Warships. Stubborn perfection
It probably looks a little strange, but I decided to start with the Japanese cruisers. Why? Well, firstly, they were interesting ships. Secondly, they, unlike many colleagues (Soviet, French, Italian, German), really plowed the whole war. Some even survived to an inglorious end, which does not detract from their military merits.
If you look biased, during the Second World War, only the cruisers of the British Commonwealth, the United States and Japan were engaged in business. The rest are so ... The French quickly ended altogether, the Italians and ours took care of the equipment from the gifted admirals, who, in general, were incapable of anything from the Germans ... There would be a separate discussion with the Germans about what they called cruisers and what it was practiced during the war.
So - let's talk about Japanese ships.
The impetus for the construction of these ships was all the same the Washington Sea Agreement 1922 of the year, which strictly regulated the arms race at sea. And heavy cruisers of the Myoko type were the first ships built in accordance with the Washington Treaty. Limited in displacement 10 000 tons and with guns 203 mm.
In Japan there were two wizards-shipbuilders. Yuzuru Hiraga and Kikuo Fujimoto. These two designers designed so many ships that it causes both surprise and respect. “Yubari”, “Aoba” - and here is the next step. Myoko.
Conceived by Hiraga in the end, embodied in a project that became for some time a classic in Japanese navy. Ten main-caliber guns in five two-gun turrets, three in the bow and two in the stern. Yes, in Europe and the USA they preferred three-gun towers on cruisers, but there was a certain logic in the work of Hiragi. One "extra" trunk 203 mm, which was hardly unnecessary in fact.
And such a scheme lasted quite a long time until the design of the cruiser Tone was developed, in which all four main-caliber towers were installed in the bow.
Hiraga generally wanted to go further, removing the torpedo tubes from armament in general, and in exchange to install another artillery tower. Thus, the output would be a ship with a very impressive airborne salvo, but the naval command decided differently, and not only were the torpedo tubes left, the caliber of torpedoes increased to 610 mm.
Japanese admirals liked the idea of destroying the enemy fleet after an artillery duel with a sudden attack from a long distance, even at night, with the help of these “long-lances”.
And as a result, in the 1923-1924 years, four ships were laid, which during the 1924-1929 years were built by two state-owned (Myoko and Nachi) and two private (Haguro and Asigara) shipyards.
Due to a combination of circumstances, the “Begin” was the first to be completed. But still, the series was called "Myoko", since this cruiser was the first to be laid down. Despite the fact that the Myoko entered the penultimate system. It happens.
By the beginning of the war, the cruiser underwent a number of modernizations, and as a result, the data on the Myoko type looked like this: the cruiser of the Myoko type had a length of 203,8 m and a width along the midship frame of 19,5 m.
Draft is 6,36 m. Full displacement is 15 933 t. Initially, cruisers developed full speed at the 35,5 node, but after mounting the boules the maximum speed dropped to the 33,3 node.
Power plant power - 130 250 hp The practical range of the 14 nodal course was 7500 nautical miles.
The number of teams of the cruisers "Haguro" and "Nachi" when using divisions as flagships was 920 people, the team "Myoko" and "Asigari" in the version of the flagships of the fleets - 970 people.
The cruiser’s onboard armor belt was 123,15 m long at a height at the edges of 3,5 and 2 m. The thickness of the armored belt was 102 mm, the inclination of the belt wall to the vertical was 12 degrees, the thickness of the armored deck was 35 mm, the bridge was not armored at all.
When compared with colleagues, cruisers of other countries, the Myoko looked very, very worthy. Only the Italian cruiser was faster than him, and in terms of armoring and armament (after replacing the 200-mm guns with the 203-mm) it was generally one of the best.
Armament. No less important component than the armor or driving performance of the ship.
The main caliber of the Myoko was ten 203-mm guns in five Model O two-gun turrets. Three towers according to the “pagoda” principle were located in the bow of the ship, two in the stern. All 10 guns could shoot aboard, four guns could fire forward or backward.
The artillery of medium caliber consisted of eight universal guns with the caliber 127-mm “Type 89NA”. The guns were installed in two-gun towers, two on board.
Anti-aircraft artillery, originally consisting of machine guns of caliber 13,2-mm, was subsequently supplemented by anti-aircraft guns “Type 96” caliber 25-mm. The machines were installed in a single-barrel (manual control) version and a two- and three-barrel version with electric drives.
The number of assault rifles during the war was growing, and in the 1944 year ranged from 45 to 52 per ship. True, the guns were not the best in their class, the light projectile could not provide an acceptable range, so compensating for the frankly weak machine gun with quantity was another option.
However, looking ahead, I note that from aviation only one of the four Myoko cruisers found his death. So we can say that the tactics paid off.
Torpedo weapons. Each cruiser carried four three-pipe torpedo tubes in 610 mm caliber. Ammunition torpedoes "Type 96" was 24 pieces.
Three seaplanes were supposed to be based aboard, but usually two cruisers were taken aboard.
In total, four Mioko-class cruisers were built. The lead Mioko and Nachi were built at state-owned shipyards in Yokosuka and Kura, and the other two ships were built at private shipyards. “Asigara” cost Kawasaki in Kobe, and Haguro was Mitsubishi in Nagasaki.
The four cruisers entered service between the 28 of November 1928 and the 20 of August 1929. The ships made up the 4th cruiser division, which entered the 2th fleet. Cruisers for the most part sailed together, took part in numerous exercises and shows of the 30's.
Naturally, the first swimming revealed the first "childhood" diseases. The main unpleasant discovery was that smoke from the chimneys threw onto the bridge, creating unbearable conditions for the command staff.
In order for Japanese sailors to be on the bridge without gas masks, a very original decision was made: the front chimney was extended by 2 meters. The measures helped, but the ship’s view became more than original. Although he was quite extraordinary and so.
The main modification of the cruisers was the replacement in 1933-1935 of the old 200-mm guns with the latest 203-mm, after which the artillery of the Myoko cruisers became the same as the heavy cruisers of the Takao type.
On the whole, the cruisers came to the beginning of World War II, so to speak, fully armed. They really were very good ships with modern weapons, designed for the most diverse applications.
After the start of the war, the four were divided, and Asigara became the flagship of the 16th division of the 2th fleet of Admiral Nobutaki. The fleet ensured the capture of the Philippines and further solved the tasks of countering possible attempts to return territories.
Haguro, Mioko, and Nachi became part of the 5 division commanded by Admiral Takagi. The 5 Division also took part in the occupation of the Philippines. Here, "Myoko" was the first to meet with American bombers, "catching" a bomb from the B-17, and was forced to go for repairs.
Then the four cruisers united, and it so happened that in the first battle they participated quite well. It was in the Java Sea, where the battle of the Japanese squadron of 4 heavy cruisers (known to us as “Haguro”, “Nachi”, “Myoko” and “Ashigara”), 2's light cruisers (“Youngets” and “Naka”) took place ) and 15 destroyers and squadrons of allies (USA, UK, Netherlands) as part of 2's heavy cruisers (American "Hauston" and British "Exeter"), 3's light cruisers (Dutch "De Reuters" and "Java", Australian “Perth”) and 8 destroyers.
The Allied squadron was commanded by the Dutch Admiral Doorman, holding his flag on the cruiser De Reuters.
The battle is noteworthy because it was here that the Allies felt in their own skin that there are Japanese "long-lances". Prior to this, torpedoes for the United States and its allies were not absolutely known, so Doorman made a rather big mistake, getting closer to the Japanese squadron.
The Japanese were delighted with the suddenly opened perspective ...
First, torpedoes fired from the Haguro hit Exeter. Three. The Exeter caught fire and drowned the next day, finished off by torpedoes. Then the torpedo “Haguro” hit the Dutch destroyer “Cortenauer” with a torpedo. The destroyer had only one torpedo for the eyes, especially since it hit the cellar area, the destroyer exploded and also went to the bottom.
Further, for the sake of diversity, the artillerymen of the Japanese cruisers sank the British destroyer with artillery fire.
Following the baton took torpedo from the "Nachi", sending a volley aboard the cruiser "Java". Java broke and drowned.
And the final point in the battle was put by the “Haguro” torpedo who entered the rage. Their torpedoes caught up with the De Reuters flagship and tore it apart. Three dozen people were saved from the entire team.
A heavy cruiser, two light and two destroyers. If this is not a rout, then I don’t even know what to call a rout ...
But the next morning, the beating continued. The Asigara sank the American destroyer Pillsmbari and the gunboat Asheville with artillery fire.
And the final point in the battle was set by the cruisers Mikuma, Mogami, and Natori with escort destroyers, who intercepted the fleeing cruisers of the Allies Hauston and Perth. Torpedoes and shells sent both cruisers to the bottom.
Surprisingly, for the entire duration of the battle, which lasted 2 days, not a single shell hit the Japanese ships!
Further, the cruisers took part in many operations of the Japanese fleet, landed troops on the islands of Kyska and Atta, evacuated the garrison of Guadalcanal, participated in the battle of Tarawa.
Here, such a useful option as speed was fully manifested. Cruisers were attacked many times by American submarines, but it turned out that getting into the cruiser, which was traveling at a speed of more than 30 knots, was not so easy.
Cruisers took part in the battle of the Philippines 19 June 1944 year, as a result of which the Japanese carrier-based aircraft suffered heavy losses in pilots and aircraft. Then the cruisers got into repair, where they got such a useful thing as the “22 Type” radar.
Then they were waiting for the battle in Leyte Gulf, which can be called "a disgrace in Leyte Gulf."
At the beginning of the battle, on 23 on October 1944, the US submarines “Darter” and “Day” staged a bloody show in the Palawan Strait, sinking torpedoes on two heavy cruisers, “Atago” and “Maya”, and damaging the heavy cruiser “Takao”. Then there was a massacre arranged by American pilots, as a result of which the Musashi superlinker and three cruisers sank, and a bunch of ships were damaged.
"Myoko" got a torpedo aboard, "Haguro" caught a bomb in the tower, which failed.
They decided to put the damaged "Myoko" for repair, and the ship went to Singapore, where it got up for repair. 13 December 1944, the cruiser left Singapore to Japan, and here the Americans got it. The submarine "Burgall" treated the "Meko" with two torpedoes, as a result of which the cruiser completely lost its course.
In tow, the cruiser returned to Singapore, where it was used as an anti-aircraft battery, having sunk in the shallow water next to the same unfortunate comrade Takao. After the liberation of Singapore, the British towed the damaged cruiser Meko to the Strait of Malacca, where they flooded.
The damaged Haguro also moved to Singapore, where it was put on the dry dock of the Selstar Naval Base for repairs. After the repair, Haguro regularly delivered people and goods to the islands of Dutch India and the coast of the Bay of Bengal. Speed allowed.
On the night of May 16 of 1945, the Haguro, carrying loads of provisions to the Andaman Islands, was attacked by the British destroyers Sumares, Verulam, Vigilent, Venus and Virago.
The Haguro gunners immediately hit the Sumares shell, then the British decided not to wait for the torpedoes and fired the first salvo. The Haguro, having received three torpedoes aboard, sank within 40 minutes.
"Nachi" fought in the north, fought at the Commander Islands, and the American cruiser Salt Lake City parted in a draw, sending each other out for repairs. On 6 of September 1943, the cruiser received two torpedoes hit by the American submarine Halibat, but, strangely enough, the torpedo bombings did not cause serious damage to the cruiser.
In the Leyte Gulf massacre, the Nachi and Asigara took part in a night battle in the Surigao Strait, where the Japanese were defeated, and the Nachi collided with the Mogami and broke their nose. For repairs, the cruiser went to the Philippines, where in the harbor of the Caviti Naval Base “Nachi” the American aircraft finally finished off.
Nine torpedoes and at least 20 bombs once turned the cruiser into a pile of scrap metal, and it sank in the Gulf of Manila.
The cruiser Ashigara became the flagship of the Southern Expeditionary Fleet on 10 on April 1942 and escorted convoys for most of the war and delivered cargo to the islands of Dutch India.
Not far from Sumatra on 8 on June 1945 the British submarine Trent launched five torpedoes on the Asigara. At this, Asigara’s career was over.
Actually, a worthy end for ships that fought the whole war. And - definitely fought well. Of course, using a heavy cruiser as a transport is not the smartest idea, but nothing, we also drove the cruiser in a row.
What is worth saying about the project?
Successfully utterly. Especially in terms of weapons. 10 203 mm guns in five two-gun turrets - this is not the European standard 4x2 and not the American 3x3. Yes, despite the fact that target shooting could not be conducted from a large number of barrels, but only the cruiser “Pensacola” could be compared with the onboard volley from the Myoko.
Reservation, like all "Washington" cruisers, was, in general, no, that is, capable of protecting from small bombs and shells up to 152 mm.
But in general, in the “Washington” framework, creating a normal ship was simply unrealistic. The terms of the agreement clearly sacrificed speed, armor, weapons, or all at once.
But for the mid-20 of the last century, these were really very advanced ships.
Yes, the Meoko entered the war, very different from what went into operation, since a lot of weapons were replaced, air defense was installed from scratch, radars appeared, but nevertheless, for the technological base that Japan had in those years , it was a real such a masterpiece.
What is successful until a certain point the military service of the cruisers only confirms.
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