use stad ...
, Japan.


Background

Built under the 1931 Fleet Replenishment Program, the ''Mogami''-class cruisers were designed to the maximum limits allowed by the
Washington Naval Treaty The Washington Naval Treaty, also known as the Five-Power Treaty, was a treaty signed during 1922 among the major Allies of World War I, which agreed to prevent an arms race by limiting naval construction. It was negotiated at the Washington Nav ...
, using the latest technology. This resulted in the choice of a 155 mm dual purpose (DP)
main battery A main battery is the primary weapon or group of weapons around which a warship is designed. As such, a main battery was historically a gun or group of guns, as in the broadsides of cannon on a ship of the line. Later, this came to be turreted ...
in five triple turrets capable of 55° elevation. To save weight, electric
welding Welding is a fabrication process that joins materials, usually metals or thermoplastics, by using high heat to melt the parts together and allowing them to cool, causing fusion. Welding is distinct from lower temperature techniques such as bra ...
was used, as was
aluminum Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. It ha ...
in the superstructure, and the use of a single funnel stack. New impulse geared
turbine A turbine ( or ) (from the Greek , ''tyrbē'', or Latin ''turbo'', meaning vortex) is a rotary mechanical device that extracts energy from a fluid flow and converts it into useful work. The work produced by a turbine can be used for generating ...
engines, coupled with very heavy anti-aircraft protection, gave the class a very high speed and protection. However, the ''Mogami'' class was also plagued with technical problems due to its untested equipment and proved to be unstable and top-heavy as well, due to cramming too much equipment into a comparatively small hull.


Service career


Early career

''Mikuma'' was completed at Mitsubishi's
Nagasaki is the capital and the largest Cities of Japan, city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan. It became the sole Nanban trade, port used for trade with the Portuguese and Dutch during the 16th through 19th centuries. The Hi ...
shipyardsWatts, ''Japanese Warships of World War II'', p. 101 on 29 August 1935. Beginning in 1939, ''Mikuma'' was brought in for substantial reconstruction, replacing the triple turrets with twin guns (the 155 mm turrets going to the battleship ).
Torpedo bulge The anti-torpedo bulge (also known as an anti-torpedo blister) is a form of defence against naval torpedoes occasionally employed in warship construction in the period between the First and Second World Wars. It involved fitting (or retrofittin ...
s were also added to improve stability, but the increased displacement caused a reduction in speed. ''Mikuma'' participated in the occupation of
Cochinchina Cochinchina or Cochin-China (, ; vi, Đàng Trong (17th century - 18th century, Việt Nam (1802-1831), Đại Nam (1831-1862), Nam Kỳ (1862-1945); km, កូសាំងស៊ីន, Kosăngsin; french: Cochinchine; ) is a historical exony ...
,
French Indochina French Indochina (previously spelled as French Indo-China),; vi, Đông Dương thuộc Pháp, , lit. 'East Ocean under French Control; km, ឥណ្ឌូចិនបារាំង, ; th, อินโดจีนฝรั่งเศส, ...
, after Japan and
Vichy French Vichy France (french: Régime de Vichy; 10 July 1940 – 9 August 1944), officially the French State ('), was the fascist French state headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II. Officially independent, but with half of its terr ...
authorities reached an understanding on use of its air facilities and harbors from July 1941, from its forward operating base on
Hainan Hainan (, ; ) is the smallest and southernmost province of the People's Republic of China (PRC), consisting of various islands in the South China Sea. , the largest and most populous island in China,The island of Taiwan, which is slightly l ...
. At the time of the
attack on Pearl Harbor The attack on Pearl HarborAlso known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service upon the United States against the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii ...
, ''Mikuma'' was assigned to cover the invasion of Malaya as part of Cruiser Division 7 under Vice Admiral Jisaburo Ozawa's First Southern Expeditionary Fleet, providing close support for landings of Japanese troops at
Singora Songkhla ( th, สงขลา, ), also known as Singgora or Singora (Pattani Malay: ซิงกอรอ), is a city (''thesaban nakhon'') in Songkhla Province of southern Thailand, near the border with Malaysia. Songkhla lies south of Ba ...
, Pattani and
Kota Bharu Kota Bharu, colloquially referred to as KB, is a town in Malaysia that serves as the state capital and royal seat of Kelantan. It is situated in the northeastern part of Peninsular Malaysia and lies near the mouth of the Kelantan River. The ...
. In December 1941, ''Mikuma'' was tasked with the invasion of British Borneo, together with , covering landings of Japanese troops at
Miri ) , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = , subdivision_type1 = State , subdivision_name1 = , subdivision_type2 = Division , subdivision_name2 ...
and Kuching. In February 1942, ''Mikuma'' was tasked with covering landings of Japanese troops in Sumatra and
Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's mos ...
. On 10 February, ''Mikuma'' and were attacked by the submarine , which fired four
torpedo A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, and with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, s ...
es, but missed.


Battle of Sunda Strait

At 2300 on 28 February 1942, ''Mikuma'' and ''Mogami'', destroyer , light cruiser and destroyers , , , and arrived and engaged the cruisers and with gunfire and torpedoes after the Allied vessels attacked Japanese transports in the Sunda Strait. At 2355, ''Houston'' scored hits on ''Mikuma'' that knocked out her electrical power, but it was quickly restored. During the battle, ''Mikuma'' lost six men and eleven others were wounded. Both ''Houston'' and ''Perth'' were sunk during the engagement, as was transport '' Ryujo Maru'' with IJA 16th Army commander
Lieutenant General Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a three-star military rank (NATO code OF-8) used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the ...
Hitoshi Imamura was a Japanese general who served in the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II, and was subsequently convicted of war crimes. Early career A native of Sendai city, Miyagi Prefecture, Imamura's father was a judge. Imamura graduated from th ...
—although the general survived the sinking. In March, ''Mikuma'' and Cruiser Division 7 were based at
Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...
to cover Japanese landings in Sumatra and the seizure of the Andaman Islands. From 1 April 1942 Cruiser Division 7 based from
Mergui Myeik (, or ; mnw, ဗိက်, ; th, มะริด, , ; formerly Mergui, ) is a rural city in Tanintharyi Region in Myanmar (Burma), located in the extreme south of the country on the coast off an island on the Andaman Sea. , the estimat ...
joined with Cruiser Division 4 to participate in the Indian Ocean raids. ''Mikuma'', ''Mogami'' and destroyer detached and formed the Southern Group, which hunted for merchant shipping in the
Bay of Bengal The Bay of Bengal is the northeastern part of the Indian Ocean, bounded on the west and northwest by India, on the north by Bangladesh, and on the east by Myanmar and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands of India. Its southern limit is a line betwee ...
, while ''Chōkai'', Destroyer Squadron 4's light cruiser and destroyers , , and covered the northern areas. During the operation, the Southern Group claimed kills on 7,726-ton British passenger ship ''Dardanus'' and 5,281-ton British steamship ''Ganara'' and the 6,622-ton British merchant vessel ''Indora'', en route from
Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...
to
Mauritius Mauritius ( ; french: Maurice, link=no ; mfe, label= Mauritian Creole, Moris ), officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean about off the southeast coast of the African continent, east of Madagascar. It ...
. On 22 April, Cruiser Division 7 returned to
Kure is a port and major shipbuilding city situated on the Seto Inland Sea in Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan. With a strong industrial and naval heritage, Kure hosts the second-oldest naval dockyard in Japan and remains an important base for the Japan ...
, and ''Mikuma'' went into dry dock for overhaul. On 26 May, Cruiser Division 7 arrived at
Guam Guam (; ch, Guåhan ) is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. It is the westernmost point and territory of the United States (reckoned from the geographic cent ...
to provide close support for Rear Admiral Raizo Tanaka's Midway Invasion Transport Group. ''Mikuma''s crew was advised that upon the completion of the Midway operation they would proceed to the
Aleutian Islands The Aleutian Islands (; ; ale, Unangam Tanangin,”Land of the Aleuts", possibly from Chukchi ''aliat'', "island"), also called the Aleut Islands or Aleutic Islands and known before 1867 as the Catherine Archipelago, are a chain of 14 large v ...
and from there to Australia.


Battle of Midway

On 5 June, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, CINC of the
Combined Fleet The was the main sea-going component of the Imperial Japanese Navy. Until 1933, the Combined Fleet was not a permanent organization, but a temporary force formed for the duration of a conflict or major naval maneuvers from various units norm ...
ordered Cruiser Division 7 to shell Midway in preparation for a Japanese landing. The ''Mikuma'' at the time was captained by Captain Sakiyama Shakao, former skipper of the cruiser . Cruiser Division 7 and DesDiv 8 were away from the island, so they made a high-speed dash at . The sea was choppy and the destroyers lagged behind. At 2120, the order was canceled; however, due to a mix up, Cruiser Division 7 did not receive the order till 0210 the following day, when it was just off Midway. This placed Cruiser Division 7 within range of the submarine , which was spotted by the cruiser . ''Kumano'' signalled a submarine alert to the formation and directed the ships to conduct evasive maneuvers to the left. The squadron was thrown into confusion. ''Kumano'' turned sharply to port for a short time, heading west, before turning slightly starboard back to north. ''Suzuya'' followed her but coursed slightly less to port. She found herself steaming directly for ''Kumano'' but turned sharply to starboard and narrowly avoided colliding with the ''Kumano''. ''Mikuma'' attempted to mirror the movements of ''Suzuya'', turning to port and then turning to port further more after witnessing ''Suzuya'' maneuvering to avoid the formation's flagship (to avoid being entangled with the flagship). ''Mogami'' at the rear of the formation had made a turn to port and maintained a straight course heading north-west. ''Mikuma''s final turn to port had brought her directly into the course of ''Mogami''. In the darkness, ''Mogami'' did not sight ''Mikuma'' until she was very close to ''Mogami'', moving ahead across her starboard bow. Captain Soji of ''Mogami'' attempted a last-second sharp turn to port, but it was too late. This resulted in a collision in which ''Mogami'' rammed ''Mikuma''s portside, below the
bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...
. ''Mogami''s bow caved in and she was badly damaged. ''Mikuma''s portside oil tanks ruptured and she began to spill oil, but otherwise her damage was slight, thanks in part to the last-second portside turn that deflected ''Mogami''s bow along an angle from ''Mikuma''s portside. With her damaged bow, ''Mogami'' could make only for the time being, and was generally unwieldy and clumsy. The destroyers and of DesDiv 8, which had steamed ahead with the ''Suzuya'' and ''Kumano'' at high speed to escape the range of Midway's aircraft, were ordered by Kurita to reverse course and escort ''Mogami'' and ''Mikuma''. At 0630, a
PBY Catalina The Consolidated PBY Catalina is a flying boat and amphibious aircraft that was produced in the 1930s and 1940s. In Canadian service it was known as the Canso. It was one of the most widely used seaplanes of World War II. Catalinas served w ...
spotted the stragglers, thanks to the massive oil trail leaking from ''Mikuma'', and radioed their coordinates to Admiral Spruance. Throughout the day, in an aura of great confusion, many American sighting reports would misidentify one of the two ships as a battleship. Other sightings of the flagship of CruDiv 7 steaming at high speed to the north-west, combined with the reports of battleships and suspicions of a fifth carrier lurking about, led to great consternation on the part of Spruance and his staff at
Task force 16 Task Force 16 (TF16) was one of the most storied task forces in the United States Navy, a major participant in a number of the most important battles of the Pacific War. It was formed in mid-February 1942 around ''Enterprise'' (CV-6), with Vic ...
, who thought that the faster force steaming northwest was the one that contained the battleship. Midway wasted no time after receiving the report and launched the remnants of VMSB-241 containing 12 dive bombers (6 SBD Dauntlesses and 6 SB2Us divided in two wings). The aircraft travelled the short distance of 40 miles to their target and found the two cruisers. Despite her damaged bow and greatly reduced speed, ''Mogami'' began evasive maneuvers along with ''Mikuma'' and received no hits from the Dauntless section. Capt. Richard Fleming, in command of the Vindicator section, led his bombers in a glide bombing attack. The two cruisers responded with accurate and effective anti-aircraft fire, and managed to shoot down Fleming's bomber. Almost as soon as this attack ended, a group of eight B-17 level bombers operating out of Midway, led by Lt. Col. Brooke E. Allen, arrived to attack the two cruisers. They attacked in two sections of four aircraft and dropped a total of 39 bombs around the two ships with no hits. This attack concluded at around 0830. The following morning, 6 June 1942, ''Mikuma'' and ''Mogami'' were still heading due west instead of north-west where the combined fleet was converging, hoping to come within the range of
Wake Island Wake Island ( mh, Ānen Kio, translation=island of the kio flower; also known as Wake Atoll) is a coral atoll in the western Pacific Ocean in the northeastern area of the Micronesia subregion, east of Guam, west of Honolulu, southeast of T ...
's fighter air cover. ''Hornet''s 26 dive bombers arrived first, and at first ignored the two cruisers and searched for the alleged battleship ahead of this force, but having found nothing they circled back to the two cruisers and commenced their attacks. All bombing attempts on ''Mikuma'' missed, but two bombs struck ''Mogami'', hitting one of her 8-inch turrets and the aircraft deck, respectively. The latter bomb could have caused fatal damage to the ''Mogami'' as it started a fire in the torpedo room below the aviation facility, but ''Mogami''s damage control officer had previously ordered all torpedoes jettisoned. Anti-aircraft fire from the force shot down two of ''Hornet''s SBD Dauntlesses. The captain of the ''Mogami'' pushed the damaged ship's speed up to to hurry out of the danger zone. At 1045 a composite force of 31 dive bombers launched from ''Enterprise'' to seek the purported battleship in the area spotted the two stragglers. The force was escorted by 12 Wildcats and 3 TBM Devastator torpedo bombers. The force was under the command of Wallace "Wally" Short of ''Yorktown'' (some of her aircraft had been forced to land at Task Force 16 after their ship was abandoned). The dive bombers once again bypassed CruDiv 7 to search for the battleship, which was not located. The Wildcats escorting the formations approached the cruisers and received anti-aircraft fire that forced them to retreat to a safe distance. The Wildcat formation leader radioed to the dive bombers that one of the ships appeared to be a battleship (perhaps owing to the contrast between the two cruisers presented by ''Mogami''s shattered bow) and the dive bomber formation reversed course to attack the formation. Willy Short, leading the dive bombers, wanted to circle behind the formation and attack with the sun behind them, as was a favored dive bombing practice. But his rear section of the formation, VB-3, detached itself and attacked the rearmost cruiser in the formation (''Mogami''), planting 2 bombs in her at 1230. The rest of the dive bombers under Short attacked ''Mikuma'' from an altitude of , and caught her as she was coming out of her sharp starboard turn. Cascading through a fiery torrent of her anti-aircraft fire, the bombers delivered two hits. The first struck her No.3 turret; the explosion killed many of the officers on the bridge, including the commander of the starboard anti-aircraft batteries, and injured her captain severely enough to render him unconscious. ''Mikuma''s executive officer Takashima Hideo took command of the cruiser. The second bomb crashed through the deck and disabled the starboard forward engine rooms. Immediately after, two more bombs hit her aviation deck and exploded in the port aft engine room, starting a fire near her torpedo room. ''Mikuma'' was now dead in the water. The attacking planes left (the three TBM Devastator torpedo bombers did not join the attack, having being instructed to not attack anything that could respond with anti-aircraft fire). At 1358, the fire amidships ''Mikuma'' reached the torpedoes stored there and triggered a chain of massive secondary explosions, putting to rest the hope of towing the ship out of danger. At 1420 ''Mogami'' radioed to the combined fleet that ''Mikuma'' was in dire straits. The secondary explosions left ''Mikuma''s aft-amidships section and the aviation facility unrecognizable. The mast and superstructure atop the bridge collapsed and crashed into the conflagration in the aviation compartment. Though it wasn't obvious at the time, the bomb hit on the port machinery spaces had also ruptured the ship below the waterline, and she began taking on water. ''Mikuma'' continued trying to bring her fires under control, but approximately 30 minutes later the ship's executive officer Takashima came to the conclusion that there was no hope of saving the ship now that she was slowly settling in the water and gave the order to abandon ship. Takashima ordered the repair parties to throw shoring wood and other materials overboard to construct life rafts. ''Mogami'' and ''Arashio'' were close to ''Mikuma'' but maintained a safe distance as ''Mikuma'' was still burning and exploding, so the crews of ''Mikuma'' would have to swim over to the ships or use life rafts and launchers to reach ''Arashio'' and ''Mogami''. In the meanwhile ''Asashio'' patrolled in a circle around them to screen the ships from air or submarine attack. The ship's severely wounded captain Sakiyama was lowered on the first life raft, closely followed by the ship's paymaster and air officers, who took with them the ship's important documents. The rafts were launched towards the direction of ''Arashio''. Takashima remained in the ship's smoke-filled bridge, choosing to go down with the ship. The ship's main battery fire control director commander, Lt. Koyama Masao, also refused to leave the ship, choosing to instead commit
Hara-Kiri , sometimes referred to as hara-kiri (, , a native Japanese kun reading), is a form of Japanese ritual suicide by disembowelment. It was originally reserved for samurai in their code of honour but was also practised by other Japanese people ...
on top of the forward gun turret, ashamed that his guns did not have a chance to smash the enemy. A few minutes after Takashima gave the order to abandon ship, the ships were set upon by yet another dive bombing attack. At 1445, 23 Dauntlesses from ''Hornet'' that had been launched at 1330 arrived over the hapless formation. ''Arashio'' and ''Mogami'' immediately commenced evasive maneuvers, leaving behind them many of ''Mikuma''s crew in the water who were still making their way to their accompanying ships. The dive bombers commenced their attack at 1500. ''Mogami'' and ''Arashio'' did not have enough time to get underway and were both hit. The burning ''Mikuma'' was also hit. ''Arashio'' was hit by a bomb, which tragically exploded among the surviving crew of ''Mikuma'' that she had just picked up out of the water, killing 37 men outright and damaging her steering ability badly enough to force the destroyer to switch to manual steering and wounding Cdr. Ogawa Nobuki, commander of DesDiv8. ''Mogami'' received a hit near the seaplane deck, which started a fire near the sick bay and killed almost all of the ship's doctors and their orderlies outright. The fire was quickly contained at the cost of the life of most of the injured and wounded men in the sick bay. ''Asashio'' was not hit by the bombing attack but lost 22 men to strafing. Realizing the urgency of the situation, Captain Akira Soji, then in command of the detachment, communicated to the Combined Fleet to inform them of the attack, and immediately set course west to vacate the area before more air attacks occurred, leaving most of ''Mikuma''s crew in the water, ''Mogami'' and the two destroyers of DesDiv8 sailed away from her, having had time to rescue only 239 of her crew, including her dying captain Sakiyama. ''Mikuma'' continued to drift and burn for at least 4 more hours. Owing to the great confusion among American sighting report the past 2 days, Admrial Spruance of Task Force 16 ordered two recon Dauntlesses with cameras launched from ''Enterprise'' at 1553 to ascertain whether this damaged ship was indeed the alleged battleship reported by multiple reconnaissance airplanes. The Dauntlesses arrived over the burning ''Mikuma'' at 1715, just before dusk, and took several photographs of her at extremely low altitude, and recorded footage of her as well. The Dauntlesses recorded her position at 29°-28'N, 173°-11'E before leaving her. A survivor recalled that ''Mikuma''s port list began increasing rapidly at dusk, and at approximately 1930, she finally turned over on her portside and sank at . She was the first Japanese cruiser to be sunk during the war. Only 188 of ''Mikuma''s crew survived the ordeal; her captain also succumbed 3 days later to his wounds while he was aboard ''Suzuya''. Captain Soji later ordered ''Asashio'' to reverse course and go back to ''Mikuma'' and make every effort to save any of her surviving crews. ''Asashio'' made her way back to ''Mikuma''s location but found nothing, and promptly returned to CruDiv7, according to her log she found nothing but a great patch of oil and "not one survivor could be rescued". However, two of ''Mikuma''s crew would be rescued by on 9 June, the only survivors on a life raft that originally held seventeen.Shattered Sword, Jonathan Parshall and Anthony Tully, 2005 Owing to the secrecy and attempted cover-up of the disaster at Midway, the General Navy Headquarters would list ''Mikuma'' as "heavily damaged" rather than sunk, and then temporarily listed her as "unmanned" before being struck off the navy list at 10 August 1942.


References


Bibliography

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Further reading

* * *


External links

* *Tabular record:
CombinedFleet.com: ''Mikuma'' history
(Retrieved 26 January 2007.) *Gallery

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mikuma Mogami-class cruisers Ships built by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries 1934 ships World War II cruisers of Japan World War II shipwrecks in the Pacific Ocean Cruisers sunk by aircraft Maritime incidents in June 1942 Ships sunk by US aircraft