Myōkō-class cruiser

Class overview
Name: Myōkō class
Operators:  Imperial Japanese Navy
Preceded by: Aoba class
Succeeded by: Takao class
Built: 19241929
In commission: 19281946
Completed: 4
Lost: 3
General characteristics [1]
Type: Heavy cruiser
Displacement: 11,633 tons (standard load) 14,980 tons (full load)
Length: 204 m (669 ft) overall
Beam: 17 m (56 ft)
Draught: 5.8 m (19 ft)
Propulsion:
  • 4-shaft geared turbines
  • 12 Kampon boilers
  • 130,000 shp
Speed: 35.5 knots (40.9 mph; 65.7 km/h)
Range: 8,000 nmi (15,000 km) at 14 kn (16 mph; 26 km/h)
Complement: 773
Armament:
Aircraft carried: 2
Aviation facilities: 1 catapult

The four Myōkō-class cruisers (妙高型巡洋艦 Myōkō-gata jun'yōkan) were built for the Imperial Japanese Navy in the late 1920s. Three were lost during World War II.

The ships of this class displaced 11,633 tons (standard), were 201 metres (659 ft) long, and were capable of 36 knots (67 km/h; 41 mph). They carried two aircraft and their main armament was ten 20.3-centimetre (8 in) guns in five twin turrets. At the time, this was the heaviest armament of any cruiser class in the world. They were also the first cruisers the Japanese Navy constructed that exceeded the (10,000 ton) limit set by the Washington Naval Treaty.

Ships in class

The ships in the class were:

Name Builder Laid Launched Commissioned Fate
Myōkō (妙高) Yokosuka Navy Yard 25 October 1924 16 April 1927 31 July 1929 Scuttled, 8 July 1946
Nachi (那智) Kure Navy Yard 26 November 1924 15 June 1927 26 November 1928 Sunk, 4 November 1944 in Manila Bay by aircraft from USS Lexington
Haguro (羽黒) Mitsubishi Nagasaki Shipyard 16 March 1925 24 March 1928 25 April 1929 Sunk, 16 May 1945 by Royal Navy 26th Destroyer Flotilla
Ashigara (足柄) Kōbe-Kawasaki Shipbuilding Yard 11 April 1925 22 April 1928 20 August 1929 Sunk, 8 June 1945 by submarine HMS Trenchant

References

Notes

  1. Whitley, Cruisers of WWII, p. 173

Books

External links

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