IJN Aoba

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IJN Aoba The heavy cruiser Aoba was the first of her class, launched on September 23, 1926, and commissioned in Nagasaki on September 20, 1927. Displacing 8,760 tons at her trials, she could reach a top speed of 34.5 knots powered by 12 boilers and four steam turbines turning four propellers. When she went to war in 1941, she carried six 8-inch guns mounted in three two-gun turrets, four 4.7-inch guns, eight 25-mm AA guns, four 13.2-mm AA guns, 12 24-inch torpedo tubes in two six-torpedo mounts, and one aircraft. Her normal crew complement was 625 officers and enlisted men.

After commissioning in 1927, the Aoba served with the Fifth Cruiser Squadron until 1933. She then served in the Sixth and Seventh Squadrons and was the flagship several times. From the late 1920s and the 1930s, the cruiser was in Chinese waters.

During her second modernization in 1940, the Sasebo shipyard installed new torpedo tubes, an improved AA battery, enhanced gunfire controls, and better aircraft handling facilities. They rebuilt her bridge and added bulges to improve her stability and compensate the increase in her weight.

The Aoba actively participated in the Japanese efforts to stop the Americans from holding Guadalcanal. She was in the Battle of Savo Island on August 9 and Battle of Cape Esperance on October 13. American naval gunfire seriously damaged her in that battle and killed eighty of her crew and Radm. Aritomo Goto.

After returning to Japan for repairs, she came back to the South Pacific in February 1943. American aircraft attacked her on April 3 and severely damaged the cruiser. These damages forced her again back to Japan for repairs. The Aoba returned to combat duties in the East Indies in December 1943 where she stayed busy carrying supplies and keeping ready for offensive operations. While heading for Leyte Gulf to participate in that great battle, the American submarine Bream (SS-243) fired a torpedoed that hit the cruiser amidships. Later American aircraft bombed her in October and damaged her again. Nonetheless, she reached Japan in mid-December.

Thereafter, she stayed in or near Kure for the remainder of the Pacific War where often served as an antiaircraft firing platform. American naval and USAF aircraft bombed the cruiser on July 24 and 28. The damage was too severe this time. The Aoba sank in shallow water — a total wreck. The Navy scrapped her in 1946-47.