World War II Database

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbaseIzumo was the lead ship of her class of armored cruisers, built by the British near the turn of the century. During the Russo-Japanese War, she was the flagship of Japanese 2nd Fleet's Admiral Hikonojo Kamimura; in that war, she participated in the Battle off Ulsan on 14 Aug 1904 and the Battle of Tsushima on 26 May 1905. In 1909, she celebrated the 140th anniversary of the founding of San Francisco, California, United States, visiting several other American ports during the trip. During WW1, she patrolled foreign waters as far as the Mediterranean Sea as a part of the Allied fleet. In the 1919 Naval Review, Emperor Taisho took the helm of Izumo briefly during fleet maneuvers. On 1 Sep 1921, she was reclassified a 1st Class coastal defense vessel and operated in the Japanese home islands for the following several years. When Japan invaded China in 1937, thus starting WW2 in Asia, she was the flagship of the Japanese 3rd Fleet. During the Second Battle of Shanghai, she was attacked unsuccessfully by Chinese torpedo boats. On 14 Aug 1937, she was attacked by a group of Chinese Air Force aircraft led by Captain Claire Chennault. At 0400 on 8 Dec 1941, moment after the Pacific War began, Izumo forced the surrender of American gunboat USS Wake and sank the British gunboat HMS Peterel. During the war, she was retrofitted with anti-aircraft weapons and served in the Inland Sea as a training vessel. She was sunk at dock at Kure, Japan in an American air attack in 1945, near the end of the war. Her wreck was raised in 1947 for scrapping.

Armored Cruiser Izumo Interactive Map

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Izumo Operational Timeline

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3.  David Stubblebine says:
24 Mar 2014 06:15:02 PM

To G Bee:
I do not mean this as a flippant question but, by your way of thinking, do you consider the attack on Pearl Harbor not part of the war?