- Yes
- Maybe
- Unsure
- No
Background
IJN Haguro is the 3rd ship of the Myōkō class heavy cruiser built, like her sisters she was originally armed with 10 7.9" inch guns in 5 twin turrets as the primary armament, the secondary battery consisted of 6 4.7" (120mm) guns in single mounts DP guns, the AA battery also came with 2 7.7mm machine guns in single mounts, and as for the torpedo armament it consisted of 12 fixed hull mounted torpedo tubes with 6 per side, within almost a decade the ships would see their first and second modernizations in shore order which saw the addition of 8" inch guns, 127mm DP guns, 13.2mm and 25mm AA guns, and the addition of torpedo tube launchers however since the ships configuration in the suggestion does not include any of these additions from any modernizations they are not apart of the ships suggestion.
History
Spoiler
1925 - 1941
IJN Haguro was laid down March 16th, 1925 as the 3rd ship of the Myōkō class cruiser, she would launch on March 24th, 1928, and technically would end up being the first ship of the Myōkō class to commission on April 25th, 1929, the reason being she technically was the first ship of her class to be commissioned was due to the fact that her sister Nachi had commissioned in 1928 however she was not near complete and was only done to show her off to the recently crowned Emperor Hirohito which then saw her return to finishing construction and would end up being complete the same month as Haguro though the issue being which can’t make things definitive is that it doesn’t really mention when Nachi was actually completed in April.
Haguro upon commissioning would join her sister as apart of Sentai 4 and in 1930 she would be visited by Emperor Hirohito and at the end of June in 1936 would begin her first modernization which saw her receive new guns as well as torpedos and other systems, and following the completion of her modernization she would escort troops to china during the first Shanghai incident. She would undergo her second modernization in April, 1941 which mainly improved her torpedo armament as well as her AA defense.
1941 - 1945
After the attack on pearl harbor Haguro was sent to the Philippines in Operation M during which she would cover landings of Davao and Legasp. In January 1942 while anchored at Malalag Bay in the Davao Gulf she along with other ships were attacked by B-17 bombers and during the engagement Myōkō received damage and so the flagship role transferrers to Nachi however Haguro sustained no damage during the attack. Following the attack both ships would provide cover for landings of Menado, Kema, Kendari and a number of other landings.
Haguro would end up being present for the battle of the Java sea and during which she would launch a torpedo salvo at HMS Exeter of which none hit however along with Nachi would batter the cruiser, another of Haguro’s torpedos would hit De Reuter which would causes a fire and Java receives a torpedo hit as well which soon blows of her stern, during the battle Haguro would suffer causalities not due to enemy gunfire but that she lost magazine shell handlers due to them suffering heat strokes. She along with other ships of the formation would then later on during the night encounter and sink surviving and damaged ships which saw the utter destruction of the multinational allied fleet in the region.
In March of 1942 she would undergo a refit along with Myōkō before taking part in the attempt to catch Halsey’s carrier’s following the Doolittle raid. Her next action would be during Operation MO however Haguro wouldn’t see any major action during the operation, she would also be present for the invasion of the Aleutian Islands as she along with her sisters Nachi and Myōkō along with other ships would support the landings of Kiska and Attu. In September while near Santa Cruz Haguro would have a second encounter with B-17’s with once more no hit being taken and in October she would undergo an overhaul at Sasebo. Following this Haguro would go on to take part in the evacuation of Guadalcanal and in June after the decision was made to abandon Attu, Haguro would undergo a refit and overhaul which saw the installation of 4 twin 25mm AA guns and air radar.
In October she would take damage during the battle of Empress Augusta Bay, and she would survive the battle of the Philippine Sea as well as the battle of Leyte Gulf during which she would take a little damage, her final action would be during the battle of Malacca Strait where she would be ambushed and sunk by 5 British destroyers in 1945 and would make her the last Japanese warship to be sunk in a naval surface action.
Post sinking
Haguro’s shipwreck would be found in 2003 in 220 ft deep water in the Malacca Strait south of Penang, their they found the wreck to be sitting upright and the ship itself cover in nets from trawlers and in 2010 a more extensive dive was made on the ship and in 2014 she was rated in the top 5 ships in the region to have been heavily destroyed by illegal salvaging.
Specifications: (1934)
Displacement:
11,633 tons (standard load)
14,980 tons (full load)
Length: 204 m (669 ft) (overall)
Beam: 17 m (56 ft)
Draft: 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:
Primary Armament:
10 × 20 cm (7.9 in) (200mm) guns (5×2)
DP guns:
6 × 4.7 in (120 mm)/45 guns (6×1)
AA Guns:
2 x 7.7mm machine guns (2x1)
Torpedo tubes:
12 × 610 mm (24 in) torpedo tubes (single fixed hull mounts with 6 per side)
Armour:
4" (102mm) NVNC belt inclined 12 degrees
1.4" (35mm) NVNC middle deck
1.4" (35mm) NVNC lower deck
3.5" (89mm) NVNC uptakes
3.5" (89mm) bulkheads
1" (25mm) NVNC turrets
Sources
Spoiler
Japanese cruiser Haguro - Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myōkō-class_cruiser
The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia: Myoko Class, Japanese Heavy Cruisers
Image Sources
