Japanese cruiser Haguro

History
Empire of Japan
Name:	Haguro
Namesake:	Mount Haguro
Ordered:	1924
Builder:	Mitsubishi shipyard, Nagasaki
Laid down:	16 March 1925
Launched:	24 March 1928
Commissioned:	25 April 1929
Struck:	20 June 1945
Fate:	Sunk in the Strait of Malacca by gunfire and torpedoes from Royal Navy destroyers, 16 May 1945
General characteristics
Class and type:	Myōkō-class cruiser
Displacement:	13,300 long tons (13,500 t)
Length:	201.7 m (661 ft 9 in)
Beam:	20.73 m (68 ft 0 in)
Draft:	6.32 m (20 ft 9 in)
Installed power:	130,000 shp (97,000 kW)
Propulsion:	4 × geared turbines 12 × boilers 4 × shafts
Speed:	36 kn (41 mph; 67 km/h)
Range:	8,000 nmi (15,000 km) at 14 kn (16 mph; 26 km/h)
Complement:	773
Armament:	As completed: 10 × 200 mm (7.9 in) guns (5x2) 6 × 120 mm (4.7 in) guns (to 1934) 2 × 7.7 mm (0.30 in) machine guns 12 × 610 mm (24 in) torpedo tubes (4x3) After first reconstruction: 10 × 203 mm (8.0 in) guns (5x2) 8 × 127 mm (5.0 in) guns (4x2; from 1935) 8 × 13 mm (0.51 in) machine guns (2x4) 2 × 7.7 mm (0.30 in) machine guns 8 × 610 mm (24 in) torpedo tubes (2x4)
Armor:	Main belt: 100 mm (3.9 in) Main deck: 37 mm (1.5 in) Turrets: 25 mm (0.98 in) Barbettes: 75 mm (3.0 in)
Aircraft carried:	2 × floatplanes
Aviation facilities:	1 × catapult
Service record
Part of:	Imperial Japanese Navy
Operations:	Pacific War Battle of the Java Sea (1942) Second Battle of the Java Sea (1942) Battle of the Coral Sea (1942) Battle of the Eastern Solomons (1942) Operation Ke (1943) Battle of Empress Augusta Bay ((1943) Battle of the Philippine Sea ((1944) Battle of Leyte Gulf (1944) Battle of the Malacca Strait

Haguro (羽黒) was a Myōkō-class heavy cruiser of the Imperial Japanese Navy, named after Mount Haguro in Yamagata Prefecture. Commissioned in 1929, Haguro saw significant service during World War II, participating in nine naval engagements. She was sunk in 1945 during a fight with Royal Navy destroyers, one of the last major Japanese warships to be sunk during World War II.

Haguro was the third of the four-member Myōkō class of heavy cruiser; the other ships were Myōkō (妙高), Nachi (那智), and Ashigara (足柄). The ships of this class displaced 13,300 tons, were 201 metres (659 ft) long, and were capable of 36 knots (67 km/h; 41 mph). They carried two aircraft and their main armament was ten 203 mm (8 in) guns in five twin turrets. At the time they were built, this was the heaviest armament of any cruiser class in the world.

Haguro was laid down at the Mitsubishi shipyard in Nagasaki on 16 March 1925, launched and named on 24 March 1928, and was commissioned into the Imperial Navy on 25 April 1929. Her service in World War II started in the Dutch East Indies, where she engaged the enemy off Makassar on 8 February 1942.

Haguro played a key role in the Battle of the Java Sea on 27 February 1942, and was involved in the sinking of the cruisers HMS Exeter and the Dutch flagship HNLMS De Ruyter, the destroyer HNLMS Kortenaer and of the destroyer HMS Encounter in another action off south Borneo on 1 March 1942.

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