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|
 Heavy cruiserKinugasa on commissioning at Kobe | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 Empire of Japan | |
| Name | Kinugasa |
| Namesake | Mount Kinugasa |
| Ordered | 1923 Fiscal Year |
| Builder | Kawasaki Heavy Industries |
| Laid down | 24 October 1924 |
| Launched | 24 October 1926 |
| Commissioned | 30 September 1927[1] |
| Stricken | 15 December 1942 |
| Fate | Sunk 13 November 1942 by American aircraft during theNaval Battle of Guadalcanal at08°45′S157°00′E / 8.750°S 157.000°E /-8.750; 157.000 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class & type | Aoba-classheavy cruiser |
| Displacement | 8,300long tons (8,433 t) (standard); 9,000 long tons (9,144 t) (final) |
| Length | 185.17 m (607 ft 6 in) |
| Beam |
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| Draft |
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| Installed power | 102,000 shp (76,000 kW) |
| Propulsion |
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| Speed | 36 kn (67 km/h; 41 mph) – 33.43 kn (61.91 km/h; 38.47 mph) |
| Range | |
| Complement |
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| Armament |
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| Armor | |
| Aircraft carried |
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| Aviation facilities | 1 ×catapult |
Kinugasa (Japanese:衣笠; named afterMount Kinugasa) was the second vessel in the two-vesselAoba class ofheavy cruisers in theImperial Japanese Navy. Following theJapanese ship-naming conventions, the ship was named after Mount Kinugasa, located inYokosuka, Kanagawa,Japan.
Kinugasa and hersister shipAoba were originally planned as the third and fourth vessels in theFurutaka class of heavy cruisers. However, design issues with theFurutakas resulted in modifications including twinturrets and an aircraft catapult. These modifications created yet more weight to an already top-heavy design, causing stability problems. Nevertheless,Kinugasa played an important role in the opening stages ofWorld War II.
Kinugasa was completed on 30 September 1927 at theKawasaki shipyards inKobe. Her early service was as flagship of the Fifth Squadron (Sentai), and she operated for virtually her entire career with that unit and the Sixth and Seventh Squadrons. In 1928, she became the first Japanese combat ship to carry anaircraft catapult.
During a training exercise on 11 July 1929, the JapanesesubmarineI-55 accidentally collided withKinugasa while usingKinugasa as a target.I-55 suffered damage to her bow plating in the collision.
Kinugasa served off theChina coast in 1928–1929 and on several occasions during the 1930s. Placed in reserve in September 1937,Kinugasa was extensively modernized at theSasebo Navy Yard and not recommissioned until the end of October 1940.
In 1941,Kinugasa was assigned to Cruiser Division 6 (CruDiv6), asflagship ofRear AdmiralAritomo Goto as part of the First Fleet under overall command ofVice AdmiralTakasu Shiro. CruDiv 6 consisted ofKinugasa,Aoba,Furutaka andKako. At the time of theattack on Pearl Harbor, CruDiv6 was engaged in theinvasion of Guam, following which it participated in the second invasion ofWake Island.
From January–May 1942,Kinugasa was based out ofTruk, in theCaroline Islands where it provided protection for the landings of Japanese troops in theSolomon Islands andNew Guinea atRabaul,Kavieng,Buka,Shortland,Kieta,Manus Island,Admiralty Islands andTulagi.
At theBattle of the Coral Sea, CruDiv 6 departed Shortland and effected a rendezvous at sea with thelight carrierShōhō At 11:00 on 7 May 1942, north of Taguli Island,Shōhō was attacked and sunk by 93Douglas SBD Dauntlessdive bombers andDouglas TBD Devastatortorpedo bombers fromUSS Yorktown andLexington.
The following day, 46 SBDs, 21 TBDs and 15Grumman F4F Wildcats fromYorktown andLexington severely damaged the carrierShōkaku above the waterline and forced her retirement.Furutaka andKinugasa, undamaged in the battle, escortedShōkaku back to Truk.
Kinugasa was withdrawn to Japan in June 1942 for repairs, and returned to Truk by 4 July. Following the major reorganization of 14 July 1942,Kinugasa came under the newly createdEighth Fleet under Vice AdmiralGunichi Mikawa, based at Rabaul.
In theBattle of Savo Island on 9 August 1942, the four heavy cruisers of CruDiv 6 (Aoba,Kako,Furutaka andKinugasa), the heavy cruiserChōkai, light cruisersTenryū andYubari and destroyerYūnagi engaged the Allied forces in a night gun and torpedo action. At about 23:00,Chōkai,Furutaka andKako all launched their reconnaissancefloatplanes. The circling floatplanes dropped flares illuminating the targets and all the Japanese ships opened fire. TheAllied cruisersUSS Astoria,Quincy,Vincennes andHMAS Canberra were sunk. The cruiserUSS Chicago was damaged as were the destroyersUSS Ralph Talbot andPatterson. On the Japanese side,Chōkai was hit three times,Kinugasa twice (once in her No. 1 Engine Room by an 8-inch shell fromVincennes that did not explode but caused some damage, killed one man and wounded another,[2] and one in a storeroom aft that was flooded by a 5-inch shell fromPatterson),Aoba once, andFurutaka was not damaged.
The heavily laden American invasion transports off Guadalcanal were unprotected, but Admiral Mikawa, unaware thatAdmiral Fletcher had withdrawn his aircraft carriers covering the invasion, feared an air attack at daybreak and ordered a retirement. Captain Sawa ofKinugasa, frustrated, launched a spread of torpedoes fromKinugasa's starboard tubes at the Allied transports 13 mi (11 nmi; 21 km) distant, but all missed. The following day as CruDiv6 approached Kavieng,Kako was torpedoed and sunk by the US submarineS-44.
At theBattle of Cape Esperance on 11 October 1942, CruDiv 6's (Aoba,Furutaka andKinugasa), and destroyersFubuki andHatsuyuki departed Shortland to provide cover for a troop reinforcement convoy by shelling Henderson Field on Guadalcanal. The fleet was spotted, coming down"the Slot" at 30 kn (56 km/h; 35 mph), by twoVought OS2U Kingfisher reconnaissance floatplanes.
So alerted, the radar-equipped American cruisersUSS San Francisco,Boise,Salt Lake City, andHelena and five destroyers steamed around the end of Guadalcanal to block the entrance to Savo Sound.
At 22:35,Helena's radar spotted the Japanese fleet, and the Americans successfullycrossed the Japanese "T". Both fleets opened fire, but Admiral Goto, thinking that he was underfriendly fire, ordered a 180-degree turn that exposed each of his ships to the American broadsides.
Aoba was damaged heavily, and Admiral Goto was mortally wounded.Furutaka was hit by a torpedo that flooded her forward engine room and was subsequently sunk bySan Francisco, andDuncan.
Kinugasa straddledBoise andSalt Lake City with 8-inch salvos, knocking outBoise's No. 1 and 2 turrets.Kinugasa sustained four hits in the engagement. The following morning,Kinugasa was attacked but not damaged by five American planes, and then returned to Shortland.
Just a few days later, on the night of 14/15 October 1942,Kinugasa returned and together with heavy cruiserChokai bombarded Henderson Field with a total of 752 8-inch shells. This followed the bombardment from battleshipsKongo andHaruna the night before and preceded the bombardment by the heavy cruisersMaya andMyoko the following night.
From 24–26 October and 1–5 November,Kinugasa andChōkai provided cover for replacement convoys of troops and equipment to bolster Japanese defenses at Guadalcanal. On 14 November, during theNaval Battle of Guadalcanal,Kinugasa was attacked byGrumman TBF Avenger torpedo bombers and Douglas SBD Dauntlesses fromUSS Enterprise andUSMC Avengers from Guadalcanal on her return trip from an unopposed bombardment of Henderson Field the night before. At 09:36, a 500-pound bomb hitKinugasa's 13.2 mm (0.5 in) machine gun mount in front of the bridge, starting a fire in the forward gasoline storage area. Captain Sawa and hisexecutive officer were killed by the bomb, andKinugasa gradually began to list to port. Near-misses caused additional fires and flooding and a second attack by 17 more Dauntlesses knocked outKinugasa's engines and rudder and opened more compartments to the sea. At 11:22, she capsized and sank southwest ofRendova Island at08°45′S157°00′E / 8.750°S 157.000°E /-8.750; 157.000, taking 511 crewmen with her.
IJNSKinugasa was removed from the Navy list on 15 December 1942.
