Sendai (ship, 1923)
 Light cruiser Sendai
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The Sendai was a light cruiser of the Imperial Japanese Navy that was used in the Pacific theater during World War II and was sunk in 1943. The ship belonged to the Sendai class , which consisted of a total of three units, and was also the type ship of this class. The cruiser was named after the Sendai River, which flows through the Japanese prefecture of Kagoshima . The Sendai was the first ship of its class on 16 February 1922 on the shipyard of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in Nagasaki laid down on and ran on 23 October 1923 by the stack. The commissioning took place on April 29, 1924. The first in command of the ship was Kaigun-Taisa Ijichi Kiyohiro.
Technique and modifications
The Sendai learned as well as the other units in this class, in the course of their working lives more modifications. 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 Sendai also had twelve Kampon steam boilers and four Parsons turbines , 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 fuel supply was usually 900 tons of oil and 100 tons of coal. In 1935 the coal-fired auxiliary boiler was expanded, which is why the ship was only fired with oil and only had eleven boilers. For this purpose, the maximum amount of oil bunker was increased to 1,010 tons in order to increase the range of the ship. After the so-called Tomozuru incident in 1934, the stability of the Sendai 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, together with the increased amount of oil bunker, lowered the maximum speed, which is why it can be assumed that the maximum speed of 33 to 34 knots was no longer reached in later years. For this reason, some publications only give the cruiser's top speed at 32 to 33 knots. As a result of these modifications, the Sendai's water displacement also increased . The later maximum displacement is estimated to have been just under 8,000 ts.
The two older 8 cm Type 11 anti-aircraft guns (the actual caliber was 7.62 cm) and the two light 7.7 mm Fla-MG Type 94, which had been on board since 1924, were used when Japan entered expanded into the Second World War . By 1943, 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 Type 93 machine guns came on board. From June 1943 was for the Flak a radar type 2 21 Go for airspace observation on board. In addition, one of the 14 cm guns (Gun No. 5) was dismounted at this time. A 2.5 cm triplet mount was installed in its place.
Working time
After commissioning and the completion of the test drives, the Sendai was mostly used in Chinese waters from 1925 and patrolled, among other things, on the Yangtze River and off the coast of Manchuria , which was captured by the Japanese in 1931. In 1937, as part of the beginning of the second Sino-Japanese war , the Sendai supported the Japanese army in the conquest of Shanghai . The cruiser later secured Japanese landings in southern China, including near Beihai and on the Leizhou Peninsula .
Second World War
Battle for Malaya
After the attack on Pearl Harbor and Japan's entry into World War II, the Sendai became the flagship of Rear Admiral Hashimoto Shintarō's 3rd destroyer flotilla and took part in the Japanese invasion of Malaya in December 1941 . The Sendai escorted 16 troop carriers from the (Japanese-controlled) island of Hainan to Kota Bahru , where the army troops on the night of 7/8. Landed December 1941. The cruiser and several destroyers fired at the coastal defense for about an hour. In mid-December 1941, the ship also covered Japanese landings at Patani and Singora . On December 19, the Sendai seaplane was involved in the sinking of the Dutch submarine O 20 . The submarine was sighted off Kota Bahru in the midday, pushed under water by the cruiser's aircraft with bombs and finally sunk by two destroyers . Seven Dutch submariners were killed and 32 sailors were rescued by the Japanese.
Battle at Endau
In mid-January 1942, the Sendai , together with six destroyers and five minesweepers, transferred two transporters from the Japanese-controlled Cam Ranh Bay (located in today's Vietnam ) to Endau in the north of the Malay state of Johor . In the evening hours of January 26, the Australian destroyer Vampire and the British destroyer Thanet left Singapore for an advance against the Japanese ships lying off the coast at Endau. In the early morning hours of January 27, both ships suddenly encountered the Sendai and her destroyer group. In a confused night battle lasting around 90 minutes ( battle near Endau ), the Thanet was badly hit by the artillery of the Sendai and the destroyer Shirayuki and sank at around 4.15 a.m., with 20 crew members sunk with the ship. 31 survivors were taken in by the Japanese, another 65 or so were later rescued from a British ship and brought to Singapore. None of the 31 Japanese prisoners survived the war. It can be assumed that they probably died in captivity in an unknown location. The destroyer Vampire was able to escape the superior Japanese and later reached Singapore again. Only two transport ships were damaged by the Japanese. The Sendai was not hit.
Invasion of Sumatra and advance into the Indian Ocean
Subsequently, the Sendai operated , together and in overlapping use with the light cruiser Yura and three destroyers, against Sumatra . The cruiser covered the landing of Japanese troops at Palembang and on the island of Bangka on February 9, 1942 . The ship then carried out security and clean-up missions in the sea area there, especially in the Bangka Strait and the Strait of Malacca , and looked for Allied ships fleeing Singapore. But no successes were recorded. In March 1942, the Sendai also secured the Japanese landings at Sabang .
After the Sendai had supported the conquest of the Andamans at the end of March 1942 , with the cruiser barely escaping an attack by three American Boeing B-17 bombers on April 2 near Port Blair , it was embarked on the ongoing Japanese offensive on April 3 incorporated in the Indian Ocean and operated west of the Andamans together with seven destroyers as a remote control ship.
Guadalcanal
After a major overhaul in Sasebo and an uneventful participation as a long-range cover ship during the ultimately failed Japanese offensive against Midway in June 1942, the Sendai was used against the US landing on Guadalcanal from August 1942 . Around 19,000 US marines landed there on August 7, 1942 to wrest the island from the Japanese. The resulting battle for Guadalcanal is one of the longest and, for both sides, one of the most costly battles of the Pacific War . The Sendai operated from Rabaul and Bougainville and transported on 4th / 5th. September first troop reinforcements to Guadalcanal; these nightly supply trips, mostly carried out by fast warships, were later nicknamed Tokyo Express by the Americans . On September 12, the cruiser first shelled the island and bombed positions of the US Marines at Bloody Ridge . Six days later the Sendai shelled the island again at Lunga Point .
After an extensive transport mission in October 1942, during which over 1,500 soldiers could be landed on the island, the Sendai was embroiled in the naval battle of Guadalcanal on November 15, 1942 . Together with the battleship Kirishima , the heavy cruisers Atago and Takao , the light cruiser Nagara and eight destroyers, the Sendai encountered a US combat group ( Task Force 64 ) consisting of the two modern battleships Washington and South Dakota and four destroyers. In a bitter night battle , the Japanese lost the Kirishima and one destroyer, the Americans sank three destroyers, and the South Dakota was severely damaged. The Sendai briefly entered battle with the battleship Washington at around 0.16 a.m. and was only just missed by several 16-inch shells. In return, the cruiser fired a torpedo salvo without result. Then the Sendai had to withdraw from the superior enemy, fogged up and left the battlefield. The cruiser was subsequently removed from the fighting for Guadalcanal and relocated to the Truk Atoll .
1943: Operations in the Southwest Pacific
In the following months, between November 1942 and July 1943, the Sendai operated relatively uneventfully between Truk, Rabaul and the Japanese home ports. During a stay in the shipyard in Sasebo in May 1943, the ship received additional anti-aircraft cannons , and an air surveillance radar of the type 2 21 Go was installed on board. On May 20, Kaigun-Taisa Shoji Kiichiro took over command of the Sendai , which was then used again as a fast supplier for about four months between Rabaul, Truk and the Shortland Islands . The cruiser narrowly escaped an attack by American Grumman TBF torpedo bombers off Kolombangara on July 18, 1943 .
Fall of the Sendai
After American troops landed on Bougainville near Cape Torokina on November 1, 1943 ( Operation Shoestring II , part of Operation Cherry Blossom ), the Japanese immediately decided to launch a strong counterattack. Under the command of Vice Admiral Sentaro Ōmori reason of November 2 from running in the evenings Rabaul , the heavy cruiser Myoko and Haguro , the Sendai , the light cruisers Agano and ten destroyer to US beachhead in the Empress Augusta Bay attack . On board the Sendai was also the commander of the 3rd Destroyer Flotilla, Rear Admiral Ijūin Matsuji . The beachhead itself was defended by a US combat group (Task Force 39) with the light cruisers Montpelier , Cleveland , Columbia and Denver and eight destroyers under the command of Rear Admiral Aaron S. Merrill . Although the US federation was slightly inferior in terms of firepower, it had the great advantage of having radar .
On November 3rd, shortly after midnight, both squadrons came into contact with one another. However, while the Japanese ships fired almost blindly into the darkness, the Sendai came under concentrated and radar-controlled fire from all four US cruisers at around 0.50 a.m. With the first volley, the Americans scored a 15.2 cm hit on the ship. By 1.20 a.m., the Sendai , which was unable to score any hits, was hit by around 18 to 20 shells, mostly 15.2 cm in caliber, and caught fire. When the Japanese began to detach themselves from the enemy at around 1.30 a.m. and initiated the retreat, the Sendai was unable to maneuver and was immediately burning behind the escaping formation. The crew fought desperately to keep the ship afloat. At around 2 a.m., however, part of the crew had to be taken on board by Japanese destroyers, as there were no great prospects of being able to save the Sendai . After about three hours, around 4:30 a.m., the Sendai finally capsized and sank. The place of destruction is about 25 nautical miles southwest of Cape Moltke .
185 crew members, including Kaigun-Taisa Shoji Kiichiro (who was later posthumously appointed Rear Admiral ), went down with the Sendai . About 230 survivors were recovered from sinking or were later picked up by Japanese destroyers. On November 3, the Japanese submarine RO 104 rescued another 76 crew survivors, including Rear Admiral Ijuin. The Sendai was deleted from the fleet register on January 5, 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.
Web links
Footnotes
- ^ Whitley, Mike J .: Cruiser in World War II. Classes, types, construction dates . Stuttgart 1997, p. 189.
- ↑ http://www.navypedia.org/ships/japan/jap_cr_sendai.htm
- ↑ http://www.combinedfleet.com/sendai_t.htm