KISO LIGHT CRUISER

Kiso was a Japanese light cruiser the keel of which was laid in 1918, launched in December 1920, and commissioned in the Imperial Japanese Navy in May 1921. The ship was 152.4 meters long, 14.2 meters wide, and had a full displacement of 7,100 tons. The maximum speed of the cruiser Kiso was 36 knots. At the time of launching, the main armament was 7 140 mm guns in single positions, and the additional armament was, among others: two 80 mm cannons and four twin 533 mm torpedo tubes. Kiso was the third Kuma-class cruiser. Cruisers of this type were in fact the enlarged Tenryu class, but had greater range, speed, and better armament. The combat career of the cruiser Kuma began very quickly, as shortly after it was launched it took part in operations against the Bolsheviks in the last period of the Russian civil war. At the outbreak of World War II in the Pacific, in December 1941, Kiso was on patrol in the area of Hokkaido and the Kuril Islands. In May 1942, the cruiser was part of the attacking forces on the Aleutian Islands. Then, until March 1943, the cruiser performed patrol functions and covered Japanese convoys in the North Pacific. In the second half of 1943, Kiso was transferred south, where for the next few months he was a transport ship for Japanese soldiers. In the period from November 1943 to March 1944, the ship was modernized, as a result of which the anti-aircraft armament was strengthened. Kiso was sunk on October 20, 1944 as a result of an American air strike.