IJN Chokai

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IJN Chokai The Chokai was the last of the Takao-class heavy cruisers built. Launched on April 5, 1931 and completed on June 30, 1932, she and her sister ships were the finest cruisers the Japanese Navy built. Her displacement was 9,850 tons standard and 12,781 tons at her trials. She had a top speed of 35.5 knots, powered by four propellers driven by 12 boilers and four steam turbines. The powerful cruiser carried ten 8-inch guns mounted in five two-gun turrets. Her secondary armament included four 4.7-inch guns, two 40-mm AA guns, eight torpedo tubes in two quad-tube mounts, and three aircraft.

After undergoing training, she began her service in the Fourth Squadron in December 1932. During 1939-1940, the cruiser was a regular part of fleet exercises and operations, frequently cruised the waters off the Chinese coast, conducted combat operations off southern China, and, in 1941, worked getting the fleet ready for war in Japanese home waters.

After the Pacific War began in December 1941, the Chokai supported the Malayan invasion. During January and February 1942, she was part of the naval force that helped capture Borneo and the Dutch East Indies. After running aground on February 22, she was part of the Japanese ships that raided Allied bases and shipping in the Indian Ocean during April. It was there the Japanese Navy sank three American and British merchant vessels. Later in June 1942, she was part of the covering force at the Battle of Midway.

One month later, she steamed to the South Pacific to become the flagship of Vadm. Gunichi Mikawa’s Eighth Fleet. The cruiser led Mikawa’s force in its victory over the Americans and Australians in the Battle of Savo Island. For the next months, she was part of the several unsuccessful Japanese tries to recapture Guadalcanal. She joined other cruisers to bombard Henderson Field on November 14. When she tried to leave the battle area, American aircraft from Henderson Field attacked and damaged her.

The cruiser continued serving as the Eighth Fleet’s flagship until the Japanese evacuated Guadalcanal in February 1943. She continued operating out of Rabaul and Truk supporting the Japanese attempts to protect their bases in the Solomons and New Guinea. The Chokai returned to Japan in February and March 1943 for a refit and stayed there for more refits in August and September. To avoid further damage from American air attacks, the Navy moved her base to the Palaus in February 1944 and to the East Indies one month later.

The Chokai was in the Battle of the Philippine Sea in June 1944. When the Americans invaded the Philippines on Leyte Island in October 1944, the cruiser joined Vadm. Takeo Kurita’s Center Force to become part of the Battle of Leyte Gulf. After the admiral lost the Chokai’s sister ships Takeo and Maya to the American submarines’ Darter and Dace’s torpedo attacks in Palawan Passage on October 23, she survived American carrier airplane attacks in the Sibuyan Sea the next day.

On October 25, she and the rest of Kurita’s Center Force came through the San Bernardino Strait, emerged off the island of Samar, and surprised Radm. Clifton Sprague’s vastly outnumbered and outgunned escort carriers, destroyers, and destroyer escorts. American aircraft attacked the big cruiser and critically damaged her. The Chokai was a helpless wreck. Her crew had no choice but to abandon ship. Japanese destroyers sank her with torpedoes.