JAPANESE IMPERIAL NAVY LIGHT CRUISER

Description

Sendai was a Sendai-class light cruiser in the Imperial Japanese Navy. She was named after the Sendai River in southern Kyūshū. Sendai was the lead ship of the three vessels completed in her class of light cruisers, and like other vessels of her class, she was intended for use as the flagship of a destroyer flotilla. Sendai was completed at the Mitsubishi Nagasaki shipyards on 29 April 1924. Immediately on completion, she was assigned to Yangtze River patrol in China. She played an important role in the Battle of Shanghai. On 20 November 1941, Sendai became flagship of Rear Admiral Shintaro Hashimoto. At the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor, Sendai was engaged in escorting transports carrying Lieutenant General Tomoyuki Yamashita and the Japanese 25th Army to invade Malaya. On 7 December 1941, Sendai and her destroyer squadron (Ayanami, Isonami, Shikinami, and Uranami) commenced a bombardment of Kota Bharu, Malaya. They were attacked by seven RAAF Hudson bombers, which sank one of the transports and damaged two others. On 29 May 1942, Sendai departed with the Main Body of the Combined Fleet for Midway. The Main Body remained 600 nautical miles (1,110 km) behind Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo’s First Carrier Striking Force and thus did not engage American forces. Sendai returned to Kure on 14 June 1942 without having seen combat. On 25 February 1943 Sendai was reassigned to the Eighth Fleet at Rabaul under Vice Admiral Gunichi Mikawa. On 7 July Rear Admiral Baron Matsuji Ijuin assumed command of attack fleet 3. During the next three months, Sendai operated out of Rabaul covering reinforcement convoys to Buin, Papua New Guinea and Shortland. On November 2 1943 at the Impress Augausta bay battle, four Allied cruisers took Sendai under radar directed 6-inch fire. They hit her with their first salvo and more thereafter, setting her a fire. Sendai sank the following morning at 06°10′S 154°20′E, along with Hatsukaze. Captain Shoji and 184 crewmen went down with the ship, but 236 other crewmen were rescued by destroyers. On 3 November 1943, Admiral Ijuin and 75 more survivors from Sendai were rescued by the Japanese submarine Japanese submarine RO-104. Sendai was removed from the Navy List on 5 January 1944. (Scale : 1/700e)