Jintsū (ship, 1925)
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The Jintsū ( Japanese 神通 ) was a Sendai- class light cruiser of the Imperial Japanese Navy . The ship was named after the Jinzū River , which flows through the Gifu and Toyama prefectures . It was sunk in the Battle of Kolombangara .
Calls
Pre-war history
On July 21, 1925, the ship was in Kobe on the Kawasaki - shipyard completed.
Second World War
The Jintsū served from November 26, 1941 Rear Admiral Tanaka Raizō as the flagship .
At the beginning of December she was assigned to the southern invasion fleet for the Philippines and ran as a cover ship together with a mine-layer in the Strait of Surigao to block it with 133 sea mines . The following day, Japanese troops landed at Legaspi in southern Luzon in the Philippines.
After a short stay in Palau , the Jintsū led a convoy of 14 transport ships with the 16th Division and other landing units for Mindanao to Davao City , where they arrived shortly after midnight on December 19. After the Japanese troops successfully established a bridgehead on land, the Jintsū led another convoy with nine transporters to Jolo . The landings there took place on December 24th.
Back in Davao, the Jintsū was assigned to the invasion fleet for the Dutch East Indies . When "Operation H" began on January 9, 1942, the Jintsū started with a fleet of eight transporters and other escort ships in the direction of Celebes , where the invasion began on January 11. The Jintsū shuttled several times between Malalag Bay and Celebes to cover supply units.
The ship was also used during the conquest of the Dutch East Indies to Ambon and Timor . On February 20, 1942, there was a brief incident with the American submarine USS Pickerel , which tried to torpedo the Jintsu while it was salvaging its reconnaissance aircraft. The Jinzu but got no results and tried in turn with water bombs the Pickerel destroy, but they also could undamaged escape.
Battle of the Java Sea
As an escort to the eastern invasion fleet in Java , the Jintsū left Makassar on Celebes on February 25th . Two days later there was the battle in the Java Sea , as a result of which the Japanese units wiped out the entire allied ABDA fleet . The Jintsū sank the British destroyer HMS Electra together with the destroyer Asagumo on April 27, 1942 .
From the end of March to the beginning of April, the Jintsū lay in dry dock in Kure for a few days for overhaul and repair purposes.
When the Americans surprisingly the Doolittle Raid started to Tokyo to bomb that was Jinzu set with other units of Kure from marching to the aircraft carrier USS Hornet and USS Enterprise to find and attack, but what failed.
Battle for Midway
Shortly thereafter, the Japanese decided to attack the Midway Islands , whose fleet included Vice Admiral Kondō Nobutakes Kidō Butai along with other ships, such as the Jintsū . On June 3, which was a convoy that of the Jinzu was accompanied, during the Battle of Midway by some B-17 - bombers and later by Catalinas attacked. However, only one tanker was damaged.
Battle for Guadalcanal
From July 14th, Vice Admiral Mikawa Gunichi built the eighth fleet, which also included the Jintsu . To relieve the Japanese troops who got into distress during the Battle of Guadalcanal , the Jintsū ran out of Truk on August 16 as escort for the second transport convoy . During another convoy driving on August 25 which was Jinzu with their convoy 150 miles north of Guadalcanal from approaching Douglas SBD Dauntless - dive bombers attacked. The Jintsū received a bomb hit in its front magazine, which had to be flooded after a fire. As a result, the ship had to be repaired in Truk by the beginning of October. From there she ran to Kure, where some new machine guns were installed.
In late January 1943, the Jintsū covered the evacuation of Japanese troops from Guadalcanal by cruising north of the island.
Downfall
To occupy the island of Kolombangara , the Jintsū ran out with a convoy on July 13 from Rabaul to the northern Solomon Islands . The convoy was provided by an American task force , which led to the battle of Kolombangara . Shortly before midnight at 11:10 p.m., the USS Honolulu , the USS St. Louis and the HMNZS Leander as well as various destroyers of Task Force 18 opened fire on the Jintsū . Six shells struck the boiler room and set the ship on fire. Shortly thereafter, a torpedo that had been shot from the starboard exploded in the engine room. The Jintsū broke up at 11:48 p.m. and sank. 482 crew members lost their lives. Some men were rescued from the Japanese submarine I-180 and the Americans also took some Japanese into captivity.
literature
- Eric Lacroix, Linton Wells: Japanese Cruisers of the Pacific War . Naval Institute Press, 1997, ISBN 978-0-87021-311-3 .
Web links
- HIJMS Jintsū on combinedfleet.com
- Jintsū on history.navy.mil