Japanese cruiser Kuma

Kuma in 1935 off Tsingtao, showing Kawanishi E7K1 "Alf" floatplane on catapult
Career (Japan)
Ordered:	1917 Fiscal Year
Laid down:	29 August 1918
Launched:	14 July 1919
Commissioned:	31 August 1920
Struck:	10 March 1944
Fate:	sunk 10 January 1944 torpedoed by HMS Tally-Ho (P317) west of Penang 05°26′N 99°52′E
General characteristics
Class and type:	Kuma class cruiser
Displacement:	5100 tons (standard)
Length:	152.4 meters
Beam:	14.2 meters
Draught:	4.8 meters
Propulsion:	4 shaft Gihon geared turbines 12 Kampon boilers 90,000 shp
Speed:	36 knots (67 km/h)
Range:	5,000 nautical miles (9,300 km) at 14 knots (26 km/h)
Complement:	450
Armament:	7 × 5.5-inch (140 mm) guns (7x1) 2 × 80 mm guns, 8 × 533 mm torpedo tubes (4x2) 48 mines
Armor:	64 mm (belt) 29 mm (deck)
Aircraft carried:	1 x floatplane, 1 catapult

IJN Kuma (球磨 軽巡洋艦, Kuma keijun'yōkan) was a Kuma-class light cruiser in the Imperial Japanese Navy, named after the Kuma River in Kumamoto prefecture, Japan.

Background

Kuma was the lead ship of the five vessels in the Kuma-class of light cruisers and was intended for use both as a long-range, high speed scout ship, and also as a command vessel for destroyer or submarine flotillas.

Service career

Early career

Kuma was completed at the Sasebo Navy Yard on 31 August 1920. Immediately after commissioning, Kuma was assigned to cover the landings of Japanese troops in Siberia during Japan's Siberian Intervention against the Bolshevik Red Army. It was subsequently based at Port Arthur, and patrolled the China coast between the Kwantung Leased Territory and Tsingtao, China.

As the Second Sino-Japanese War began to escalate, Kuma patrolled the China coast, and covered the landings of Japanese forces in central China.

Invasion of the Philippines

On 10 April 1941, Kuma was assigned to Vice Admiral Ibo Takahashi's CruDiv 16 in the Japanese 3rd Fleet. At the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor on 8 December 1941, Kuma was participating in the invasion of the northern Philippines, having departed from its base in Mako, Pescadores Islands with the Ashigara, Maya and destroyers Asakaze and Matsukaze. From 10 December - 11 December, Kuma covered landings at Aparri and Vigan; off Vigan, Kuma was attacked unsuccessfully by five USAAF Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress bombers of the 14th Squadron. On 22 December, Kuma covered further landings at Lingayen Gulf, Philippines.

On 3 January 1942, Kuma was re-assigned to Vice Admiral Rokuzo Sugiyama's Third Southern Expeditionary Fleet. It was assigned to patrols around the Philippine islands from 10 January to 27 February 1942.

In March, Kuma was assigned to cover the invasion of the southern Philippines, shelling Cebu harbor on 1 March, and covering the landings at Zamboanga, Mindanao on 3 March. A Special Naval Landing Forces (SNLF) from Kuma rescued about 80 Japanese nationals who had been interned.

On 9 April 1942, off Cebu, Kuma and the torpedo boat Kiji were attacked by U.S. torpedo boats PT-34 and PT-41. Kuma was hit in the bow by one of eight Mark 18 Torpedoes fired, but it was a dud. The PT-34 was destroyed by Mitsubishi F1M "Petes" launched from the seaplane tender Sanuki Maru.

On 10 April, Kuma covered landings on Cebu by the Kawaguchi Detachment's 35th Infantry Brigade HQ and the 124th Infantry Regiment, and on 16 April landings on Panay by the Kawamura Detachment's 9th Infantry Brigade HQ and the 41st Infantry Regiment. On 6 May, Kuma covered the final assault on the American bastion on Corregidor Island in Manila Bay. Afterwards, Kuma remained on patrol at Manila until 12 August 1942.

Dutch East Indies and New Guinea campaigns

After a refit at Kure Naval Arsenal in September, the Kuma returned to Manila on 20 September 1942 and was reassigned to Vice Admiral Shiro Takasu's Second Southern Expeditionary Fleet (Netherlands East Indies Force). It was sent to Hong Kong to embark troops of the 38th Infantry Division, which it disembarked at Rabaul, New Britain on 10 October. Kuma then proceeded to Makassar, Celebes where it began patrols until 13 April 1943, with occasional embarkation of reinforcements for Rabaul, Kaimana, New Guinea and Kabui, New Guinea.

From late April though the end of May 1943, the Kuma was refitted at the Seletar Naval Base Singapore, and afterwards resumed patrols around the Dutch East Indies to 23 June.

On 23 June 1943, while at Makassar with CruDiv 16's Kinu, Oi, and Kitakami, Kuma was attacked by 17 Consolidated Aircraft B-24 Liberator bombers of the 319th Squadron/90th Bomb Group (H) of the 5th Air Force. All four light cruisers were straddled by near-misses, but suffered only slight damage.

On 24 June 1943, CruDiv 16's flag was transferred from Kinu to Kuma. Both cruisers then departed Makassar for patrols around the Dutch East Indies until 23 October. From 1 November, Kuma was refit in Singapore. Its No. 5 140-mm gun was removed as were her catapult and derrick. Two triple mount Type 96 25-mm AA guns were fitted. This brought the total number of Kuma's 25-mm AA guns to ten barrels (2x3, 2x2). Refit was completed by 12 November, and patrols/transport runs around the Dutch East Indies resumed, extending occasionally to Port Blair, Andaman Islands, Penang, Mergui, Burma through 9 January 1944.

On 11 January 1944, after departing from Penang with the Uranami on anti-submarine warfare exercises, Kuma was sighted by Royal Navy submarine HMS Tally-Ho based at Trincomalee, Ceylon. At 10 miles (16 km) northwest of Penang, the HMS Tally-Ho fired a seven-torpedo salvo from 1,900 yards. Kuma's lookouts spotted the torpedoes' wakes, and although the rudder was sent hard over, Kuma was hit starboard aft by two torpedoes, setting the ship on fire. Kuma sank by the stern in the vicinity of 05°26′N 99°52′E detonating her own depth-charges. Uranami took on Kuma's survivors including Captain Sugino, but 138 crewmen perished with the ship.

Kuma was removed from the navy list on 10 March 1944.

The Wreck

Kuma's wreck was discovered in March 2004 by Australian diver & photojournalist Kevin Denlay and a group of divers operating off the research vessel Empress, based out of Singapore. The ship lies on her starboard side in 155 feet (47 m) of water, covered in fishing nets and snagged fishing line. The bridge structure is fairly intact, although half-buried in bottom silt, and her funnels have fallen off. The port side waist 5.5-inch gun is intact, save for the top of the mount enclosure, which has disintegrated. The circular rotating base of the forward port torpedo rack is intact, but there are no torpedo tubes mounted on it. The aft mount of the same structure has fallen off. The glass in many of the portholes have been melted and fused due to the fire that raged amidship while the vessel was sinking. The ship's stern is missing completely; all that remains is a jagged edge, but the outboard port propeller is still in place.

References

Books

• Brown, David (1990). Warship Losses of World War Two. Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-55750-914-X. 
• D'Albas, Andrieu (1965). Death of a Navy: Japanese Naval Action in World War II. Devin-Adair Pub. ISBN 0-8159-5302-X. 
• Dull, Paul S. (1978). A Battle History of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1941-1945. Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-097-1. 
• Evans, David (1979). Kaigun : Strategy, Tactics, and Technology in the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1887-1941. Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-192-7. 
• Howarth, Stephen (1983). The Fighting Ships of the Rising Sun: The drama of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1895-1945. Atheneum. ISBN 0-68911-402-8. 
• Jentsura, Hansgeorg (1976). Warships of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1869-1945. Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-893-X. 
• Lacroix, Eric; Linton Wells (1997). Japanese Cruisers of the Pacific War. Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-311-3. 
• Whitley, M.J. (1995). Cruisers of World War Two: An International Encyclopedia. Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-55750-141-6. 

External links

• Parshall, Jon; Bob Hackett, Sander Kingsepp, & Allyn Nevitt. CombinedFleet.com: Kuma class "Imperial Japanese Navy Page (Combinedfleet.com)". http://www.combinedfleet.com/kuma_c.htm CombinedFleet.com: Kuma class. 
• Tabular record: CombinedFleet.com: Kuma history

See also

• List of World War II ships