Sink the Haguro!: Last Destroyer Action of the Second World War (Warship Battles of World War Two) by John Winton

Author:John Winton [Winton, John]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, pdf
Publisher: Sapere Books
Published: 2022-01-16T00:00:00+00:00

5: THE ATTACK

2245/15-0209/16 MAY

WHO WAS THIS ENEMY Captain Power and his destroyers were hurrying to intercept? His Imperial Japanese Majesty’s Ship Haguro was a Nachi Class heavy cruiser, designed by Vice-Admiral Yuzura Hiraga in accordance with the 1921 Washington Treaty and built under the 1923 Japanese ‘New Reinforcement Plan’. The fourth and last of her class, her keel was laid down at the Mitsubishi Yard in Nagasaki on 16 March, 1925; she was launched on 24 March, 1928 and completed on 25 April, 1929. She had been built, making use of lightweight materials, to comply with the Treaty 10,000-ton limitation but her completed displacement was actually 10,940 tons and with a full outfit of stores, oil fuel and ammunition, she displaced some 15,000 tons — more than twice as much as all five of her destroyer opponents put together. Against the destroyers’ four 4.7-inch guns each, in single gun turrets, Haguro mounted ten 8-inch, in five turrets, the centre turret of the forward three being mounted above the other two; these guns, improved models of the original 8-inch, had been installed during a year-long refit which ended on 28 December, 1939, and were capable of firing a 275lb shell to a range of 31,600 yards (nearly sixteen miles) with a maximum rate of fire of four rounds/minute. Her secondary armament was eight 5-inch guns in sided twin turrets, firing a 51lb shell to a range of 16,200 yards with a maximum rate of fire of eight rounds/minute. In 1936 Haguro had had important structural alterations, with rebuilt anti-torpedo bulge and an increased weight of side armour plating, up to 5 inches thick. She had originally been fitted with four quadruple tubes, firing the formidable ‘Long Lance’ Type ‘93’ oxygen-powered torpedo, carrying half a ton of explosive for eleven miles at 49 knots. In 1944, two of these torpedo tubes were removed to make way for increased anti-aircraft weapons and by May, 1945, Haguro mounted four triple, eight twin and twenty-four single 25mm guns. She also had two deck catapults and was capable of carrying four seaplanes. She had two seaplanes on board that night.

Haguro was designed to make 33 knots but she was long out of dock and as Power said, he probably did have the legs of her — but only just. She had a Type 13 Air Warning radar set mounted on the main mast; operating on the 2 metre wavelength, it had a range of 31 miles, the scan being hand-rotated, with a beam 3° wide, but it had little close-range accuracy. A more modern Type 21 Air Warning Set was mounted on the foremast operating on the 1.5 metre wavelength; this had a range of over 40 miles, was power-rotated, with a beam 1.5° in width. It could theoretically pick up surface ships at about 12 miles range. The Type 22 gunnery 10 centimetre radar sets, on the port and starboard sides of the upper bridge, had a pencil beam of 0-5°, gave accurate ranges up

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