World War II Database

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbaseChikuma was a Tone-class heavy cruiser built at Nagasaki by Mitsubishi. With her large seaplane capacity, long-range scouting missions fitted her well. She was a member of Sentai 6 (Sixth Squadrion) until transferred to Sentai 8 in Nov 1939. She participated in exercises and patrolled off southern China until the outbreak of the Pacific War. She participated in the attack on Pearl Harbor, the event that sparked off the war, as an escort to the fleet carriers; one of her seaplanes flew pre-strike reconnaissance mission over Pearl Harbor before the attack. Immediately after Pearl Harbor, she sailed for Wake Island to assist in the conquest there. During Japan's conquest of the South Pacific in the opening six months of the war, Chikuma played a part in many of the key events aside aircraft carriers. She was also present beside the carriers when they met their end at Midway in Jun 1942. On 24 Aug 1942 she participated in the Battle of the Eastern Solomons, and then on 26 Oct Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands, both off the Solomon Islands. In the latter action, she was moderately damaged by American dive bombers and was placed out of commission in Japan until late Feb 1943. In early 1944, she was transferred to Sentai 7. She participated in a cruiser raid into the Indian Ocean in Mar, then fought off the Mariana Islands in Jun. Off Philippines, she was attacked by submarine and aircraft on 23 and 24 Oct as she headed toward the eastern shore of the island of Samar; at the battle bearing the island's name, she helped in the sinking of escort carrier Gambier Bay, but was later seriously damaged by torpedoes. Destroyer Nowaki took on Chikuma's crew as Chikuma was abandoned. When Nowaki was later sunk, all but one of Chikuma's crew survived.

Photographs

Chikuma Operational Timeline

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