Japanese cruiser Furutaka

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Career

Ordered:	1922 Fiscal Budget
Laid down:	December 5, 1922
Launched:	February 25, 1925
Commissioned:	March 31, 1926
Fate:	Sunk October 12, 1942
Struck:	December 20, 1944
General Characteristics
Displacement:	9,150 tons
Length:	602 feet (183 m)
Beam:	55.5 feet (16.9 m)
Draft:	18.5 feet (5.6 m)
Propulsion:	4-shaft geared turbines, 103,340 hp (77 MW)
Speed:	33 knots (61 km/h)
Range:
Complement:	625
Armament:	6 × 8 inch (203 mm) guns (3×2), 4 × 4.7 inch (120 mm) AA guns (4×1); 8 × 610 mm torpedo tubes
Aircraft:	two floatplanes

Furutaka (古鷹) was the lead ship in a heavy cruiser class of two vessels in the Imperial Japanese Navy. She was built by Mitsubishi Shipyards in Nagasaki, and was the first heavy cruiser in the Japanese Navy to have 8 inch guns.

At the start of the Pacific War, Furutaka was assigned to Cruiser Division 6 in the South Seas Force, where she supported the invasion of Guam and the second attack on Wake Island on 23 December 1941. She later supported the landings in the Solomon Islands and in Dutch New Guinea in early-mid 1942, including the invasion of Kavieng and Rabaul, Lae, Salamaua, Buka, Bougainville, the Shortlands and Admiralty Islands.

Furutaka was present at the Battle of the Coral Sea in May 1942, and at the Battle of Savo Island, during which three American cruisers, the USS Astoria, Quincy, Vincennes and the Australian cruiser HMAS Canberra were sunk. Furutaka emerged unscathed from both battles.

However, Furutaka's luck ended at the Battle of Cape Esperance (11 October 1942). by American cruisers USS San Francisco, Boise, Salt Lake City, and Helena. During the battle, Furutaka engaged Salt Lake City and was hit by some 90 shells, some of which ignited a Type-93 "Long Lance" torpedo, which started a large fire. The ship was also crippled by a torpedo from destroyer USS Duncan, which flooded her engine room. Furutaka sank the following day at 09°02′S 159°33′E. Captain Araki and 514 survivors were rescued; however 33 crewmen were killed and 110 were later counted as missing.

1 References

[edit] References

[edit] Books

D'Albas, Andrieu (1965). Death of a Navy: Japanese Naval Action in World War II. Devin-Adair Pub. ISBN 081595302X.
Dull, Paul S. (1978). A Battle History of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1941-1945. Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-097-1.
Lacroix, Eric, Linton Wells (1997). Japanese Cruisers of the Pacific War. Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0870213113.