Japanese cruiser Kashii
Kashii on 15 July 1941, at Yokohama during commissioning
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History | |
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Empire of Japan | |
Name | Kashii |
Ordered | 1939 Fiscal Year |
Builder | Mitsubishi |
Laid down | 4 October 1939 |
Launched | 15 October 1940 |
Commissioned | 15 July 1941[1] |
Stricken | 20 March 1945 |
Fate |
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General characteristics | |
Class and type | Katori-class cruiser |
Displacement |
|
Length | 129.77 m (425 ft 9 in) |
Beam | 15.95 m (52 ft 4 in) |
Draught | 5.75 m (18 ft 10 in) |
Propulsion |
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Speed | 18 knots (21 mph; 33 km/h) |
Range | 9,000 nautical miles (17,000 km) at 10 knots (19 km/h) |
Complement | 315 + 275 midshipmen |
Armament |
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Aircraft carried | 1 × floatplane |
Aviation facilities | 1 catapult |
Kashii (香椎 練習巡洋艦, Kashii renshūjunyōkan) was the third and final vessel completed of the three
Background
The Katori-class cruisers were originally ordered to serve as training ships in the 1937 and 1939 Supplementary Naval Budget. With the
Service career
Early career
Kashii was completed by
With the growing tensions in the Pacific, Kashii was subsequently (31 July 1941) assigned to the
On 5 December 1941, Kashii departed Cap St. Jacques, French Indochina escorting seven troops of transports carrying the Imperial Japanese Army's 143rd Infantry Regiment to Kra Isthmus (Thailand) and Malaya, and was thus still en route at the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor.
Early stages of the Pacific War
After the initial landings in Malaya and Thailand, Kashii returned to
From January through March, Kashii patrolled an area from Singapore to Bangkok and eastern Dutch East Indies. On 11 February 1942, it escorted the 11 transports of the Bangka-Palembang, Sumatra invasion force, and on 12 March 1942, participated in "Operation T" (the invasion of North Sumatra).
Kashii became a flagship of the No. 2 Escort Unit on 19 March 1942, which escorted 32 transports with the
On 11 April 1942, Vice Admiral Ozawa transferred his flag back to Kashii which was now based in Singapore. However, on 14 July 1942 Vice Admiral Denshichi Okawachi replaced Vice Admiral Ozawa. Kashii continued with patrol duties in the eastern Indian Ocean off Burma, the Andaman Islands, and Penang through September.
On 21 September 1942, Kashii departed
In January 1943, Kashii underwent retrofit at Keppel dockyard in Singapore, to truncate its masts and add a "submarine spotting station" to its foretop. Kashii resumed its patrol area in the eastern Indian Ocean from February through end July 1943.
9 March 1943 Vice Admiral Yoshikazu Endo replaced Vice Admiral Okawachi as commander of the First Southern Expeditionary Fleet, Malay Force.[citation needed]
From 24 July 1943 – 22 August 1943, Kashii made two transport runs carrying troops and supplies to
On 31 December 1943, Kashii was reassigned to the Kure Training Division, arriving at Etajima in February 1944 after retrofitting at Sasebo to assume duty as a training ship for the Imperial Japanese Naval Academy. However, its time as a training vessel was very short.
On 25 March 1944, Kashii was reassigned directly to Headquarters, General Escort Command, and was modified for
Later stages of the Pacific War
Kashii became flagship for
Further, refit was undertaken at Kure on 28 June 1944, with ten single mount Type 96 25 mm AA guns installed, bringing the total to 30 barrels (4x3, 4x2, 10x1), and a new Type 22 surface-search radar was also fitted at that time.
Kashii departed again on 13 July 1944 from Moji, escorting convoy HI-69 loaded with aircraft for Luzon in the Philippines. The convoy arrived safely in Manila, and after offloading aircraft, proceeded to Singapore, returning to Moji without incident on 15 August 1944.
Another convoy mission was undertaken to the Philippines on 25 August 1944. On the return voyage, Kashii was flagship for Rear Admiral Setsuzo Yoshitomi's 5th Escort Group escorting convoy HI-74. The convoy was attacked on 16 September 1944 by the submarines USS Queenfish and Barb, which sank two oilers and the aircraft carrier Un'yō. More than 900 crewmen were lost, along with 48 aircraft. Kashii and the remaining ships rescued 761 survivors, reaching Moji on 23 September 1944.
The next convoy mission (HI-79) to Singapore from 26 October 1944 - 9 November 1944 was uneventful. After arrival, Rear Admiral Shiro Shibuya replaced Admiral Yoshitomi as CINC of the new 101st Escort Group. The return run from Singapore to Sasebo from 17 November 1944 to 4 December 1944 was uneventful.
On 10 December 1944, Kashii was reassigned to the 1st Surface Escort Group and departed Moji for
The return voyage with
Kashii was removed from the Navy list on 20 March 1945.
References
This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. (April 2008) |
Notes
- ^ Lacroix, Japanese Cruisers, p. 794.
Books
- Brown, David (1990). Warship Losses of World War Two. Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-55750-914-X.
- D'Albas, Andrieu (1965). Death of a Navy: Japanese Naval Action in World War II. Devin-Adair Pub. ISBN 0-8159-5302-X.
- Dull, Paul S. (1978). A Battle History of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1941-1945. Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-097-1.
- Evans, David C. & ISBN 0-87021-192-7.
- Howarth, Stephen (1983). The Fighting Ships of the Rising Sun: The drama of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1895-1945. Atheneum. ISBN 0-689-11402-8.
- Jentschura, Hansgeorg; Jung, Dieter & Mickel, Peter (1977). Warships of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1869–1945. Annapolis, Maryland: United States Naval Institute. ISBN 0-87021-893-X.
- Lacroix, Eric & ISBN 0-87021-311-3.
- Whitley, M.J. (1995). Cruisers of World War Two: An International Encyclopedia. Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-55750-141-6.
- Worth, Richard (2001). Fleets of World War II. Da Capo Press. ISBN 0-306-81116-2.