Haguro was a heavy cruiser of the Imperial Japanese Navy, named after Mount Haguro in Yamagata Prefecture. Commissioned in 1929, Haguro saw significant service during World War II, participating in nine naval engagements. She was sunk in 1945 during a fight with Royal Navy destroyers, one of the last major Japanese warships to be sunk in open waters during World War II.
Design
Haguro was the third of the four-member of heavy cruiser; the other ships were , , and . The ships of this class displaced 13,300 tons, were long, and were capable of. They carried two aircraft and their main armament was ten guns in five twin turrets. At the time they were built, this was the heaviest armament of any cruiser class in the world.
In May 1945, Haguro was the target of the British "Operation Dukedom" and was ambushed. The 26th Destroyer Flotilla found her with the destroyer just after midnight on 16 May 1945, and began the attack. During the battle, Kamikaze was lightly damaged, but Haguro was hit by gunfire and three Mark IX torpedoes from the British destroyers. She soon began to slow down and took a 30-degree list to port. At 02:32, Haguro began to go down stern first in the Malacca Strait, off Penang; Kamikaze rescued 320 survivors, but 900 men, including Vice Admiral Hashimoto and Rear AdmiralSugiura, perished with her. Rear Admiral Sugiura was posthumously promoted to Vice Admiral on 16 May. Haguro was the last major Japanese warship to be sunk in a surface action during the war. Haguro was stricken from the navy list on 20 June 1945. on 2 November 1943, showing damage received in the battle of Empress Augusta Bay that morning.
Shipwreck
On 4 March 2003, a group of specialised shipwreck divers operating off MV Empress discovered the wreck of Haguro in 67 meters of water in the Malacca Strait south of the Island of Penang. The wreck sits upright, covered in places by discarded trawler nets with her hull opposite her forward turrets buried in the seabed to about her original waterline, but this level gradually reduces until at the stern her outer propellers and shafts are actually up above the seabed. Her foremast and the top half of the bridge structure are missing/collapsed. Her mainmast is collapsed. Her funnels are missing. British hits are visible in places. The bow section forward of No. 2 turret is decimated by torpedo hits. Haguro's No. 1 turret and barbette are completely uprooted and now lie against the hull, the rear of the turret on the starboard sea bed and the barrels pointing vertically towards the surface. Her No. 2 turret is trained to starboard at approximately the 1 o’clock position, with its roof collapsed and both barrels and breeches missing. Her No. 3 turret's guns are askew and trained to the port quarter, i.e. the 8 o’clock position. Both her stern main turrets’ guns point almost directly astern. Just behind the No. 5 turret, the wreck is broken completely in half, although the very stern section is still "partially" attached and heavily damaged on the port side. In 2010 a further diving expedition surveyed the wreck in detail. In 2014 the wreck was reported to have been heavily destroyed by illegal salvors.
