Japanese cruiser Sakawa
Service
- as Sakawa? — 5 October 19452,193 days of the war
- Name
- Sakawa
- Namesake
- Sakawa River
- Builder
- Sasebo Naval Arsenal
- Ordered
- 1939
- Laid down
- 21 November 1942
- Launched
- 9 April 1944
- Struck
- 5 October 1945
- Fate
- Sunk as a target in Operation Crossroads, 2 July 1946 (1946)
- Status
- Wreck
Specifications
- Displacement, standard
- 6,547 long tons (6,652 t)
- Displacement, full load
- 8,399 long tons (8,534 t)
- Length
- 174.1 m (571.2 ft) OA
- Beam
- 15.2 m (49.9 ft)
- Draught
- 5.63 m (18.5 ft)
- Speed
- 35 knots (64.8 km/h, 40.3 mph)
- Range
- 6,300 nmi (11,668 km)
- Complement
- 805
- Main gun
- 150 mm (5.9 in)
Sakawa was a Agano-class cruiser light cruiser in service with the Imperial Japanese Navy. The ship was named after Sakawa River. Sasebo Naval Arsenal laid her keel on 21 November 1942. She was launched on 9 April 1944.
She was one of four ships of her class. The class followed the Sendai-class cruiser and was succeeded by the Ōyodo-class cruiser.
Displacement was 6,547 long tons standard and 8,399 long tons at full load. She measured 174.1 m (571 ft) long with a beam of 15.2 m (50 ft). Her designed speed was 35 knots, and she carried a complement of 805.
Her main battery was six 150 mm (5.9 in) guns in three twin mountings. She carried two aircraft. Her machinery developed 100,000 shp through four shafts.
She was in commission for 2,193 days of the Second World War. She was struck from the register on 5 October 1945.
She was expended as a target on 2 July 1946. The wreck survives.
Written from the harvested record. Every figure above is sourced; the wording is this site's own.
Armament and machinery
Armament and machinery
- Propulsion
- 4 shafts; 4 geared steam turbine sets
- Power
- 6 water-tube boilers
- 100000 shp
- Armament
- 3 × twin 15 cm guns
- 2 × twin 8 cm AA guns
- 10 × triple, 18 × single 2.5 cm AA guns
- 2 × quadruple 61 cm torpedo tubes
- 2 × depth charge chutes, 18 depth charges
- 3 × mines
- Armour
- Belt 60 mm
- Deck 20 mm
- Aircraft
- 2 × floatplanes
Sister ships
Sources
- Facts harvested from Japanese cruiser Sakawa on Wikipedia. Figures only — no wording is taken from it.
- Photograph: Imperial Japanese Navy official photograph per naval achives kept at museum — Mikasa Memorial Museum, Yokosuka, Japan — Public domain — Wikimedia Commons