Крейсер «Асигара»: История и служба в годы Второй мировой войны.

Myōkō class heavy cruiser

Ashigara (足柄) was the final vessel of the four member of heavy cruisers of the Imperial Japanese Navy, which were active in World War II. The other ships of the class were Japanese cruiser Nachi, Japanese cruiser Myōkō, and Japanese cruiser Haguro. Ashigara was named after Mount Ashigara on the border of Kanagawa and Shizuoka Prefectures.

Ashigara was approved under the 1922 Fleet Modernization Program as one of the first heavy cruisers to be built by Japan within the design constraints imposed by the Washington Naval Treaty, and was one of the first of the "10,000 ton" cruisers built by any nation. Naval architect Vice admiral Yuzuru Hiraga was able to keep the design from becoming dangerously top heavy in its early years by continually rejecting demands from the Imperial Japanese Navy General Staff for additional equipment to the upper decks. However, during modifications and rebuildings in the 1930s, the final displacement rose to 15,933 tons, well over the treaty limits.

The Myōkō class displaced , with a hull design based on an enlarged version of the Ashigara was long, with a beam of , draft of and were capable of
On 10 March 1937, Ashigara was assigned detached duty for a diplomatic mission to Europe for the coronation of King George VI. She departed Yokosuka, Kanagawa on 3 April, and called on Singapore, Aden, the Suez Canal and Malta on her way to Portsmouth, arriving 10 May. Following the 20 May naval review, Ashigara called on Kiel, Germany and the majority of the crew was allowed to visit Berlin, where the senior staff was received by Adolf Hitler on 24 May. On 31 May, Ashigara participated in the German Kriegsmarine Day naval review, celebrating the German World War I "victory" at the Battle of Jutland. She then returned to Japan via Gibraltar, Port Said (Egypt), and Colombo (Ceylon). The two warships stood by as Hoovers 330 crew got all 503 passengers and themselves ashore. During the aftermath of the Battle of the Java Sea on 1 March 1942, Ashigara joined the rest of her class in tracking down the severely damaged heavy cruiser and her two destroyers. During the engagement, Ashigara combined fire with her sistership Myōkō to sink the destroyer , while her sisterships Haguro and Nachi finished off Exeter. On 10 March 1942, she became flagship for the Second Southern Expeditionary Fleet, and led the invasion of Christmas Island on 26 May 1942. She became flagship of the Southwest Area Fleet from 10 April 1942, and returned to Sasebo Naval Arsenal for a refit and repairs in June. She returned to Makassar in July to resume her position as flagship of the Second Southern Expeditionary Fleet, but for the rest of the year was primarily engaged as a rapid troop transport based out of Surabaya. She was dry docked and repaired at Seletar Naval Base in Singapore at the end of the year. In 1943 and early 1944, Ashigara performed guard and troop transport duties and saw no action. She returned to Yokosuka for a month in April, and a Type 21 radar was installed. In February 1944, she was reassigned to the IJN 5th Fleet for operations in northern waters. A Type 22 surface search radar was installed in March, and she was based out of the Ōminato Guard District, together with the cruiser Japanese cruiser Nachi until the end of July. She was refitted at Kure Naval Arsenal in September, with additional Type 96 AA guns installed. In the Battle of Leyte Gulf on 24 October 1944, Ashigara, with Captain Hayao Miura in command, was assigned to Vice Admiral Kiyohide Shima's, force along with Nachi and eight destroyers. This force entered Surigao Strait on 25 October after Admiral Shōji Nishimura's First Raiding Force had been destroyed. Following the loss of the battleships Japanese battleship Fusō and Nishimura's Japanese battleship Yamashiro and their escorts at the hands of Rear Admiral Jesse B. Oldendorf's fleet and aircraft, with Nishimura being killed aboard Yamashiro, Ashigara and Nachi fired their torpedoes and retreated (Nachi with damage from a collision with Japanese cruiser Mogami). Ashigara escaped to Palawan and from there to Brunei. She departed Brunei on 17 November with the battleship Japanese battleship Haruna and cruiser Japanese cruiser Ōyodo, and on arriving in the Spratly Islands the following day became the flagship of Vice Admiral Shima. On 20 November, she departed the Spratly Islands, arriving at Cam Ranh Bay, Indochina on 14 December, where Admiral Shima transferred his flag to Japanese battleship Hyūga Ashigara and Ōyodo and the destroyers Japanese destroyer Kiyoshimo, Japanese destroyer Asashimo, Japanese destroyer Kasumi, Japanese destroyer Kaya, Japanese destroyer Kashi, and Japanese destroyer Sugi were assigned to join the Raiding Force on the American beachhead in Mindoro in the Philippines. While approaching Mindoro, the Raiding Force was attacked by B 25 Mitchell bombers. Ashigara was damaged by a direct hit by a 500 lb bomb, but was still able to complete her mission, bombarding the American positions with over 200 shells and returning to Cam Ranh Bay on 29 December.

On 26 January 1945, Ashigara was dry docked in Singapore to repair bomb damage. On 5 February, she was transferred to the control of the 10th Area Fleet and spent the next five months transporting troops and supplies in the Dutch East Indies and the Bay of Bengal. On 22 April, she was attacked by the Royal Dutch Navy submarine , which fired four torpedoes, all of which missed. On 7 June 1945, Ashigara departed Batavia (present day Jakarta) for Singapore with 1,600 troops on board, escorted by the destroyer Japanese destroyer Kamikaze. The United States Navy submarine USS Blueback reported their departure, but was unable to maneuver into an attack position. Blueback'''s contact report was received by the Royal Navy submarines and , which lay in wait at the northern end of Bangka Strait, between Sumatra and Bangka Island. On the morning of 8 June 1945, Kamikaze and Trenchant spotted each other and exchanged fire, but both then lost contact with each other. While Kamikaze continued north and became entangled in combat with Stygian, Trenchant submerged, spotted Ashigara heading north at 1148, then made a difficult torpedo attack from a poor firing position abaft the cruiser's starboard beam, firing eight torpedoes from her bow tubes at 1212. Trapped between the Sumatran shore to port and a shoal to starboard, Ashigara nevertheless attempted to turn starboard to comb the torpedo tracks, but was unable to complete the maneuver in time and was hit five times at a range of Trenchant then fired two more torpedoes from her stern tubes, which missed, but Ashigara was already fatally damaged and sank at 1239 at Kamikaze, having also lost contact with Stygian, turned back south too late to intercept Trenchant, which made her escape submerged. Kamikaze and two local vessels rescued 400 Japanese Army troops and 853 crewmen, including her captain, Rear Admiral Miura; however, over 1200 troops and 100 crewmen went down with the ship. Ashigara'' was struck from the IJN Navy List on 20 August 1945.