On that day, 356 tremors with a magnitude of up to 8 on the Richter scale completely destroyed the Japanese capital. The suburbs were also seriously affected. The number of people trapped under the rubble and in the flames of the fires exceeded 4 million people. The Great Kanto Earthquake caused countless difficulties, one of which was the destruction of the shipyards that built the ships for the Imperial Navy. The aircraft carrier (former battle cruiser) Amagi, standing on the slipway in Yokosuka, was turned into a pile of wreckage.
What happened next?
A couple of decades passed, and just in time for the beginning of the Battle of Midway, Japanese ministers reported with a calm face that there were no new ships. The shipyards are lost. There was simply not enough time to restore industry after the terrible cataclysm of 1923. Cruisers and aircraft carriers are not included in the current State armaments program, they will be laid down approximately after 1950. And you stay there.
To the Japanese, such an alternative will seem offensive and impossible.
The naval arsenal at Yokosuka was rebuilt in one year.
On October 25, 1924, the mortgage section of cruiser # 5 was placed on its slipway.
Three years later, the 200-meter hull was launched, and a couple of years later, in the summer of 1929, it turned into a heavy cruiser "Mioko". The lead ship in a series of four TKRs, future legends of the Imperial Navy.
The Japanese themselves attribute such a long construction to the high workload of the shipyard. Another program had priority. Simultaneously with “Mioko”, the battleship “Kaga” was being rebuilt into an aircraft carrier (instead of the “Amagi” destroyed by the earthquake) on the neighboring stocks of the arsenal.
These were not only the strongest cruisers of their time. TKR "Mioko" is an example of craftsmanship and, to a certain extent, a reproach for modern designers.
Nowadays, none of the ships under construction has such a powerful power plant, which was on the "Mioko". Steam turbines "Kampon" developed power comparable to the power plant of the nuclear "Orlan"!
With a double difference in size and a half-century difference in the age of these ships.
In practice, one of the representatives of the series, the heavy cruiser "Ashigara", managed to develop 35.6 knots. with a power plant of 138,692 hp.
The question is not whether modern ships need these 35 knots. The problem is related to the weight and dimensions of the power plant mechanisms, which were placed inside the Mioko body. With all the imperfection of the technology of the 1920s. and tough international restrictions on the displacement of ships.
The total weight of 12 boilers (625 tons), four Kampon turbines (a total of 16 high and low pressure turbines, 268 tons), reducers (172 tons), pipelines (235 tons), working fluids (water, oil, 745 tons) and various auxiliary equipment amounted to 2,730 tons.
Due to the fact that the turbines of the 1920s. did not have the efficiency of boiler-turbine installations of the late twentieth century, the designers of "Mioko" had to add two cruising turbines (2 x 3750 hp) to the main mechanisms. Immediately, a difficulty arose: the cruiser had 4 lines of propeller shafts, while the auxiliary turbines rotated only two (external) screws. It was necessary to install an additional electric motor, which turns the internal propellers while cruising, making them hydrodynamically neutral.
The advantage of this scheme is its cost-effectiveness.
With the maximum oil reserve (2, 5 thousand tons), the cruising range at an economic speed (14 knots) in practice was ~ 7000 miles. Indicators of autonomy "Mioko" correspond to the best modern ships with a conventional, non-nuclear power plant.
A serious drawback (in addition to complexity) was considered a delay in the transition from cruising to full speed. Switching from two shafts to four, connecting all the necessary couplings and starting the turbine units was far from a quick process. In battle, this circumstance could become fatal. However, at that time, the Japanese did not have much choice.
The samurai's weapon is a sword, the meaning of life is death
The five two-gun turrets of the main battery are not the European standard 4x2 or even the American 3x3. In terms of fire performance, the only foreign analogue of the Mioko among the Allied ships was the Pensacola.
The main caliber is 200 mm. After modernization - 203 mm.
Japanese 203/50 Type 3 # 2 were designed as dual-use guns. As a result, without becoming air defense systems, they turned into one of the best eight-inch cannons of their era. AP shell weight - 125 kg.
The majestic "pyramid" of three bow towers was the hallmark of the Imperial Navy. Two more towers covered the aft corners.
5 towers, 10 barrels - an incomplete list of shock weapons.
The Japanese relied on fans of torpedoes that drew the sea into the sectors of death. According to the admirals, long-range torpedoes will become a trump card when meeting the more numerous American cruisers. Unlike European cruisers, the US Navy's cruisers were completely devoid of torpedo weapons, relying entirely on their artillery. According to which they were also inferior to the Japanese.
Each Japanese TKR carried four TA - 12 launch tubes (4x3) for launching oxygen torpedoes of 610 mm caliber. Full ammunition on board - 24 torpedoes.
For their unique characteristics, the allies called them "long spears". The speed characteristics of these ammunition (max. 48 knots), cruising range (up to 40 km), warhead power (up to half a ton of explosives) command respect even in our century, and 80 years ago they generally seemed like science fiction.
But, as combat experience showed, due to the unsuccessful location of the TA and the charging compartment in unprotected rooms under the upper deck, the torpedoes posed a greater danger to the cruisers themselves than to the enemy.
Universal caliber - 6x1 120 mm guns, after modernization - 4x2 127 mm.
Anti-aircraft armament - was continuously strengthened throughout the entire period of service. Starting with a pair of Lewis machine guns, by the summer of 1944 it had grown to 52 automatic anti-aircraft guns of 25 mm caliber (4x3, 8x2, 24x1). However, the larger number of barrels, to a large extent, was leveled out by the too modest characteristics of Japanese assault rifles (ammunition supply from 15-round magazines, low aiming speed in both planes).
Like all cruisers of that period, the TKR "Myoko" carried an air group consisting of two reconnaissance seaplanes.
Fire detection and control facilities were located on eight conning tower platforms. The entire box-like structure rose 27 meters above sea level.
Reservation
Like all negotiated Washingtonians, the Japanese TKRs had minimal protection, unable to protect the ship from most threats of the time.
The main belt 102 mm thick, with a length of 82 m and a width of 3.5 m, provided protection of boiler rooms and engine rooms from 6 '' caliber shells. The ammunition cellars were additionally protected by belts 16 meters long (in the bow) and 24 meters (in the aft part of the cruiser).
As for the horizontal protection, the resistance of armored decks with a thickness of 12 … 25 mm (top) and 35 mm (middle, it is also the main one) does not need comments. The most she could do was withstand a hit of 500 lb. high-explosive bomb.
The main gun turrets had only nominal, 1-inch-thick anti-splinter protection.
The thickness of the barbets is 76 mm.
The conning tower was absent.
On the other hand, the presence of 2,024 tons of armor steel (the total mass of the Mioko protection elements) could not go unnoticed. Even such modest protection contributed to the localization of combat damage and guaranteed the cruiser sufficient combat stability to survive until the end of the war.
The armor plates forming the armor belt and the main armor deck were included in the power set, increasing its longitudinal strength.
Modernization
By the time of the end of service, the TKR "Myoko" represented a completely different ship, not much like the cruiser that entered service in 1929.
The only thing that has changed is everything!
Appearance (chimney shape). Armament (completely changed). Power plant (replacement of the electric engine that rotated the shafts while cruising with a more reliable steam turbine).
The power set was strengthened - in 1936, on the Mioko, four steel strips 25 mm thick and 1 meter wide were riveted along the longitudinal set of the hull. Full body length.
To compensate for the deterioration in stability due to overload, after the installation of new equipment, 93-meter boules (width at midships 2.5 m) were mounted on the cruisers, which also served as anti-torpedo protection. In wartime, it was planned to fill them with scraps of steel pipes.
Weak spots
The classic drawback of all Japanese cruisers is called dangerous overload and, as a result, stability problems. But what did the various coefficients mean without reference to reality? Who set the “norm”?
Four "Mioko" passed through the whirlwinds of war, and, despite numerous combat damage and flooding, held out until the very end. In 1935, during the "Incident with the Fourth Fleet", due to an error of the meteorological service, all four cruisers passed through a typhoon, where the waves reached 15 meters. The superstructure was damaged, under the impact of the waves, sheathing sheets parted in several places, and leaks occurred. However, the cruisers did not capsize and returned to base.
If Japanese sailors could fight on their ships, surviving in the most extreme conditions, it means that the value of the metacentre height of 1.4 meters was acceptable. And there are no ideal parameters.
The same goes for the living conditions on board. A battleship is not a resort, complaints are excluded here. Especially during the Second World War.
The really serious problem was the poor storage of oxygen torpedoes. The most explosive and vulnerable element of the cruiser had practically no protection, so a stray hit of a fragment in an unprotected TA threatened a catastrophe (the death of the Mikuma and Tyokai TKR).
Even at the design stage, experts expressed an opinion about the possibility of abandoning torpedo weapons, in view of their danger to the cruisers themselves. Which, by virtue of their appointment, had to go for hours under enemy fire - and then there was such a "surprise".
In practice, when the situation escalated to the limit, and the likelihood of using torpedoes for their intended purpose tended to zero, the Japanese preferred to throw them overboard in order to avoid serious consequences.
Another drawback that reduced combat effectiveness was the weakness (and for the most part the absence) of radar equipment. The first Type 21 general detection radars appeared on cruisers only in 1943. However, this drawback has nothing to do with a miscalculation in the design, but only reflects the level of Japanese achievements in the field of radar.
Combat service
Cruisers took part in campaigns throughout the Pacific theater of operations - East Indies and Indonesia, Kuriles, Coral Sea, Midway, Solomon Islands, Mariana Islands, Philippines. For four - over 100 combat missions.
Naval battles, cover for convoys and landings, evacuation, shelling of the coast, transportation of soldiers and military cargo.
In fact, the war for them began much earlier than the attack on Pearl Harbor. Already in 1937, the cruisers were involved in the transfer of Japanese troops to China. In the summer of 1941, the Mioko supported the invasion of French Indochina.
During the first battle in the Java Sea, the Haguro TCR managed to sink two cruisers (Java and De Reuters) and the destroyer Cortenaer with torpedoes and artillery fire, damaging another heavy cruiser ally (Exeter).
TKR "Nati" distinguished itself in the battle at the Commander Islands, seriously damaging the cruiser "Salt Lake City" and the destroyer "Bailey".
During the battle at Samar Island (10.25.1944), cruisers of this type, together with other ships of the Japanese sabotage formation, sank the Gambier Bay escort aircraft carrier and three destroyers. If the detonators of Japanese shells had a slightly lower deceleration, then the combat score could be replenished with a dozen more trophies. So, after the battle, only one AB "Kalinin Bay" was recorded 12 through holes from eight-inch shells of Japanese cruisers.
From the combat chronicle "Mioko":
… On March 1, he took part in the battle in the Java Sea. After the battle, he was part of the escort of aircraft carriers during the battle in the Coral Sea. Later he participated in the Guadalcanal campaign, conducting shelling of Henderson Field airfield. In February 1943, he ensured the evacuation of Japanese troops from Guadalcanal.
After the 5th cruiser division (as of May 1943, "Mioko" and "Haguro") was transferred to the command of the commander of the Fifth Fleet. On May 15, the ships were sent on combat patrols to the Kuril ridge region.
July 30, 1943 "Mioko" again led the 5th division and together with "Haguro" went to Yokohama, where he took on board army units and equipment. On August 9, the cruiser unloaded at Rabaul and on the 11th returned to Truk Atoll. From 18th to 25th September, the 5th cruiser division continued to transport army units to Rabaul.
In October 1943 he moved to the Solomon Islands region. On November 1, attacked by an American B-24 bomber. The hit of a 500-pound aerial bomb resulted in a decrease in top speed to 26 knots. But the ship was not sent for repairs, but continued to serve. During the battle in the Gulf of Empress Augusta, "Myoko" collided with a destroyer, was hit by shells of caliber 127 mm and 152 mm. As a result, the hull was damaged, the 127-mm installation and the catapult were destroyed, the loss among the crew was 1 person.
In June 1944 he arrived in the Mariana Islands region. Twice tried to break through to the island of Biak to deliver reinforcements …
It is difficult to imagine a more active service.
Three cruisers of the "Myoko" class were able to hold out until the last months of the war. The fourth (“Nati”) died in November 1944.
End of the "unsinkable squadron"
“Nati”, while staying in Manilka Bay, was attacked by aircraft from the aircraft carriers “Lexington” and “Ticonderoga”. The cruiser managed to fight back, shooting down two aircraft, and, skillfully maneuvering, moved towards the open sea. At this moment, the third wave achieved torpedo hits in the bow end of the "Nati" and hit the bomb on the upper deck. The cruiser lost speed. Two hours later, when the emergency crews were able to take control of the situation and were preparing to launch the cars, the fourth wave of aircraft appeared. Having received multiple hits from torpedoes, aerial bombs and unguided rockets, “Nati” broke into three parts and sank.
In March 1945, the remains of the cruiser were examined by American divers, documents and radar antennas were raised to the surface. It is curious that the position of the cruiser remains indicated by the Americans does not correspond to the real one.
"Haguro" on May 14, 1945 left Singapore to deliver food to the Andaman Islands. An attempt to stop the cruiser by the US Navy was unsuccessful. The next day, during a heavy battle, the Haguro was sunk by a formation of British destroyers.
"Ashigara". On June 8, 1945, the cruiser was torpedoed in the Sumatra region by the British submarine Trenchent (10 torpedoes fired, 5 hits).
The Mioko was badly damaged in Leyte Gulf, after being repaired in Brunei it was again torpedoed by an American submarine. During a storm, he lost his damaged aft extremity, was taken in tow by the same type cruiser "Haguro", brought to Singapore, where it was used as an anti-aircraft battery. Towing the cruiser to Japan was considered impossible. After the war, all that remained of the legendary ship was captured by the British.
The last parade
In the summer of 1946, the heavy cruiser Mioko was withdrawn from Singapore and sunk at a depth of 150 meters. The remains of another Japanese cruiser, "Takao", were laid to rest next to him.
Two samurai lie on the muddy bottom of the Strait of Malacca, far from their homeland, which they so desperately defended.
