Haruna (ship, 1913)
 The Haruna 1935
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
The Haruna ( Japanese 榛 名 ) was a warship of the Japanese Navy in the First and Second World Wars . Finished as battle cruisers of Kongō class was it later at a fast battleship rebuilt. It was named after Mount Haruna near the city of Shibukawa .
Mission history
During the First World War, the Haruna was damaged by mines in the South Pacific in the summer of 1917. The mine had most likely been laid by the German merchant cruiser Wolf .
After uneventful missions off the Chinese coast, the Haruna was converted into a battleship in 1927/28 .
After Japan left the League of Nations in 1933, it was converted into a fast battleship in 1933/34 . A number of innovations were introduced: Among other things, several platforms were added above the bridge structure on the front mast, so that the typical pagoda mast was created. In addition to a new battle bridge, compass bridge and close-range fire control equipment, a new range finder was also installed. In the years 1936–1938, the future Admiral Itō Seiichi was the ship's commanding officer.
Alleged sinking
In December 1941, just days after the attack on Pearl Harbor , the American War Department announced that the Haruna had been sunk north of Luzon . A message from Douglas MacArthur reported that 25-year-old Captain Colin Kelly of the USAAF discovered the battleship with his Boeing B-17 on December 10, 1941 and scored three bomb hits, which left the warship burning and helpless. Based on Kelly's radio message, the sinking was accepted by the Americans, although the B-17 had actually bombed the Ashigara without result. Kelly's plane was intercepted and shot down by Japanese fighters on the return flight to Clarks Field , killing Kelly himself.
The public also circulated exaggerated reports that Kelly had deliberately rammed his plane into the chimney of the Haruna in order to sink her.
Philippines and Ceylon
In 1942, the Haruna was initially part of Vice Admiral Kondo's security group , which supported the landings in the Philippines . Later she was deployed with the combat group that was supposed to secure the Japanese landing company in the Dutch East Indies . In April 1942, the Haruna took part in the attack by Japanese naval units on British ships and facilities on the island of Ceylon . A Haruna reconnaissance aircraft discovered the British aircraft carrier HMS Hermes in the course of this operation and led the bomber squadrons of the Japanese aircraft carriers to their destination.
Midway and Guadalcanal
In June 1942 she was used as a local security for the carrier combat group in the Battle of Midway . It has been the target of several air strikes by land and sea-based US aircraft, with minor damage. She later took over the majority of the seamen rescued by the destroyers of the sunk Japanese aircraft carriers.
In October 1942 they shelled the airfield on Guadalcanal together with the Kongo . Both ships fired at the airfield for 80 minutes with a total of around 900 35.6 cm shells, causing serious damage.
In the same month, the Haruna took part in the battle of the Santa Cruz Islands as a security ship . Later it was used as part of the remote security for the evacuation of Japanese troops after the Battle of Guadalcanal .
Philippine Sea
In 1943 they were upgraded in Kure with radar type 21 (which was supplemented in 1944 by two type 22s, most recently also as series Kai4S suitable for fire control, and two type 13, as well as passive warning systems E-27), with additional anti-aircraft guns (two further 12 , 7 cm twin mounts in exchange for six 15.2 cm cannons and numerous 2.5 cm weapons) and reinforcement of the armor protection on the rudder system. During the battle in the Philippine Sea , the Haruna received two heavy bombs but remained operational.
.jpg)
Leyte
Used in the sea and air battle in the Gulf of Leyte as part of Admiral Kurita's battleship group, the Haruna was attacked and slightly damaged by carrier aircraft while approaching the combat area. Together with her sister ship Kongō and the Yamato , she shelled Admiral Sprague's American escort aircraft carriers in the battle of Samar.
Due to a navigation error, it later ran into a sandbank and had to be repaired by January 1945. When the Haruna was ready for action again, the fuel supply had deteriorated so much that she could never again take part in longer operations.
Downfall
,_on_8_October_1945_(80-G-351726).jpg)
Due to the lack of fuel, the ship was immobilized on March 19, 1945 by an aerial bomb on the quarterdeck, the explosion of which tore a hole around four meters in diameter in the planking. The damage was temporarily sealed by a wooden frame covered with canvas.
On July 24, 1945, she was the target of several air strikes by US carrier aircraft and land-based bombers operating from Okinawa at her anchorage near Etajima, despite various camouflage measures . The ship received numerous hits.
A 500-pound (226-kg) bomb hit the superstructure just in front of the aft chimney, penetrating two decks before its delay detonator detonated it. The floor panels of a deck were pushed up by the explosion and a hole three meters in diameter was torn in the weather deck. However, the damage was not critical. The next two bombs were 1000 lbs (454 kg) delay detonator bombs. They hit the port weather deck, one at tower C and the other 12 meters away. 23 meters of the deck were torn open and part of the hull wall on the lower decks was torn open.
Another attack on July 28 resulted in nine more hits. Seven of these bombs were fitted with impact fuses. Two 500-lbs (226-kg) bombs did no significant damage, three more hit the deck on the starboard side next to the bridge structure and destroyed the 2.5 cm type 96 anti-aircraft weapons and damaged fire control equipment in the bridge structure. One hit the top of the forward funnel and did minimal damage; the last exploded on impact on the roof of the rear superstructure, destroying the fire control equipment and some anti-aircraft weapons.
Two direct hits by 1000 lbs (454 kg) bombs with delay fuses finally brought the ship to the sinking. One broke through the deck, just aft of tower C, exploded at waterline level and its splinters perforated the ship's side. The second hit just before Tower C, less than a meter from the outer edge of the weather deck and penetrated deep into the ship before exploding. The ship's side was torn open below the waterline and the ship was listed to port. The list brought the holes, which had been above the water after the attack on July 24th, under water, so that the stern of the battleship overflowed and sagged to the bottom.
The ship was eventually abandoned by the crew.
wreck
The ship, which sank in shallow water, was scrapped in 1946.
literature
- Jane's Publishing Company, 1919: Jane's Fighting ships of World War 1. Studio Editions, London 1990, ISBN 1-85170-378-0 .
Web links
Footnotes
- ↑ Donald M. Goldstein, Katherine V. Dillon: The Pacific War papers: Japanese documents of World War II. Free Press, 2005, ISBN 1-57488-632-0 , p. 300.
- ^ Siegfried Breyer: Battleships and battle cruisers 1905-1970. JF Lehmanns Verlag, Munich 1970, ISBN 3-88199-474-2 , p. 359.
- ↑ Gene Eric Salecker: Fortress Against the Sun: The B-17 Flying Fortress in the Pacific. Da Capo Press, 2001, ISBN 978-1-58097-049-5 , p. 189.
- ^ Wiliam B. Hopkins: The Pacific War: The Strategy, Politics, and Players That Won the War: The Strategy, the Politics, and the Players. Motorbooks, 2009, ISBN 978-0-7603-3435-5 , p. 52.
- ↑ Donald Keene: So Lovely a Country Will Never Perish: Wartime Diaries of Japanese Writers. Columbia University Press, 2010, ISBN 978-0-231-15146-7 , p. 55.
- ↑ REPORTS OF THE US NAVAL TECHNICAL MISSION TO JAPAN 1945–1946, S-06-1, Reports of Damage to Japanese Warships-Article 1, pp. 19, 20, 21.