Japanese Heavy Cruiser Mogami

The Japanese Heavy Cruiser Mogami was the lead ship of her class class, which were originally built as light cruisers under the London Naval Treaty restrictions. However, they were later converted to heavy cruisers by replacing their 15.5 cm guns with 20.3 cm guns.

At the start of the Pacific War, Mogami, was involved in the Battle of Sunda Strait, which resulted in the sinking of the US heavy cruiser USS Houston, the Australian light cruiser HMAS Perth and the Netherlands destroyer HNLMS Evertsen. Five Japanese transports were also sunk, three by friendly fire when struck by torpedoes fired by Mogami.

Later she participated in the Battle of Midway, where her bow was badly damaged in a collision with her sister ship Mikuma. While retiring from the area, she was attacked several times by carrier based dive bombers, receiving six bomb hits which caused additional severe damage. On here return to Japan, she underwent conversion to an aircraft carrying cruiser with a capacity of up to 11 seaplanes. Her damaged No. 5 turret as well as the No. 4 turret were removed and the magazines used for aviation fuel and munition storage.

Her final engagement was the Battle of Surigao Strait, part of the larger Battle of Leyte Gulf, where she was part of the Southern Force that attempted to attack the Allied landing forces in the Philippines. She was crippled during the night action following clashes with US Navy cruisers and a collision with the light cruiser Nachi. In the morning she was attacked by Grumman Avenger torpedo-bombers and hit by two 500 pound bombs. After being abandoned she was scuttled by her escorting destroyer Akebono.