Isuzu (ship, 1923)
 Light cruiser Isuzu 1944 as an anti-aircraft cruiser
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The Isuzu ( Jap. 五十鈴 ) was a light cruiser of the Nagara-class , that of the Imperial Japanese Navy in World War II in the Pacific theater was used. The cruiser was sunk by a submarine on April 7, 1945. The ship was named after the Isuzu River in Ise .
Technique and modifications
From January to May 1943, the two aft 140 mm L / 50 guns were removed during a shipyard stay in Yokohama and a double-barreled 127 mm L / 40 Type 89 anti-aircraft gun was placed on the stern. Two triple automatic cannons 25 mm L / 60 Type 96 were added to light anti-aircraft weapons. The previously installed four 13.2 mm Type 93 machine guns and two twin mounts 25 mm L / 60 Type 96 also remained on board. A Type 21 radar was installed as the ship's first radar system to search for air targets.
When the ship was re-docked in Yokohama for repairs in 1944, the conversion to an anti-aircraft cruiser was carried out and the remaining 140 mm L / 50 guns were removed and two more 127 mm L / 40 Type 89 guns were put in their place. Flak on. The 13.2 mm Type 93 machine guns and the two Type 96 twin mounts disembarked. Another nine 25mm L / 60 type 96 triplets and eleven type 96 single mounts were installed instead. The ship received a type 13 radar system for air search and a type 22 radar for surface search. The two forward twin torpedo tube sets were removed and crew quarters were set up there, and two 10-meter landing craft came on board. The airplane catapult and the reconnaissance plane have also been removed. The remaining torpedo tubes were converted for type 93 torpedoes against two quad starters.
China
The Isuzu was deployed in Chinese waters as part of the Sentai 15 in autumn 1941. Their task was, when hostilities broke out, after the attack on Pearl Harbor in early December 1941, to cross in front of the British Crown Colony Hong Kong in order to interrupt British supplies. After the defenders surrendered on Christmas Day 1941, Isuzu stayed on site as a guard ship for a month.
In February 1942, the Isuzu was part of the escort of the troop transports that General Yamashita's troops landed at Singhala , north of Singapore . She then returned to Hong Kong.
1942
After the dissolution of the Sentai 15 in April 1942, the Isuzu was used as a replacement for her sister ship Nagara for patrols in the Java Sea. Their base was Makassar , from where they supported smaller landing operations. At the end of July 1942 she was transferred to Ambon , from where she helped land Japanese troops on the Tanimbar Islands . After the mission, she returned to Makassar.
In September 1942 she escorted troop transports to the Solomon Islands , which dropped soldiers, among other things, on the Shortland Islands on September 22, 1942 . The cruiser was then moved to Truk . She escorted a Japanese fleet that shelled the American airfield Henderson Field on Guadalcanal on the night of November 13-14, 1942. On the march back, the fleet was stopped by American planes and the Isuzu was so badly damaged by two close hits from aerial bombs that one of its boiler rooms overflowed. After an emergency repair, the ship went to Japan for overhaul, where it was repaired and rebuilt by May 1, 1943.
1943
In June 1943 she transported supplies to Nauru and then went back to Truk. In October she transported troops from Shanghai to Kavieng . She ran into a sea mine , the explosion of which damaged the forecastle. On November 21, she drove from Truk to Ponape and took 1,500 soldiers there with the Naka . The actual target should be the Kwajalein Atoll , but it has already been attacked by the Americans, so that the troops were deposited on Mili . The Isuzu then took part in the fighting for the Kwajalein Atoll and was attacked by American planes at the northernmost point of the atoll, the island of Roi. Three direct hits from aerial bombs killed 20 crew members and damaged oars and weapons systems. She moved via Truk back to Yokohama, where she was converted into an anti-aircraft cruiser.
1944
The conversions and tests dragged on until October 1944, so that the Isuzu took part in the sea and air battle in the Gulf of Leyte with the bulk of the Japanese fleet . She belonged to the escort of the carrier fleet of Admiral Ozawa , whose task it was to use as bait to provoke the American Admiral Halsey to withdraw his aircraft carriers from the protection of the landing operation to the north so that Japanese warships could sink the unprotected transporters with the US troops . The diversion succeeded, but Ozawa lost several carriers. The Isuzu itself was only slightly damaged and was involved in the rescue of survivors of the sunk Japanese aircraft carriers.
During a transport mission from Kure to Brunei , she was hit by a torpedo on the stern of the submarine USS Hake . It managed to escape to Singapore and was finally repaired in Surabaya from December 1944 to April 1945 .
1945 and downfall
After the repairs were completed, she was assigned to the 10th Fleet, which included all units in the former Dutch East Indies and in the area of the Malay Peninsula .
In another transport operation, the Isuzu took troops on board in Kupang and brought them to Sumbawa . After the troops were withdrawn in Bima Bay, the Isuzu was hit by a torpedo from the USS Gabilan . The ship stayed afloat and the ship's safety began with emergency repairs. About two hours later, a second submarine was in position. The USS Char met with two torpedoes, whereupon the Isuzu broke up and three minutes later at 7 ° 38 ' S , 118 ° 9' O went down. 190 sailors were killed, 450 were saved.
literature
- Eric Lacroix, Linton Wells: Japanese Cruisers of the Pacific War. Publisher Naval Institute Press, Annapolis 1997.