Yahagi (1943)

The Yahagi (矢矧 , flechero^?) was an Agano-class light cruiser, third in the series, that served in the Imperial Japanese Navy during the last phase of World War II.

Design

weapons

Its main armament consisted of six 150 mm cannons arranged in three double turrets, which fired 45 kilogram projectiles with a range of 21,000 m and with a rate of fire of between 6 and 10 shots per minute.

Its secondary armament consisted of four 75 mm dual-use surface/anti-aircraft guns, firing 5,900-gram projectiles with a range of 13,600 m and a maximum ceiling of 9,100 m. Its maximum firing rate was 40 rounds per minute. For its anti-aircraft defense, it also had 61 25-mm anti-aircraft machine guns.

They had eight 610 mm tubes in two quadruple mounts that fired Type 93 torpedoes and 16 depth charges.

History

It was built in the Sasebo shipyards, being launched on October 25, 1942, and completed a year and two months later, on December 29, 1943. It was in class with the Agano, the Sakawa and the Noshiro, turning out to be extremely fast light cruisers.

The Yahagi was commissioned at the Sasebo naval base, and sent to Singapore where it underwent training with the Noshiro in order to participate in the actions in the Philippines.

On June 19, 1944, he collaborated with the destroyer Urazake in the rescue of the 570 survivors of the aircraft carrier Shōkaku, torpedoed that same day.

On October 22, he participated in Operation Sho-I-Go escorting the battleships Yamato and Musashi in Group A of Vice Admiral Takeo Kurita's force.

On October 24, he witnessed the sinking of the battleship Musashi during the Battle of the Sibuyan Sea.

The cruiser was assigned as an escort to the Yamato and was sunk alongside it during Operation Ten-Gō, on April 7, 1945, north of Okinawa, after being hit by 12 bombs and 7 torpedoes in a 105-minute battle., punishment enough to sink a battleship, and very meritorious for a simple light cruiser.

Its captain Hara Tameichi, known as the "unsinkable captain", due to his success commanding destroyers, saved his life in the sinking and survived the conflict.