IJN HEAVY CRUISER CHIKUMA 1944

Chikuma was a Japanese heavy cruiser the keel of which was laid in 1935, launched in March 1938, and commissioned in the Imperial Japanese Navy in May 1939. The ship was 189 m long, 19.4 m wide, and had a full displacement of 15,400 tons. The maximum speed of the cruiser Chikuma was 35 knots. The main armament at the time of the launch was 8 203 mm guns in four turrets, two guns each, and the additional armament included: 12 127 mm guns and 12 610 mm torpedo tubes. Chikuma was the second and final Tone-class cruiser. Initially, units of this type were planned to be built based on the already proven project of the Mogami cruisers, but due to the withdrawal of Japan from the disarmament systems, and especially from the London Treaty of 1932, it allowed the designers to deeply redesign new units, e.g. by adding a larger number of seaplanes, which allowed the Tone-class ships to perform reconnaissance functions in relation to their own groups of aircraft carriers. Cruiser Chikuma began her combat route in World War II by participating in the attack on the American base Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Shortly after (April 1942) he took part in the famous rally of the Japanese fleet to the Indian Ocean. Chikuma also fought in the Battle of Midway (June 1942), and the ship's seaplanes were the first to detect the USS Yorktown aircraft carrier. The combat trail ended in the Battle of Leyte, when Chikuma was sunk by American aircraft on October 25, 1944.