World War II Database

Contributor: Hugh Martyr

ww2dbaseThe Kasuga was originally one of the famous armoured cruisers of Admiral Heihachiro Togo's fleet during the Russo-Japanese War 1904-05. The cruiser, together with her sister ship, the Nisshin, were built in Italy for the Argentine Republic's Navy. Before the ships were completed and only a few months prior to the outbreak of the war with Russia, the two ships were offered to both Russia and Japan with Japan purchasing them. The cruiser was delivered to Japan by a crew of British Royal Naval Reservists. During that war Kasuga participated in the Battle of the Yellow Sea and was slightly damaged during the subsequent Battle of Tsushima. In addition she frequently bombarded the defences of Port Arthur (now Lushunkou District, Dalian, Liaoning Province, China). The ship played a limited role in World War I and was used to escort Allied convoys and search for German commerce raiders in the Indian Ocean and Australasia. She was then used as a training vessel until 1942 when she was given the role of a harbour defence vessel.

ww2dbaseHer main armament consisted of one 40-caliber Armstrong Whitworth 10-inch/40 Type 41 gun in a single turret forward and two 8-inch/45 Type 41 guns, in a twin-gun turret aft. Both guns being made at the Armstrong factory in Newcastle upon Tyne in England, Uinted Kingdom that also made the ten of the 6-inch/40 Type 41 guns that comprised her secondary armament that were arranged in casemates amidships on the main deck. The remaining four guns were mounted on the upper deck. Kasuga also had ten QF 3-inch/40 Type 41 guns and six rapid firing 3-pounder Hotchkiss guns to defend herself against torpedo boats. She was fitted with four submerged 457-millimeter (18.0-inch) torpedo tubes, two starboard and two portside.

ww2dbaseThe ship's waterline armoured belt had a maximum thickness of 5.9 inches amidships that tapered to 2.8 inches towards the ends of the ship. Between the main gun barbettes it covered the entire side of the ship up to the level of the upper deck. ww2dbaseKasuga capsized at her mooring at Yokosuka, Japan in Jul 1945 during a raid conducted by aircraft of US Navy squadron TF-38. Her wreck was salvaged in Aug 1948 and broken up for scrap by the Uraga Dock Company.

Armored Cruiser Kasuga Interactive Map

Photographs

Kasuga Operational Timeline