Japanese cruiser Naka
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was a
light cruiser A light cruiser is a type of small or medium-sized warship. The term is a shortening of the phrase "light armored cruiser", describing a small ship that carried armor in the same way as an armored cruiser: a protective belt and deck. Prior to thi ...
in 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 surrender ...
(IJN), named after the Naka River in the Tochigi and
Ibaraki prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Ibaraki Prefecture has a population of 2,871,199 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of . Ibaraki Prefecture borders Fukushima Prefecture to the north, ...
s of eastern
Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
. ''Naka'' was the third (and final) vessel completed in the ''Sendai'' class of light cruisers, and like other vessels of her class, she was intended for use as the flagship of a
destroyer In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, manoeuvrable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against powerful short range attackers. They were originally developed in ...
flotilla.


Service career

''Naka'' was completed at
Mitsubishi The is a group of autonomous Japanese multinational companies in a variety of industries. Founded by Yatarō Iwasaki in 1870, the Mitsubishi Group historically descended from the Mitsubishi zaibatsu, a unified company which existed from 1870 ...
Yokohama is the second-largest city in Japan by population and the most populous municipality of Japan. It is the capital city and the most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a 2020 population of 3.8 million. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of To ...
on 30 November 1925. On 26 November 1941, ''Naka'' became
flagship A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically the fi ...
of 4th Destroyer Flotilla under
Rear Admiral Rear admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, equivalent to a major general and air vice marshal and above that of a commodore and captain, but below that of a vice admiral. It is regarded as a two star "admiral" rank. It is often regarde ...
Shōji Nishimura was an admiral in the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II. Biography Nishimura was from Akita prefecture in the northern Tōhoku region of Japan. He was a graduate of the 39th class of the Imperial Japanese Naval Academy in 1911, ranking ...
. 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, j ...
, ''Naka'' was engaged in the invasion of the southern
Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...
as part of Vice Admiral Ibo Takahashi's
Third Fleet The United States Third Fleet is one of the numbered fleets in the United States Navy. Third Fleet's area of responsibility includes approximately fifty million square miles of the eastern and northern Pacific Ocean areas including the Bering ...
escorting transports with components of the IJA 48th Infantry Division. ''Naka'' was slightly damaged by strafing by five
Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress is a four-engined heavy bomber developed in the 1930s for the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC). Relatively fast and high-flying for a bomber of its era, the B-17 was used primarily in the European Theater ...
bombers and Seversky P-35 Guardsman and
Curtiss P-40 Kittyhawk The Curtiss P-40 Warhawk is an American single-engined, single-seat, all-metal fighter and ground-attack aircraft that first flew in 1938. The P-40 design was a modification of the previous Curtiss P-36 Hawk which reduced development time an ...
fighters of the
United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...
(USAAF) Far East Air Force. In January 1942, 4th Destroyer Flotilla was assigned to the invasion of the
Netherlands East Indies The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies ( nl, Nederlands(ch)-Indië; ), was a Dutch colony consisting of what is now Indonesia. It was formed from the nationalised trading posts of the Dutch East India Company, which ...
, escorting a convoy carrying the Kure No. 2
Special Naval Landing Force The Special Naval Landing Forces (SNLF; ja, 海軍特別陸戦隊, Kaigun Tokubetsu Rikusentai) were naval infantry units of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) and were a part of the IJN Land Forces. They saw extensive service in the Second Sino ...
(SNLF) and Sakaguchi Brigade to
Tarakan Tarakan is an island and the largest city of the Indonesian province of North Kalimantan. The island city is located in northern Borneo, midway along the coast of the province. The city boundaries are co-extensive with the island (including a co ...
and
Balikpapan Balikpapan is a seaport city in East Kalimantan, Indonesia. Located on the east coast of the island of Borneo, the city is the financial center of Kalimantan. Balikpapan is the city with the largest economy in Kalimantan with an estimated 2 ...
,
Borneo Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java, west of Sulawesi, and eas ...
. On 24 January 1942 while landing troops at Balikpapan, the
Royal Netherlands Navy The Royal Netherlands Navy ( nl, Koninklijke Marine, links=no) is the naval force of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. During the 17th century, the navy of the Dutch Republic (1581–1795) was one of the most powerful naval forces in the world an ...
submarine A submarine (or sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability. The term is also sometimes used historically or colloquially to refer to remotely op ...
, operating on the surface due to poor weather, fired four torpedoes at ''Naka'', but missed. While Admiral Nishimura ordered ''Naka'' and her destroyers in an unsuccessful pursuit of the submarine, USN Task Force 5 comprising the destroyers , , and attacked the now unprotected Japanese convoy, sinking several transports. In late February 1942, 4th Destroyer Flotilla escorted transports with the 48th Infantry Division to
Makassar Makassar (, mak, ᨆᨀᨔᨑ, Mangkasara’, ) is the capital of the Indonesian province of South Sulawesi. It is the largest city in the region of Eastern Indonesia and the country's fifth-largest urban center after Jakarta, Surabaya, Med ...
,
Celebes Sulawesi (), also known as Celebes (), is an island in Indonesia. One of the four Greater Sunda Islands, and the world's eleventh-largest island, it is situated east of Borneo, west of the Maluku Islands, and south of Mindanao and the Sulu A ...
and eastern
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 List ...
. Ahead of the convoy were 2nd Destroyer Flotilla (flagship
light cruiser A light cruiser is a type of small or medium-sized warship. The term is a shortening of the phrase "light armored cruiser", describing a small ship that carried armor in the same way as an armored cruiser: a protective belt and deck. Prior to thi ...
) and the cruisers and . ''Naka'' was thus in a central position for the
Battle of the Java Sea The Battle of the Java Sea ( id, Pertempuran Laut Jawa, ja, スラバヤ沖海戦, Surabaya oki kaisen, Surabaya open-sea battle, Javanese : ꦥꦼꦫꦁ​ꦱꦼꦒꦫꦗꦮ, romanized: ''Perang Segara Jawa'') was a decisive naval battle o ...
on 27 February 1942. At 1547, the Japanese cruisers ''Haguro'', ''Nachi'' and ''Jintsū'' with destroyers , , , and , , , and engaged Dutch Rear Admiral Karel W. F. M. Doorman's Strike Force consisting of two
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 Tr ...
s ( and ), three
light cruiser A light cruiser is a type of small or medium-sized warship. The term is a shortening of the phrase "light armored cruiser", describing a small ship that carried armor in the same way as an armored cruiser: a protective belt and deck. Prior to thi ...
s ( (Doorman's flagship), , ), and nine destroyers (, , , , , , , USS ''John D. Ford'', and USS ''Paul Jones''). At 1603, ''Naka'' and its destroyer squadron with , , , , and launched 43 Type 93 Long Lance torpedoes at the
Allied An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...
force from about ; sinking ''Kortenaer''. The destroyers launched 56 torpedoes in addition to 8 torpedoes from ''Naka'', but amazingly failed to hit anything. ''Asagumo'' closed with the ''Electra'', sinking it in a gun battle. ''Jupiter'' hit a Dutch
mine Mine, mines, miners or mining may refer to: Extraction or digging * Miner, a person engaged in mining or digging *Mining, extraction of mineral resources from the ground through a mine Grammar *Mine, a first-person English possessive pronoun ...
and sank. Towards midnight, ''De Ruyter'' and ''Java'' were hit by torpedoes and exploded. This engagement was followed by 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 , ...
, the next day on 28 February 1942, at which ''Naka'' was not present. In March, ''Naka'' was assigned patrol duties between Java and the Celebes. However, on 14 March 1942, ''Naka'' received orders to become flagship for the
Christmas Island Christmas Island, officially the Territory of Christmas Island, is an Australian external territory comprising the island of the same name. It is located in the Indian Ocean, around south of Java and Sumatra and around north-west of the ...
invasion force. The force consisted of ''Naka'', 16th Cruiser Division's and , 9th Destroyer Division's ''Minegumo'' and , 22nd Destroyer Division's , , and , 16th Destroyer Division's ''Amatsukaze'' and ''Hatsukaze'', oiler ''Akebono Maru'' and transports ''Kimishima Maru'' and ''Kumagawa Maru''. Landing operations progressed without opposition on 31 March 1942, however, the submarine fired four torpedoes at ''Naka'', but all missed. ''Seawolf'' tried again with two more torpedoes the following day, 1 April 1942, and this time one hit to starboard near her No. 1 boiler. ''Natori'' towed the badly damaged ''Naka'' to Bantam Bay, Java for temporary repairs, and ''Naka'' then proceeded to
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, borde ...
under her own power. The damage was sufficient to justify a return to Japan for further repairs in June. ''Naka'' remained in Japan in reserve until April 1943. On 1 April 1943, ''Naka'' was assigned to the new 14th Cruiser Division under Rear Admiral Kenzo Ito with , arriving at Truk on 30 April 1943. For the next several months, ''Naka'' was assigned to make troop transport runs around the
Marshall Islands The Marshall Islands ( mh, Ṃajeḷ), officially the Republic of the Marshall Islands ( mh, Aolepān Aorōkin Ṃajeḷ),'' () is an independent island country and microstate near the Equator in the Pacific Ocean, slightly west of the Internati ...
and
Nauru Nauru ( or ; na, Naoero), officially the Republic of Nauru ( na, Repubrikin Naoero) and formerly known as Pleasant Island, is an island country and microstate in Oceania, in the Central Pacific. Its nearest neighbour is Banaba Island in Ki ...
. On 21 October 1943, ''Naka'' and ''Isuzu'' embarked Army troops at
Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...
. The convoy was intercepted by the submarine in the
East China Sea The East China Sea is an arm of the Western Pacific Ocean, located directly offshore from East China. It covers an area of roughly . The sea’s northern extension between mainland China and the Korean Peninsula is the Yellow Sea, separated b ...
on 23 October 1943, which fired 10 torpedoes, failing to damage either cruiser. On 3 November 1943, convoy was attacked north of
Kavieng Kavieng is the capital of the Papua New Guinean province of New Ireland and the largest town on the island of the same name. The town is located at Balgai Bay, on the northern tip of the island. As of 2009, it had a population of 17,248. Kavi ...
by
13th Air Force The Thirteenth Air Force (Air Forces Pacific) (13 AF) was a numbered air force of the United States Air Force Pacific Air Forces (PACAF). It was last headquartered at Hickam Air Force Base on the island of Oahu, Hawaii. 13 AF has never been stat ...
Consolidated B-24 Liberator The Consolidated B-24 Liberator is an American heavy bomber, designed by Consolidated Aircraft of San Diego, California. It was known within the company as the Model 32, and some initial production aircraft were laid down as export models des ...
bombers. ''Naka'' suffered a near-miss, and arrived at
Rabaul Rabaul () is a township in the East New Britain province of Papua New Guinea, on the island of New Britain. It lies about 600 kilometres to the east of the island of New Guinea. Rabaul was the provincial capital and most important settlement in ...
on 5 November 1943, the same day as the Carrier Raid on Rabaul. ''Naka'' was slightly damaged by near-misses from dive bombers from the
aircraft carrier An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and facilities for carrying, arming, deploying, and recovering aircraft. Typically, it is the capital ship of a fleet, as it allows a ...
s and . On 23 November 1943, ''Naka'' departed
Ponape Ponape may refer to: * Pohnpei, an island in the Federated States of Micronesia * ''Ponape'' (barque), a German sailing ship {{disambiguation ...
with troop reinforcements for
Tarawa Tarawa is an atoll and the capital of the Republic of Kiribati,Kiribati
'' in
Operation Hailstone Operation Hailstone ( ja, トラック島空襲, Torakku-tō Kūshū, lit=airstrike on Truk Island), 17–18 February 1944, was a massive United States Navy air and surface attack on Truk Lagoon conducted as part of the American offensive drive ...
. The Americans sank 31 transports and 10 naval vessels (two cruisers, four destroyers and four auxiliary vessels), destroyed nearly 200 aircraft and damaged severely about 100 more, eliminating Truk as a major base for the IJN. ''Naka'' was attacked west of Truk by three waves of
Curtiss SB2C Helldiver The Curtiss SB2C Helldiver is a dive bomber developed by Curtiss-Wright during World War II. As a carrier-based bomber with the United States Navy (USN), in Pacific theaters, it supplemented and replaced the Douglas SBD Dauntless. A few survi ...
s and
Grumman TBF Avenger The Grumman TBF Avenger (designated TBM for aircraft manufactured by General Motors) is an American World War II-era torpedo bomber developed initially for the United States Navy and Marine Corps, and eventually used by several air and naval av ...
s from the aircraft carrier and TBFs of VT-25 of the carrier . The first two strikes failed to score a hit, but ''Naka'' was hit by a torpedo and a bomb in the third strike and broke in two, sinking at . Some 240 crewmen perished, but patrol boats rescued 210 men including Captain Sutezawa. ''Naka'' was removed from the
navy list A Navy Directory, formerly the Navy List or Naval Register is an official list of naval officers, their ranks and seniority, the ships which they command or to which they are appointed, etc., that is published by the government or naval author ...
on 31 March 1944.


Notes


References

* * *


External links

* *Tabular record:
CombinedFleet.com: ''Naka'' history


Further reading

* * * * *- First-hand account of the torpedoing of ''Naka'' at Christmas Island by the captain of the Japanese destroyer ''Amatsukaze'' * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Naka Sendai-class cruisers 1925 ships World War II cruisers of Japan World War II shipwrecks in the Pacific Ocean Cruisers sunk by aircraft Maritime incidents in February 1944 Ships sunk by US aircraft Ships built by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries