Nagara-class Light Cruiser

Nagara-class Light Cruiser

Country

This article refers to the entire Nagara-class; it is not about an individual vessel.

ww2dbaseThe Nagara-class light cruisers were the first Japanese cruisers to be equipped with the famed 610-millimeter Type 62 "Long Lance" torpedoes that were successful in the Pacific War. These light cruisers were based on the previous Kuma-class design and were similar to British Royal Navy cruisers in terms of layout, but through the 1930s and 1940s they receive numerous upgrades that made them stand out more. Some of the upgrades were fairly extensive, even during war time, such as the post-Midway modernization that removed the entire No. 5 and No. 7 gun turrets on each ship in favor of additional anti-aircraft weapons and air search radars sets. Of the six ships built, none of the Nagara-class light cruisers survived the Pacific War; many of them fell victim to American submarines.

ww2dbaseSource: Wikipedia.

Last Major Revision: Apr 2009

Nagara-class Light Cruiser Interactive Map

Nagara-class Light Cruiser Operational Timeline

21 Apr 1922	Nagara was commissioned into service.
15 Sep 1922	Natori was commissioned into service.
10 Nov 1922	Kinu was commissioned into service.
1 Mar 1923	Yura was commissioned into service.
15 Aug 1923	Isuzu was commissioned into service.
4 Mar 1942	USS S-39 (SS-144; Lieutenant J. W. Coe) fired four Mark 10 torpedoes at Japanese fleet oiler Erimo south of Belitung Island in western Java Sea, scoring three hits. Erimo's commanding officer, Captain Soma, beached Erimo to prevent sinking. The light cruiser Yura rescued survivors, but four crewmen were lost. Erimo was abandoned as a constructive total loss.
26 Mar 1942	Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo's Japanese First Air Fleet, built around a nucleus of five aircraft carriers (Akagi, Hiryu, Soryu, Shokaku, and Zuikaku), and supported by battleships (Kongo, Hiei, Haruna, and Kirishima), cruisers (Tone, Chikuma, Abukuma), and destroyers, sailed from Staring Bay, Celebes, Dutch East Indies to the west of Timor into the Indian Ocean with the intention of attacking the Royal Navy's bases at Colombo and Trincomalee in Ceylon.
1 Apr 1942	Vice Admiral Jisaburo Ozawa's Malaya Force, Second Expeditionary Fleet, departs Mergui, Burma and steams into the Bay of Bengal in the Indian Ocean Raids to attack merchant shipping. The force includes light carrier Ryujo and cruisers Chokai, Suzuya, Kumano, Mikuma, Mogami, and Yura.
3 Apr 1942	The Japanese fleet under the command of Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo entered the Indian Ocean.
5 Apr 1942	In the morning, Japanese carriers launched 36 D3A2 dive bombers and 53 B5N2 torpedo bombers, escorted by 36 Zero fighters, against the British naval base at Colombo, Ceylon, sinking merchant cruiser HMS Hector, damaging port facilities, while shooting down 25 British aircraft; 7 Japanese aircraft were lost in this attack. Around noon, cruiser Tone's floatplane spotted British cruisers HMS Cornwall and HMS Dorsetshire 200 miles southwest of Ceylon; 53 carrier aircraft were launched to attack, sinking Dorsetshire at 1350 hours (234 killed) and Cornwall at 1400 hours (190 killed); 1,122 survived from both ships.
5 Apr 1942	Following Admiral Jisaburo Ozawa’s force’s attack on the British naval base at Colombo, Ceylon, the force is split creating a Northern Group commanded by Rear Admiral Takeo Kurita consisting of cruisers Kumano and Suzuya; the Center Group consisting of the carrier Ryujo and cruisers Chokai and Yura under Ozawa; and the Southern Group comprised of cruisers Mogami, and Mikuma under Captain Shakao Sakiyama for the purposes of smaller raids against merchant shipping.
9 Apr 1942	Japanese carrier aircraft attacked the harbor at Trincomalee, Ceylon at 0700 hours. Two hours later, empty British aircraft carrier HMS Hermes and Australian destroyer HMAS Vampire were detected 90 miles further south. At 1035 hours, Japanese carrier aircraft attacked and sank HMS Hermes (307 killed) and HMAS Vampire (9 killed); hospital ship Vita rescued survivors from both warships. At 1207 hours, 20 Japanese carrier dive bombers sank British oiler Athelstane (all aboard survived) and British corvette HMS Hollyhock (48 were killed, 17 survived) in the Indian Ocean.
11 Apr 1942	Ozawa's Force arrived at Singapore to conclude a successful sortie into the Indian Ocean.
15 Jun 1942	Nagara transferred 500 wounded survivors of the Battle of Midway to hospital ship Hikawa Maru.
12 Oct 1942	Yugure and Yura escorted Nisshin and Chitose after Battle of Cape Esperance off Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands.
25 Oct 1942	American SBD aircraft seriously damaged Japanese light cruiser Yura.
26 Mar 1943	During the Battle of the Komandorski Islands, Japanese cruisers Nachi, Maya, Tama, and Abukuma with destroyers Wakaba, Hatsushimo, Ikazuchi, Inazuma, and Usugumo plus three transport ships engaged United States Navy cruisers Salt Lake City and Richmond escorted by destroyers Coghlan, Bailey, Dale, and Monaghan in one of the very few pure naval surface battles of World War II involving long-range guns. Nachi was forced to push one of her floatplanes overboard (concussion damage from her own guns), fired several Type 93 "Long Lance" torpedoes at the US forces (none of which hit), and received five hits (killing 14). Salt Lake City sustained moderate damage and was dead in the water for a short time. Bailey, Coghlan, and Monaghan made a bold torpedo attack that became known as the Charge of the Irish Destroyers.
8 Apr 1943	Nagara and Yugure departed Truk, Caroline Islands at 1335 hours to make rendezvous with disabled transport ship Kosei Maru (torpedoed by USS Tunny on 7 Apr 1943).
9 Apr 1943	Nagara and Yugure was joined by Yuzuki and Yugiri at 0440 hours, and at 0530 hours the group arrived at disabled transport ship Kosei Maru's location; the transport was torpedoed by USS Tunny two days prior. The destroyers began an anti-submarine sweep and at 0558 hours Yuzuki dropped several depth charges against a possible target. At 1308, while in two by Nagara, Kosei Maru foundered and sank; 137 survivors were taken on by Nagara.
10 Apr 1943	Nagara and Yugure arrived at Truk, Caroline Islands.
11 Jun 1943	Isuzu, Ariake, and Yugure escorted Hiyo, damaged by USS Trigger on the previous day, toward Yokosuka, Japan.
12 Jun 1943	Isuzu, Ariake, Yugure, and Hiyo arrived at Yokosuka, Japan at 1030 hours. Torpedo-damaged Hiyo entered drydocks at Yokosuka Naval Arsenal for repairs at 1053 hours; her bottom scraped the bottom of the drydock while moving in.
25 Oct 1944	Off northeastern Luzon, Philippines, aircraft from US Navy Task Force 38 attacked the Japanese carrier force consisted of fleet carrier Zuikaku and light carriers Zuiho, Chitose, and Chiyoda in the Battle off Cape Engaño. The Japanese force was escorted by two battleship-carrier hybrids (Hyuga and Ise; aircraft-less on this date), three light cruisers (Oyodo, Tama, and Isuzu), and nine destroyers at about 0830 hours, 26 minutes after those planes were detected by Zuikaku's radar. The overwhelmingly larger American force, under Admiral William Halsey, centered around fleet carriers USS Lexington, USS Intrepid, USS Essex, USS Franklin, USS Enterprise, further bolstered by a great many light carriers, battleships, cruisers, and destroyers. Zuikaku was damaged by skilled damage control teams extinguished the fires and corrected the listing by 0850 hours. Chitose was fatally damaged by the first attack wave, sinking at 0937 hours. At 0953 hours, a second attack wave struck, fatally damaging Chiyoda, leaving her dead in the water to be sunk by American destroyers later at 1655 hours. The second wave also damaged Zuiho's flight deck, the last functional flight deck of Vice Admiral Jisaburo Ozawa's force; Japanese combat air patrol planes in the air would need to ditch when they ran out of fuel. At 1032 hours, Ozawa transferred his flag from the damaged Zuikaku to Oyodo. At 1308, the Japanese sighted an incoming third wave of American aircraft. Six torpedoes struck Zuikaku, causing massive flooding and several fires in the hangar; the commanding officer addressed the surviving crew, ordered the lowering of the ensign, and gave the abandon ship order at 1358 hours; Zuikaku sank by the stern at 1414 hours. Zuiho suffered two torpedo, two bomb hits, and a great many near-misses during the third attack wave, and she was dead in the water at 1445 hours. At 1455 hours, a fourth wave struck, sealing the doom of Zuiho with ten near-misses, leading to Zuiho's commanding officer giving the abandon ship order; she sank at 1526 hours.

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Nagara-class Light Cruiser