Kuma (ship, 1920)
 The Kuma 1930
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The Kuma ( Japanese 球磨 ) was a light cruiser of the Imperial Japanese Navy and the lead ship of five units of the Kuma class . The cruiser was named after the Kuma River in the Kumamoto Prefecture on Kyūshū .
The ship was built by the naval shipyard in Sasebo and put into service in 1920. It took part in the Pacific War and was sunk by a submarine attack in 1944.
Modifications and conversions
The Kuma was equipped 1929 with an on-board aircraft of the type Nakajima 90 Model 1, and a catapult.
On the Kuma , as on most Japanese warships, their anti-aircraft equipment was constantly strengthened during the course of the Second World War . The 8.0 cm L / 40 type 3 FlaK was removed and automatic cannons of the type 25 mm L / 60 type 96 were placed in its position. One of the 14 cm guns of the main artillery was dismantled during the war.
Career and pre-war history
The Kuma was parked in the summer of 1931 for the evacuation of the passenger ship Choshun Maru , which made strong water by touching the ground and was put on the beach to prevent it from sinking. 181 people were recovered and taken to Tsingtao .
In the fall of 1941, the Kuma , with the heavy cruiser Ashigara and the Nagara, were combined to form the 16th cruiser division.
Second World War
Shortly after the Japanese entry into World War II through the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the Kuma was assigned to Operation "M", the Battle of the Philippines . The islands should be occupied as part of the plans for the Greater East Asian Prosperity Sphere.
On December 11, it covered the landing of Japanese troops at Aparri and Vigan, on December 22, further landings in the Lingayen Gulf. She took part in other missions around the Philippines and in February 1942 shot at the port on Cebu together with a torpedo boat . In the process, they sank two small coastal ships. 325 people, including women and children, were killed. In March she supported the occupation of Zamboanga City . On the night of April 8th to 9th, she was attacked by American PT boats off Cebu . A torpedo hit the cruiser but did not explode.
After the completion of the operations in the Philippines, she was deployed to transport troops from Hong Kong to Rabaul in September 1942 and from Manila to Rabaul in November .
Until the summer of 1943 she mainly carried out security tasks. On June 23, 1943, she was the target of B-24 bombers , which attacked the berth of several warships. The Americans did not score. In August 1943, troops landed in the Andaman Islands . In November 1943 it was rebuilt in Japan and equipped with improved anti-aircraft defenses.
loss
In January 1944 she brought troops and supplies from Singapore to Penang , where she arrived on January 8th. On January 9, she ran with the destroyer Uranami for an exercise, where she was discovered by the British submarine HMS Tally-Ho . The British submarine did not come into attack position, but retained its position off Penang. On January 11th, the two ships left again. The HMS Tally-Ho deposited a torpedo fan of seven torpedoes on the Kuma , two of which hit.
The ship could not be saved and the Uranami took the survivors on board. 138 seafarers had been killed. The wreck burned out and finally dropped over the stern at 5 ° 26 ' N , 99 ° 52' O .
literature
- Eric LaCroix, Linton Wells: Japanese Cruisers of the Pacific War. US Naval Institute Press, 1997, ISBN 0-87021-311-3 .