Katori (ship, 1939)
 The katori in 1940
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The Katori ( Japanese 香 取 ) was a school cruiser ( light cruiser ) of the Imperial Japanese Navy , which was used in World War II .
The cruiser , the lead ship of the three-unit Katori-class , had a special design with little armor protection and rather slow speed. Despite the small dimensions, the Katori was a plane for reconnaissance equipped and had torpedo armament on board. The cruiser's main cannons were supplemented with dual-function cannons and automatic 25 and 13 mm anti-aircraft cannons .
construction
Originally ordered with the supplementary budgets of the Imperial Navy of 1937 and 1939, the Katori-class cruisers were specially developed to replace the aging armored cruisers in officer training. As such, these differed in several respects from other cruisers of the Imperial Japanese Navy. Built to commercial standards to minimize cost, the Katori-class had a lower length to width ratio than was otherwise common on cruisers of this type. This gave the ships greater initial stability and was particularly suitable for trainees who were not yet familiar with life at sea. Unusually for this class of ship, the Katori class had a mixed steam turbine / diesel drive. This was more of a teaching value and should maximize speed. Even with this combination of engines, the maximum speed was only 18 knots , too slow for conventional cruisers.
Armament
The main armament of each ship consisted of four 140 mm (5.5 in) cannons with two twin turrets, the same type used on the light cruiser Yūbari , in "A" and "Y" positions. These were supplemented by a pair of 127 mm (5 inch) machine guns in the "X" position, two pairs of 25 mm machine guns and two pairs of 533 mm (21.0 inch) torpedoes. Four individual 50 mm saluting guns were also carried. A floatplane could be launched with a catapult mounted amidships .
history
The Katori cruiser class ships were built by Mitsubishi in the Yokohama shipyard. The katori itself was commissioned on April 20, 1940. Assigned to the Sixth Fleet, based in Kwajalein . She was attacked by torpedo bombers of the USS Enterprise on February 1, 1942 and suffered considerable damage. It was repaired at Yokosuka. During the American attack on Truk on February 17 and 18, 1944, the Katori was attacked by aircraft and hit by a torpedo. A few hours later she was attacked again and sunk by 16-inch (410 mm) projectiles from the USS Iowa (BB-61). Survivors floating in the water were left to their fate. On March 31, 1944, she was removed from the Japanese naval list.
Other sources
Books
- David Brown: Warship Losses of World War Two . Naval Institute Press, 1990, ISBN 1-55750-914-X .
- Andrieu D'Albas: Death of a Navy: Japanese Naval Action in World War II . Devin-Adair Pub, 1965, ISBN 0-8159-5302-X .
- Paul S. Dull: A Battle History of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1941-1945 . Naval Institute Press, 1978, ISBN 0-87021-097-1 .
- David Evans: Kaigun: Strategy, Tactics, and Technology in the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1887-1941 . Naval Institute Press, 1979, ISBN 0-87021-192-7 .
- Stephen Howarth: The Fighting Ships of the Rising Sun: The drama of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1895-1945 . Atheneum, 1983, ISBN 0-689-11402-8 .
- Hansgeorg Jentsura: Warships of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1869-1945 . Naval Institute Press, 1976, ISBN 0-87021-893-X .
- Eric Lacroix, Linton Wells II: Japanese Cruisers of the Pacific War . Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, Maryland 1997, ISBN 0-87021-311-3 .
- MJ Whitley: Cruisers of World War Two: An International Encyclopedia . Naval Institute Press, 1995, ISBN 1-55750-141-6 .
- Richard Worth: Fleets of World War II . Da Capo Press, 2001, ISBN 0-306-81116-2 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Katori-class Light Cruiser. In: combinedfleet.com. Retrieved January 6, 2020 .
- ↑ light cruiser Katori. Retrieved January 27, 2020 .