Japanese cruiser Chikuma (1938)

 was the second and last vessel in the of heavy cruisers in the Imperial Japanese Navy. The ship was named after the Chikuma River, in Nagano prefecture of Japan. Entering service in 1939, "Chikuma" saw battle during World War II in the Pacific. She was scuttled on 25 October 1944 after the Battle off Samar.
Background.
"Chikuma" was designed for long-range scouting missions and had a large seaplane capacity. She was extensively employed during World War II in conjunction with an aircraft carrier task force, or as part of a cruiser squadron with her sister ship, .
The "Tone"-class cruisers were originally envisaged as the fifth and sixth vessels in the . However, by the time construction began, serious weaknesses in the "Mogami"-class hull design had become clear following the Fourth Fleet Incident in 1935. As Japan no longer was obligated to abide by the limitations of the London Naval Treaty, a new design was created and new means of construction were utilized. Though the external dimensions were close to the "Mogami" class, the design was quite different, with four main battery turrets placed forward of the bridge, the second superfiring over the first, reserving the entire stern area as a large sea plane hangar. Unlike the United States Navy, the Japanese did not have a dual role attack/scout aircraft. No reconnaissance units were assigned to the Japanese carriers, and little emphasis was placed on this aspect of carrier warfare. Instead the Japanese reserved all of their carrier aircraft for attack roles. Reconnaissance was left up to float planes carried by cruisers. "Chikuma" was intended to provide the long range scout planes needed for their carrier Air Fleets.
Service career.
Early career.
"Chikuma" was completed at Mitsubishi Nagasaki shipyards on 20 May 1939. After several months as a unit of the CruDiv6 (Sentai 6) of the Second Fleet, she was transferred to the CruDiv8 in November 1939. In addition to taking part in regular combat exercises in Japanese home waters, she operated off southern China on three occasions between March 1940 and March 1941.
Early stages of the Pacific War.
At the end of 1941, "Chikuma" was assigned to CruDiv 8 with its sister ship, "Tone", and was thus one of the key players in the attack on Pearl Harbor. On 7 December 1941, "Tone" and "Chikuma" each launched one Aichi E13A1 Type 0 "Jake" floatplane for a final weather reconnaissance over Oahu. At 0630, "Tone" and "Chikuma" each launched short range Nakajima E4N2 Type 90-2 Reconnaissance Seaplane to act as pickets and patrol south of the Striking Force. "Chikuma"s floatplane reported nine anchored American battleships (presumably counting as a battleship). During the subsequent attack, the battleships , , and were sunk and , , , and other smaller ships were damaged.
On 16 December, CruDiv 8 was ordered to assist in the second attempted invasion of Wake Island. Anti-aircraft fire damaged the scout plane from "Chikuma", which was forced to ditch, but the crew was rescued. After the fall of Wake Island, CruDiv 8 returned to Kure.
On 14 January 1942, CruDiv 8 was based out of Truk in the Caroline Islands, and covered the landings of Japanese troops at Rabaul, New Britain and attacks on Lae and Salamaua, New Guinea. On 24 January "Chikuma"s floatplanes attacked the Admiralty Islands.
After the air raid on Kwajalein on 1 February by Vice Admiral William Halsey, Jr's aircraft carrier , "Chikuma" departed Truk with the Carrier Striking Force in an unsuccessful pursuit. "Chikuma" and "Tone" later participated in the Raid on Port Darwin, Australia on 19 February, sinking 11 ships. From 25 February 1942, "Chikuma" was involved in supporting the Japanese invasion of Java.
Battle of the Java Sea.
On 1 March 1942, "Chikuma"s floatplane located the 8,806-ton Dutch freighter "Modjokerto" attempting to escape from Tjilatjap to Australia. "Chikuma", with "Tone", and destroyers and intercepted and sank the freighter before noon. That afternoon, CruDiv 8's spotted the old destroyer , south-southeast of Christmas Island. "Chikuma" opened fire with her 8-inch guns at the extremely long range of , and all shots missed. "Chikuma" was joined by battleships and , which also opened fire with their 14-inch main batteries, but "Edsall" not only managed to avoid 297 14-inch, 132 6-inch shells from the battleships and an additional 844 8-inch and 62 5-inch rounds from the cruisers, but the destroyer also closed to range and fired its 4-inch guns at "Chikuma". Hits from "Hiei", "Tone" and dive bombers from the aircraft carriers and finally stopped "Edsall", which was then finished off by "Chikuma".
On 4 March, "Chikuma" sank the 5,412-ton Dutch merchant "Enggano" (which had earlier been damaged by a floatplane from the cruiser ). On 5 March, floatplanes from "Tone" and "Chikuma" took part on the strike against Tjilatjap. After the surrender of the Dutch East Indies, "Chikuma" was assigned to Indian Ocean operations.
Indian Ocean raids.
On 5 April 1942, "Chikuma" was part of a major task force which launched 315 aircraft against British-held Colombo, Ceylon. The destroyer , armed merchant cruiser and 27 aircraft were destroyed and over 500 killed in harbor, and the cruisers and were destroyed at sea. After searching for more remnants of the Royal Navy, the Indian Ocean Task Force launched 91 Aichi D3A1 "Val" dive-bombers and 41 Mitsubishi A6M2 "Zeke" fighters on 9 April against the British naval base at Trincomalee, Ceylon. They found the harbor empty, but wrecked the base's facilities and shot down nine planes, and later sank the carrier , destroyer , and corvette , an oiler and a depot ship at sea from base.
The task force with "Chikuma" returned to Japan in mid-April 1942, where it was almost immediately assigned to the unsuccessful pursuit of Admiral Halsey's Task Force 16.2 with the aircraft carrier after the Doolittle Raid.
Battle of Midway.
At the crucial Battle of Midway, "Chikuma" and CruDiv 8 were in Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo's Carrier Striking Force. On 4 June, "Tone" and "Chikuma" each launched two Aichi E13A1 "Jake" long-range reconnaissance floatplanes to search out for American carriers. The floatplane from "Tone" discovered American ships, but did not recognize that the fleet was a carrier group, which proved to be a crucial mistake. "Chikuma"s floatplane found the aircraft carrier , and shadowed the ship for the next three hours, guiding the bombers that attacked "Yorktown" that evening. Two other floatplanes from "Chikuma" continued to observe the heavily damaged "Yorktown" through the night, during which time one plane and crew were lost. "Chikuma" then directed the submarine to find and attack the "Yorktown" the following morning.
"Chikuma" and "Tone" were then detached to support Vice Admiral Boshiro Hosogaya's Aleutian invasion force. However, the anticipated American counter-attack failed to materialize. CruDiv 8 cruised northern waters uneventfully. "Chikuma" returned to Ominato port on 24 June.
Rear Admiral Chuichi Hara assumed command of CruDiv 8 from 14 July 1942. With the US invasion of Guadalcanal, "Chikuma" and "Tone" were ordered south again on 16 August with the aircraft carriers , , , , and . They were joined by the battleships "Hiei", "Kirishima", seaplane tender , and cruisers , , "Takao", .
Battle of the Eastern Solomons.
On 24 August 1942, CruDiv 7's and arrived to join the reinforcement fleet for Guadalcanal. The following morning, a PBY Catalina seaplane spotted "Ryūjō", which SBDs and TBFs from "Enterprise" unsuccessfully attacked. Seven floatplanes from "Tone" and "Chikuma" were launched to locate the American fleet. One of "Chikuma"s planes spotted the Americans, but was shot down before its report could be relayed. However, a second floatplane was more successful, and the Japanese launched an attack against "Enterprise", hitting it with three bombs which set her wooden deck on fire. However, in the meantime, the Americans located the Japanese fleet, and "Ryūjō" was sunk by planes from the aircraft carrier . "Chikuma" was undamaged in this engagement, and returned to Truk safely.
Through October, "Chikuma" and "Tone" patrolled north of the Solomon Islands, waiting word of recapture of Henderson Field by the Japanese.
Battle of Santa Cruz.
On 26 October 1942, northeast of Guadalcanal, Rear Admiral Hiroaki Abe's task force launched seven floatplanes to scout south of Guadalcanal. They located the American fleet, and Abe followed with an attack which sank "Hornet" and damaged the battleship and cruiser . However, "Chikuma" was attacked by a Douglas SBD Dauntless dive-bomber from "Hornet", and quick thinking crewmen jettisoned her torpedoes seconds before a bomb hit her starboard forward torpedo room. She was also hit by two other bombs, destroying one floatplane on the aircraft catapult. "Chikuma" suffered 190 killed and 154 wounded including Captain Komura.
"Chikuma" (escorted by the destroyers and ) returned to Truk for emergency repairs, and was then sent back to Kure with the damaged carrier "Zuihō". During refit and repairs, two additional twin Type 96 25-mm AA guns and a Type 21 air-search radar were added. Repairs were completed by 27 February 1943.
On 15 March 1943 Rear Admiral Kishi Fukuji assumed command of CruDiv 8, and "Chikuma" was ordered back to Truk. However, on 17 May, "Chikuma" and "Tone" were tasked to accompany the battleship back to Tokyo for the state funeral of Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto. "Chikuma" was back in Truk by 15 July, having avoided numerous submarine attacks along the route.
From July to November, "Chikuma" was engaged in making troop transport runs to Rabaul, and to patrols of the Marshall Islands in unsuccessful pursuit of the American fleet. While refueling at Rabaul on 5 November 1943, "Chikuma" and its task force were attacked by 97 planes from the carriers "Saratoga", and . Cruisers "Atago", "Takao", "Maya", , and were damaged. "Chikuma", attacked by a single SBD, suffered only near-misses with minor damage.
Back at Kure on 12 December, "Chikuma" gained additional 25-mm AA guns, bringing its total to 20. CruDiv 8 was disbanded on 1 January 1944, and both "Tone" and "Chikuma" were reassigned to CruDiv 7 (with "Suzuya" and "Kumano") under Rear Admiral Shoji Nishimura. Refit completed by 1 February, "Chikuma" returned to Singapore on 13 February and Batavia on 15 March after a month of raiding commerce in the Indian Ocean. On 20 March 1944, Rear Admiral Kazutaka Shiraishi assumed command of CruDiv 7, and "Chikuma" was made flagship.
Battle of the Philippine Sea.
On 13 June 1944, Admiral Soemu Toyoda activated "Operation A-GO" for the defense of the Mariana Islands. "Chikuma" was assigned to Force "C" Vice Admiral Jisaburo Ozawa's Mobile Fleet, which proceeded through the Visayan Sea to the Philippine Sea headed towards Saipan. On 20 June, after the battleships , and carrier were attacked by aircraft from the American carriers , and and the bulk of the Japanese air cover was destroyed in the "Great Marianas Turkey Shoot", "Chikuma" retired with the Mobile Fleet to Okinawa.
After ferrying army troops to Okinawa, "Chikuma" was reassigned back to Singapore in July, serving as flagship for CruDiv 4 while "Atago" was under repairs.
Battle of Leyte Gulf.
On 23 October 1944, "Chikuma" (with "Kumano", "Suzuya" and "Tone") sortied from Brunei towards the Philippines with Vice Admiral Takeo Kurita's First Mobile Striking Force. In the Battle of the Palawan Passage, "Atago" and "Maya" were sunk by submarines, and "Takao" damaged. In the Battle of the Sibuyan Sea the following day "Musashi" was sunk, the cruiser was crippled and had to be towed to safety, while the battleships and "Haruna" received damage.
On 25 October, during the Battle off Samar, "Chikuma" engaged U.S. escort aircraft carriers, helping to sink , but came under fire from the American destroyer and heavy air attack. "Chikuma" inflicted severe damage on "Heermann", but was soon attacked by four TBM Avenger torpedo-bombers. Richard Deitchman, flying from , succeeded in hitting her stern port quarter with a Mark 13 torpedo that severed her stern and disabled her port screw and rudder. "Chikuma"s speed dropped to , then to , but more seriously, she became unsteerable. At 1105, "Chikuma" was attacked by five TBMs from . She was hit portside amidships by two torpedoes and her engine rooms flooded. At 1400, three TBMs from a composite squadron of ships from and led by Lt. Joseph Cady dropped more torpedoes which hit "Chikuma" portside. Cady was later awarded the Navy Cross for his action. It is generally thought that destroyer took off survivors from "Chikuma", and then scuttled her at in the late morning of on 25 October 1944, but a more recent study suggests "Chikuma" sank from the effect of the air attack, and "Nowaki" only arrived in time to pick up survivors from the water.
On 26 October 1944, "Nowaki" was sunk by gunfire from the cruisers , and and DesDiv 103's , and . The ship sank south-southeast of Legaspi, Philippines with about 1,400 men including all but one of "Chikuma"s surviving crewmen. The sole survivor from "Chikuma" was a crew member who was not picked up by "Nowaki" and drifted ashore on his own.
"Chikuma" was removed from the navy list on 20 April 1945.