Japanese cruiser Mikuma

Coordinates: 29°20′N 173°30′E / 29.333°N 173.500°E / 29.333; 173.500
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For other ships with the same name, see Japanese ship Mikuma.

Mikuma in Kagoshima Harbor, 1939
History
Empire of Japan
NameMikuma
NamesakeMikuma River
Ordered1931 Fiscal Year
BuilderMitsubishi
Laid down24 December 1931
Launched31 May 1934
Commissioned29 August 1935
Stricken10 August 1942
FateSunk by American aircraft during Battle of Midway, 6 June 1942 29°20′N 173°30′E / 29.333°N 173.500°E / 29.333; 173.500
General characteristics
Class and typeMogami-class cruiser
Displacement
  • 8,500 tons (official, initial)
  • 13,668 tons (final)
Length
  • 197 metres (646 ft 4 in) (initial)
  • 198 metres (649 ft 7 in) (final)
Beam
  • 18 metres (59 ft 1 in) (initial)
  • 20.2 metres (66 ft 3 in) (final)
Draught
  • 5.5 metres (18 ft 1 in) (initial)
  • 5.9 metres (19 ft 4 in) (final)
Propulsion
  • 4-shaft geared turbines
  • 10 Kampon boilers
  • 152,000 shp (113,000 kW)
Speed
  • 37 knots (69 km/h; 43 mph) (initial)
  • 34.9 knots (64.6 km/h; 40.2 mph) (final)
Range8,000 nmi (15,000 km; 9,200 mi) at 14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph)
Complement850
Armament
Armor
  • Belt 100–125 mm (3.9–4.9 in)
  • Deck 35–60 mm (1.4–2.4 in)
  • Turret 25 mm (0.98 in)
Aircraft carried3 x floatplanes

Mikuma (三隈, Mikuma) was a heavy cruiser of the Imperial Japanese Navy. The second vessel in the four-ship Mogami class,[3] she was laid down in 1931 and commissioned in 1935. During World War II she participated in the Battle of Sunda Strait in February 1942 and the Battle of Midway in June 1942, and was sunk the last day of the latter engagement, on 6 June.

The ship was named after the Mikuma river in

Oita prefecture, Japan
.

Background

Built under the 1931 Fleet Replenishment Program, the Mogami-class cruisers were designed to the maximum limits allowed by the

aluminum in the superstructure, and the use of a single funnel stack. New impulse geared turbine engines, coupled with very heavy anti-aircraft protection, gave the class a very high speed and protection. However, the Mogami class was also plagued with technical problems due to its untested equipment and proved to be unstable and top-heavy as well, due to cramming too much equipment into a comparatively small hull.[3]

Service career

Early career

Mikuma was completed at

Nagasaki shipyards[4] on 29 August 1935.[3]

Beginning in 1939, Mikuma was brought in for substantial reconstruction, replacing the triple 155-millimetre (6 in) turrets with twin 203 mm (8 in) guns (the 155 mm turrets going to the battleship

Torpedo bulges were also added to improve stability, but the increased displacement caused a reduction in speed.[1]

Mikuma participated in the occupation of

Singora, Pattani and Kota Bharu.[3]

In December 1941, Mikuma was tasked with the invasion of

Miri and Kuching.[5] In February 1942, Mikuma was tasked with covering landings of Japanese troops in Sumatra and Java.[6] On 10 February, Mikuma and Chōkai were attacked by the submarine USS Searaven, which fired four torpedoes
, but missed.

Battle of Sunda Strait

At 2300 on 28 February 1942, Mikuma and Mogami, destroyer Shikinami, light cruiser Natori and destroyers Shirakumo, Murakumo, Shirayuki, Hatsuyuki and Asakaze arrived and engaged the cruisers USS Houston and HMAS Perth with gunfire and torpedoes after the Allied vessels attacked Japanese transports in the Sunda Strait. At 2355, Houston scored hits on Mikuma that knocked out her electrical power, but it was quickly restored. During the battle, Mikuma lost six men and eleven others were wounded. Both Houston and Perth were sunk during the engagement, as was transport Ryujo Maru with IJA 16th Army commander Lieutenant General Hitoshi Imamura—although the general survived the sinking.[3]

In March, Mikuma and Cruiser Division 7 were based at Singapore to cover Japanese landings in Sumatra[6] and the seizure of the Andaman Islands.[7]

From 1 April 1942 Cruiser Division 7 based from

Calcutta to Mauritius
.

On 22 April, Cruiser Division 7 returned to

Raizo Tanaka's Midway Invasion Transport Group. Mikuma's crew was advised that upon the completion of the Midway operation they would proceed to the Aleutian Islands and from there to Australia
.

Battle of Midway

On 5 June, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, CINC of the

VMSB-241 containing 12 dive bombers (6 SBD Dauntlesses and 6 SB2Us divided in two wings). The aircraft travelled the short distance of 40 miles to their target and found the two cruisers. Despite her damaged bow and greatly reduced speed, Mogami began evasive maneuvers along with Mikuma and received no hits from the Dauntless section. Capt. Richard Fleming, in command of the Vindicator section, led his bombers in a glide bombing attack. The two cruisers responded with accurate and effective anti-aircraft fire, and managed to shoot down Fleming's bomber. Almost as soon as this attack ended, a group of eight B-17 level bombers
operating out of Midway, led by Lt. Col. Brooke E. Allen, arrived to attack the two cruisers. They attacked in two sections of four aircraft and dropped a total of 39 bombs around the two ships with no hits. This attack concluded at around 0830.

Mikuma shortly before sinking
Mikuma burning after being bombed by American carrier planes, just before sinking. Note her completely destroyed midsection.
Mikuma seen burning from a dive bomber. Mogami is visible to the right, and Arashio faintly visible between them, 1500-25, June 6, 1942.

The following morning, 6 June 1942, Mikuma and Mogami were still heading due west instead of north-west where the combined fleet was converging, hoping to come within the 700 km (430 mi) range of

Hara-Kiri
on top of the forward gun turret, ashamed that his guns did not have a chance to smash the enemy.

A few minutes after Takashima gave the order to abandon ship, the ships were set upon by yet another dive bombing attack. At 1445, 23 Dauntlesses from Hornet that had been launched at 1330 arrived over the hapless formation. Arashio and Mogami immediately commenced evasive maneuvers, leaving behind them many of Mikuma's crew in the water who were still making their way to their accompanying ships. The dive bombers commenced their attack at 1500. Mogami and Arashio did not have enough time to get underway and were both hit. The burning Mikuma was also hit. Arashio was hit by a bomb, which exploded among the surviving crew of Mikuma that she had just picked up out of the water, killing 37 men outright and damaging her steering ability badly enough to force the destroyer to switch to manual steering and wounding Cdr. Ogawa Nobuki, commander of DesDiv8.[9][full citation needed] Mogami received a hit near the seaplane deck, which started a fire near the sick bay and killed almost all of the ship's doctors and their orderlies outright. The fire was quickly contained at the cost of the life of most of the injured and wounded men in the sick bay. Asashio was not hit by the bombing attack but lost 22 men to strafing. Realizing the urgency of the situation, Captain Akira Soji, then in command of the detachment, communicated to the Combined Fleet to inform them of the attack, and immediately set course west to vacate the area before more air attacks occurred, leaving most of Mikuma's crew in the water, Mogami and the two destroyers of DesDiv8 sailed away from her, having had time to rescue only 239 of her crew, including her dying captain Sakiyama. Mikuma continued to drift and burn for at least 4 more hours. Owing to the great confusion among American sighting report the past 2 days, Admrial Spruance of Task Force 16 ordered two recon Dauntlesses with cameras launched from Enterprise at 1553 to ascertain whether this damaged ship was indeed the alleged battleship reported by multiple reconnaissance airplanes. The Dauntlesses arrived over the burning Mikuma at 1715, just before dusk, and took several photographs of her at extremely low altitude, and recorded footage of her as well. The Dauntlesses recorded her position at 29°-28'N, 173°-11'E before leaving her. A survivor recalled that Mikuma's port list began increasing rapidly at dusk, and at approximately 1930, she finally turned over on her portside and sank at 29°20′N 173°30′E / 29.333°N 173.500°E / 29.333; 173.500. She was the first Japanese cruiser to be sunk during the war. Only 188 of Mikuma's crew survived the ordeal; her captain also succumbed 3 days later to his wounds while he was aboard Suzuya. Captain Soji later ordered Asashio to reverse course and go back to Mikuma and make every effort to save any of her surviving crews. Asashio made her way back to Mikuma's location but found nothing, and promptly returned to CruDiv7, according to her log she found nothing but a great patch of oil and "not one survivor could be rescued".[10][full citation needed] However, two of Mikuma's crew would be rescued by USS Trout (SS-202) on 9 June, the only survivors on a life raft that originally held seventeen.[11][full citation needed]

Owing to the secrecy and attempted cover-up of the disaster at Midway, the General Navy Headquarters would list Mikuma as "heavily damaged" rather than sunk, and then temporarily listed her as "unmanned" before being struck off the navy list at 10 August 1942.

References

  1. ^ a b c Watts, Japanese Warships of World War II, p. 99
  2. ^ Campbell, Naval Weapons of World War Two, pp. 185-187
  3. ^ a b c d e Whitley, Cruisers of World War Two, pp. 181-184
  4. ^ Watts, Japanese Warships of World War II, p. 101
  5. ^ L, Klemen (1999–2000). "The Invasion of British Borneo in 1942". Forgotten Campaign: The Dutch East Indies Campaign 1941-1942. Archived from the original on 1 April 2015.
  6. ^ a b L, Klemen (1999–2000). "The Japanese Invasion of Sumatra Island". Forgotten Campaign: The Dutch East Indies Campaign 1941-1942. Archived from the original on 3 December 2012.
  7. ^ L, Klemen (1999–2000). "The capture of Andaman Islands, March 1942". Forgotten Campaign: The Dutch East Indies Campaign 1941-1942.
  8. ^ L, Klemen (1999–2000). "Allied Merchant Ship Losses in the Pacific and Southeast Asia". Forgotten Campaign: The Dutch East Indies Campaign 1941-1942.
  9. ^ IJN Arashio's TROM
  10. ^ Yamauchi statement.
  11. ^ Shattered Sword, Jonathan Parshall and Anthony Tully, 2005

Bibliography

Further reading

External links
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