Japanese cruiser Kashima
Kashima in Shanghai, 1940
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| History | |
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 Empire of Japan
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| Name: | Kashima |
| Ordered: | 1938 Fiscal Year |
| Laid down: | 6 October 1938 |
| Launched: | 25 September 1939 |
| Commissioned: | 31 May 1940 |
| Struck: | 5 October 1945 |
| Fate: | scrapped 1947 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Katori-class cruiser |
| Displacement: |
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| Length: | 129.77 m (425 ft 9 in) |
| Beam: | 15.95 m (52 ft 4 in) |
| Draught: | 5.75 m (18 ft 10 in) |
| Propulsion: |
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| Speed: | 18 knots (21 mph; 33 km/h) |
| Range: | 9,000 nautical miles (17,000 km) at 10 knots (19 km/h) |
| Complement: | 315 + 275 midshipmen |
| Armament: |
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| Aircraft carried: | 1 × floatplane |
| Aviation facilities: | 1 catapult |
Kashima (鹿島 練習巡洋艦 Kashima renshūjunyōkan?) was the second vessel completed of the three light cruisers in the Katori class, which served with the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II. The ship was named after the noted Shinto shrine Kashima Jingu in Ibaraki prefecture, Japan.
The Katori-class cruisers were originally ordered to serve as training ships in the 1937 and 1939 Supplementary Naval Budget. With the Pacific War, they were used as administrative flagships for various fleets, such as submarine command and control and to command escort squadrons. The ships were upgraded as the war progressed with additional anti-aircraft guns and depth charges.
Kashima was completed at the Mitsubishi Yokohama shipyards on 31 May 1940 and was initially based at Kure Naval Base in the Inland Sea.
On 28 July 1940, Kashima and its sister ship Katori participated in the last pre-war midshipman cruise visiting Etajima, Ominato, Dairen, Port Arthur and Shanghai. Soon after its return to Japan, Kashima was reassigned to the Japanese Fourth Fleet as flagship for CruDiv 18. On 1 December 1941, Kashima became flagship for Vice Admiral Shigeyoshi Inoue's Fourth Fleet based at Truk in the Caroline Islands. At the time of the Pearl Harbor attack, Kashima was at Truk.
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