World War II Database

The light cruiser Agano's first assignments were escort missions, first as escort to troop transports off Wewak and Medang, then she participated in safeguarding the evacuation of Japanese troops from Guadalcanal. In Jun 1943, she was fitted with Type 21 search radar, making her one of the only handful of ships equipped with this modern equipment. As a part of a larger task force, she patrolled off Truk and Eniwetok of the Caroline Islands in search of American submarines and the suspected oncoming invasion force, but failed to make contact. On 2 Nov 1943, she engaged American forces off Rabaul and then suffered minor damage from a near-miss from aircrafts of USS Saratoga and USS Princeton while Agano was in port. However, she was struck by a torpedo in the subsequent strike at Rabaul. While en route for Truk, she was hit again by a torpedo, this time from the submarine USS Scamp. She was towed the rest of the way and arrived at Truk on 16 Nov.

After three months of hasty makeshift repairs, Agano was partially repaired, and was ordered to return to the Japanese home islands for a complete repair. She was detected by USS Skate only 160 miles out of Truk, and the American submarine promptly sank her. Kamikaze-class destroyer Oite picked up 523 survivors. However, Oite proved to be as vulnerable off Truk as Agano was: she was spotted by Avengers while returning to port. She was sunk by the Avengers, and only twenty crew members survived the sinking. All of the rescued Agano crew members were lost in the sinking of Oite.

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