Naka (ship)
 The Naka during commissioning (November 1925)
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||
The Naka was a light cruiser of the Imperial Japanese Navy that was used in the Pacific theater during World War II and was sunk in 1944. The ship belonged to the Sendai class, consisting of a total of three units, and was named after the Naka River, which flows through the Japanese prefectures of Tochigi and Ibaraki . The cruiser was the second ship of its class on 10 June 1922 on the shipyard of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in Yokohama set to Kiel and finally ran until March 24, 1925 officially stack. The construction of the ship was temporarily delayed by the great Kantō earthquake of 1923, which not only destroyed large parts of Yokohama, but also severely damaged the hull of the Naka . The damage was so severe that the ship had to be keeled a second time on May 24, 1924 and partly rebuilt. It was finally put into service on November 30, 1925. The first in command of the ship was Kaigun-Taisa Inoue Choji.
Technique and modifications
The Naka , like the other units of the Sendai class, underwent several modifications in the course of its service. So the ship received from 1934/35 on the stern, between the guns 6 and 7, an aircraft catapult and led a seaplane type Kawanishi E7k with it. Although this type of aircraft was later considered obsolete, this machine remained on board until the ship was lost. In addition, the aft main mast was converted into a three-legged mast in order to be able to carry a crane to pick up the seaplane.
The Naka also had twelve Kampon steam boilers, but eleven boilers were fired with oil and one with coal. This boiler mostly acted as an auxiliary boiler, which is why it is sometimes stated that the ship had only eleven or even only ten boilers. The specified maximum travel of 35.3 kn was only achieved when this auxiliary boiler was switched on. However, since this often did not happen, the standard maximum speed in use may only have been around 33 to 34 knots. The oil supply was a maximum of 1,010 tons.
The ship's stability was also a problem. After the so-called Tomozuru incident in 1934, the stability of the Naka was also checked, and deficiencies were found in this regard. As a result, the ship received 200 tons of ballast , which was inserted into the mezzanine floors. This in turn lowered the top speed slightly, which is why it can be assumed that the top speed of 33 to 34 kn was probably not reached in later years. For this reason, some publications state the maximum speed of the Naka only as 32 to 33 knots.
The two older 8 cm anti-aircraft guns Type 11 (the actual caliber was 7.62 cm) and the two light 7.7 mm Fla-MG Type 94, which had been on board since 1925, were used when Japan entered expanded into the Second World War . The main artillery was also reduced by a 14 cm gun. By 1944, a total of two 12.7 cm Type 89 anti-aircraft guns in double mount, 44 lighter 2.5 cm Type 96 anti-aircraft guns and six heavy 13.2 mm machine guns came on board. From about April 1943, was for the Flak radar type 2 21 Go for airspace observation on board.
Working time
From the time of commissioning until the outbreak of the Second World War, the Naka mostly remained in the Japanese home waters, apart from a brief detachment in Chinese waters in 1937 as part of the beginning of the Second Sino-Japanese War . During this time the cruiser was also used as a training ship. Until 1937 a total of twelve commanders served on the Naka , including the later Vice Admiral Nagumo Chūichi , who commanded the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 .
Second World War
After the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941 and the entry of Japan into the war, the Naka , meanwhile under the command of Kaigun-Taisa Tawara Yoshioki, was assigned to the Japanese attack operation M , which provided for an advance towards the southern Philippines . As a cover ship, the cruiser secured the landings of Japanese troops at Vigan (December 10, 1941) and near Caba (December 22, 1941).
Tarakan and Balikpapan
At the beginning of 1942, the Naka , meanwhile appointed lead ship of the 4th Destroyer Flotilla by Rear Admiral Shōji Nishimura , covered a convoy of 16 transporters, which set out on January 6, 1942 from Davao to the island of Tarakan (east coast of Borneo ) and which was the so-called Sakaguchi combat group had on board. The nearly 20,000-strong landing party reached Tarakan on January 11th, which was captured within 24 hours ( Battle of Tarakan ).
On January 21, the Naka , ten destroyers and the transporters as well as six submarine hunters and minesweepers left Tarakan to cross the Sakaguchi group to Balikpapan . There, in the early morning hours of January 24, the Dutch submarine K XVIII encountered the convoy and sank a transporter with a torpedo compartment, another torpedo narrowly missed the Naka . As a result, the Japanese security forces, including the Naka , swarmed out on an extensive submarine hunt operation. However, this made it possible for a group of four American destroyers to get close to the Japanese transporters already lying in front of Balikpapan and to sink three of the freighters and a patrol boat in the ensuing sea battle off Balikpapan . The Naka and the other Japanese ships, alarmed by the night battle, could not return to the landing head in time to intercept the US ships.
The Battle of the Java Sea
In the following years the Naka moved back to Tarakan, where parts of the Japanese attack forces were drawn together for the conquest of the Dutch East Indies . In mid-February 1942, the Naka ran out of there again and formed, together with her sister ship Jintsū , the light cruiser Kinu and twelve destroyers, the local security of the Japanese eastern landing group consisting of 41 transporters. During the advance, the remote security of this unit, including four heavy cruisers, came into action in the Java Sea with the bulk of the Allied ABDA fleet , from which the so-called battle in the Java Sea developed. The Naka came here against 17:00 for a short time with the Allied ships into battle, firing at 17.20 a volley of eight long-range torpedoes from. But no hits were scored. The cruiser's aircraft then took off and temporarily operated over the battlefield as an artillery observer. The Allies suffered heavy losses during the battle in the Java Sea. While the remnants of the Allied ABDA forces were destroyed in the battle in the Sunda Strait on the following day , the Naka patrolled off Rembang (Central Java) until March 8, 1942 and secured the landing of the Japanese troops there.
Torpedoing off Christmas Island
In mid-March 1942, the Naka was detached to the newly formed invasion force for the conquest of Christmas Island , which consisted of two other light cruisers, eight destroyers , a tanker and two transporters. The conquest of the island was completed by the Japanese on March 31, but in the evening hours of April 1, 1942, the American submarine Seawolf , which had been shadowing the landing fleet for a day, attacked the Japanese unit and took the Naka with it two torpedoes. While the first torpedo could be evaded, the second torpedo hit the cruiser on the starboard side at 6:04 p.m. , roughly level with boiler room 1. The ship was badly damaged, but miraculously there were no casualties among the crew. However, since the boiler rooms were under water, the Naka had to be towed by the light cruiser Natori .
The tug reached Bantam Bay in northwest Java on April 3 , where the first emergency repairs could take place. Since the hull struts were also warped, the Naka later had to move via Singapore to Yokosuka , where the ship arrived in June 1942. Since the damage turned out to be extensive, the cruiser was initially placed in reserve there on June 15, 1942 . After lengthy repairs, including in Maizuru , the Naka could not be put back into active service until April 5, 1943. The anti-aircraft armament had also been reinforced while the ship was in dock.
1943: Supply missions in the Western Pacific
In the following nine months, between May 1943 and January 1944, the Naka, as a fast supply ship, mostly shuttled between the Japanese home ports, Papua New Guinea and the bases in the western Pacific, mainly calling at the atolls Truk , Kwajalein , Wotje and Jaluit . In June 1943, troop reinforcements were also transported to Nauru . These journeys became an increasingly risky undertaking as the war situation worsened for Japan. In October 1943, the cruiser narrowly escaped a torpedo attack by the American submarine Shad and on November 3, 1943, the Naka was slightly damaged by two bombs near Kavieng in an attack by American B-24 bombers . Two days later, while the ship was in the port of Rabaul for repairs, it was again slightly damaged in an attack by American carrier aircraft of Task Force 38 .
Nevertheless, in November 1943, the ship undertook a troop transport and supply voyage to Tarawa , where the Americans had landed on November 20, 1943 ( Operation Galvanic ). Since the fighting there quickly developed to the disadvantage of the Japanese, the Naka (with 750 soldiers on board) had to turn back without having achieved anything. Instead, the troops were disembarked at Mili on December 1st .
Sinking of the naka
After the cruiser brought reinforcements to Ponape in January 1944 , it moved to the Truk Atoll. There the ship received on February 17, 1944 the order to come to the aid of the badly damaged cruiser Agano , which had been torpedoed by an American submarine about 160 nautical miles north of the atoll. While it was still sailing, the Naka was caught in a major US attack on the Truk Atoll ( Operation Hailstone ). The cruiser was attacked by waves of aircraft from the American aircraft carriers Bunker Hill and Cowpens about 35 nautical miles northwest of the atoll . While the Naka was able to outmaneuver the first two attack waves, the ship was hit by an air torpedo from a Grumman TBF torpedo bomber during the third wave . At almost the same time, a 454-kilogram bomb hit the cruiser amidships. Only a few minutes later, the Naka broke apart in the middle (earlier weakening of the ship's structure, such as the torpedo hit in 1942 and the numerous minor damage caused by close hits, may have affected the rapid breakup) and sank within six minutes.
Of the 450 crew members, 240 were killed in the sinking. 210 survivors, including the commander, Kaigun-Taisa Sutezawa Yoshimasa, were rescued hours later by Japanese patrol boats. The Naka was struck off the ship register on March 31, 1944.
literature
- Lacroix, Eric / Wells, Linton: Japanese Cruisers of the Pacific War . Publisher Naval Institute Press, Annapolis 1997.
- Whitley, Mike J .: Cruiser in World War II. Classes, types, construction dates . Stuttgart 1997, pp. 189-191.