Japanese cruiser Chikuma
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| Missing image HIJMS_Chikuma.jpg | |
| Career | 
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|---|---|
| Ordered: | |
| Laid down: | October 1, 1935 |
| Launched: | March 19, 1938 |
| Commissioned: | May 30, 1939 |
| Fate: | Sunk on 25 October 1944 |
| Struck: | |
| General Characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 15,200 tons |
| Length: | 649 ft 7 in (197.99 m) |
| Beam: | 60 ft 8 in (18.49 m) |
| Draught: | 21 ft 3 in (6.48 m) |
| Propulsion: | |
| Speed: | 35 knots (65 km/h) |
| Range: | |
| Complement: | 850 |
| Armament: | Eight 8 inch (200 mm) guns Eight 5 inch (130 mm) guns Up to fifty-seven 25 mm anti-aircraft guns Twelve 24 inch (610 mm) torpedo tubes |
| Aircraft: | |
Chikuma was a Tone-class heavy cruiser of the Imperial Japanese Navy that served in World War II until sunk at the Battle of Leyte Gulf in 1944.
Chikuma was built by Mitsubishi in Nagasaki and commissioned on 20 May 1939. After several months as a unit of the Sixth Squadron (Sentai 6) of the Second Fleet, she was transferred to the Sentai 8 in November 1939. In addition to taking part in regular combat exercises in Japanese home waters, she operated off southern China on three occasions between March 1940 and March 1941.
Chikuma's design provided a large seaplane capacity, fitting her for long-range scouting missions, and she was extensively employed during the war as a consort for aircraft carriers. She accompanied the powerful task force that delivered the attack on Pearl Harbor, and Chikuma's Aichi E13A1 floatplane reconnoitered the anchored US ships, reporting nine battleships (presumably counting Utah as a battleship). On the way back to Japan, she supported the capture of Wake Island. In the first four months of 1942, Chikuma was part of the carrier force during assaults in the Southern Pacific, the East Indies and the Indian Ocean. On 1 March 1942, her guns helped sink the American destroyer Edsall south of Java. She again was with the Japanese carriers when they were decisively defeated in the Battle of Midway.
During August–October 1942, Chikuma operated with the carriers during the Guadalcanal Campaign, taking part in the battle of the Eastern Solomons on 24 August 1942 and the battle of the Santa Cruz Islands on 26 October 1942. She was damaged by American dive bomber attacks from USS Hornet in the latter action and was under repair in Japan until late February 1943. She mainly served in the central Pacific area during the year, but was sent south to Rabaul early in November 1943 to counter the U.S. landings on Bougainville, and was lightly damaged by U.S. carrier planes on 5 November 1943.
Chikuma was transferred to Sentai 7 in early 1944. She participated in a cruiser raid on Indian Ocean shipping in March and in mid-June again accompanied aircraft carriers during the Battle of the Philippine Sea, an action that effectively destroyed Japan's seaborne air power. Four months later, in response to the invasion of Leyte, Chikuma steamed to the Philippines to attack Allied forces there. She survived attacks by submarines and aircraft on 23-24 October. On the following day, in the battle off Samar, she engaged U.S. escort carriers, helping to sink Gambier Bay, but came under fire from the American destroyer Heermann and heavy air attack. Chikuma inflicted severe damage on Heermann, but was soon hit by an aerial torpedo attack and immobilized. Her crew was taken off by the destroyer Nowaki and Chikuma was scuttled in the late morning of on 25 October 1944. While withdrawing from the battle area, Nowaki was herself sunk, with the loss of all but one of Chikuma's surviving crewmen.
External links
- US Navy page on Chikuma, with pictures (http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/sh-fornv/japan/japsh-c/chikuma2.htm)
- Tabular record of movement for Chikuma (http://www.combinedfleet.com/chikuma_t.htm) from combinedfleet.com (http://www.combinedfleet.com/)
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