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Jintsu
Country | Japan |
Ship Class | Sendai-class Light Cruiser |
Builder | Kobe |
Launched | 8 Dec 1923 |
Sunk | 13 Jul 1943 |
Displacement | 5,595 tons standard; 7,100 tons full |
Length | 534 feet |
Beam | 48 feet |
Draft | 16 feet |
Speed | 35 knots |
Crew | 450 |
Contributor: C. Peter Chen
ww2dbaseJintsu, a 5595-ton Sendai class light cruiser, was built at Kobe, Japan. She was completed at the end of July 1925 and for the next three years mainly served with other light cruisers. On 24 August 1927, during one of the realistic exercises that honed the Japanese surface navy into a formidible night-fighting force, she collided with and sank the destroyer Warabi, suffering severe damage to her bow. In 1929, Jintsu became a destroyer squadron flagship, a task that occupied her during most of the rest of her career. In addition to participation in fleet maneuvers, she made frequent cruises to Chinese waters during the 1920s and 1930s, and provided support for Japanese operations during the war with China that began in mid-1937.
ww2dbaseSoon after the commencement of the Pacific War in December 1941, Jintsu and her destroyers took part in the invasion of the southern Philippines. During the first two months of 1942, they participated in the assault on the Netherlands East Indies. Jintsu engaged Allied ships in the Battle of the Java Sea in late February, firing a dozen torpedoes, and was damaged when hit by a shell from a British destroyer.
ww2dbaseIn early June 1942, Jintsu escorted invasion shipping during the Battle of Midway, retreating with her convoy after the loss of the Japanese aircraft carriers on June 4th. Two months later, following the Allied landings on Guadalcanal and Tulagi, she was ordered to Truk to participate in the campaign to retake those islands. However, on 25 August 1942, while escorting transports, she was hit by a bomb and seriously damaged. Repair work kept her in Japan for the rest of the year.
ww2dbaseJintsu returned to Truk in January 1943, still in the role of destroyer squadron leader. She was held in readiness there for the next several months, undertaking but one significant mission, a transport voyage to Kwajalein Atoll in June. However, in early July, she was sent south to Rabaul to support the reinforcement of Japanese bases in the Central Solomons. On 12-13 July 1943, while escorting destroyer transports taking troops to Vila, on Kolombangara, she encountered a superior force of Allied cruisers and destroyers. Hit hard by gunfire from the cruisers USS Honolulu, USS St. Louis and HMNZS Leander, and by a destroyer's torpedo, Jintsu broke in two amidships and sank with the loss of nearly 500 of her crew.
ww2dbaseJintsu had the distinction of having been the flagship of the redoubtable Admiral Raizo Tanaka, a nightfighter and tactician without equal, and the driving force behind the famed "Tokyo Express" which ran troops and supplies down The Slot to Guadalcanal.
ww2dbaseSource: Naval Historical Center
Last Major Revision: Jan 2005
Light Cruiser Jintsu Interactive Map
Photographs
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Maps
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Jintsu Operational Timeline
12 Jul 1943 | Cruisers USS Honolulu, USS St. Louis, and HMNZS Leander escorted by destroyers USS Nicholas, USS O’Bannon, USS Radford, USS Jenkins, and USS Chevalier joined with destroyers USS Gwin, USS Woodworth, USS Buchanan, and USS Maury. Together, these ships sailed up the New Georgia Sound (The “Slot”) toward Kolombangara. Yugure, Yukikaze, Hamakaze, and Kiyonami departed Shortland Islands, Solomon Islands, escorting a troop transport mission involving light cruiser Jintsu to Kolombangara, New Georgia Group, Solomon Islands. The two forces engaged in the Battle of Kolombangara that lasted into the next morning. |
13 Jul 1943 | Shortly after midnight, cruisers USS Honolulu, USS St. Louis, and HMNZS Leander escorted by destroyers USS Nicholas, USS O'Bannon, USS Radford, USS Jenkins, USS Chevalier, USS Gwin, USS Woodworth, USS Buchanan, and USS Maury engaged Japanese cruiser Jintsu and destroyers Yukikaze, Hamakaze, Yugure, Mikazuki, and Kiyonami in New Georgia Sound north of Kolombangara. Japanese Type 93 torpedoes damaged Honolulu, St. Louis, and Leander. Destroyers Woodworth and Buchanan were damaged in a collision. Jintsu was sunk by cruiser gunfire and a torpedo. Destroyer Yukikaze was damaged. Destroyer USS Ralph Talbot went to the aid of USS Gwin, badly damaged by a torpedo, and took aboard 155 officers and men. USS Maury took another 53 officers and men. Ralph Talbot then scuttled Gwin with torpedoes. The Japanese were able to land 1,200 men nevertheless. |
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» Abe, Hiroaki
» Tanaka, Raizo
Event(s) Participated:
» Dutch East Indies Campaign, Java
» Battle of Midway and the Aleutian Islands
» Guadalcanal Campaign
» Solomon Islands Campaign
Document(s):
» Interrogation Nav 60, Captain Yasumi Toyama
» Interrogation Nav 82, Captain Tsuneo Shiki
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Winston Churchill
14 Nov 2018 12:01:08 AM
During the Battle of the Java Sea the Japanese light cruiser Jintsu, wearing the flag of Rear Admiral R. Tanaka, was the leader of the 2nd Destroyer Flotilla which sank the British Destroyer HMS Electra (Commander W.C. May) during the series of minor skirmishes that developed after Admiral Doorman’s cruisers became temporarily scattered following the damaging hit on HMS Exeter.