LIGHT CRUISER IMPERIAL JAPANESE NAVY

Description

The "Ōyodo" named after the Ōyodo River in Kyūshū, Japan was a light cruiser of the Imperial Japanese Navy, the only ship of her class. After her working-up period, on 26 July 1943 Ōyodo joined the fleet at Truk, Caroline Islands, the Japanese Navy’s main fleet base in the Pacific. In December 1943, Ōyodo participated in an operation to reinforce the garrisons at Rabaul and Kavieng. At that time Ōyodo had just become the flagship of Vice Admiral Jisaburo Ozawa’s Third Fleet. While returning to Truk on 1 January 1944 Ōyodo was slightly damaged by US aircraft of Task Group 50.2. The following month, Japanese radio intelligence learned of an impending massive US strike on Truk, and all heavy surface units (including Ōyodo) were quickly withdrawn from the base. Ōyodo was then transferred to Palau. In March that base too became threatened, and Ōyodo withdrew to Singapore. During this movement the cruiser was one of the escorts of the battleship Musashi when the latter was torpedoed and damaged by the US submarine USS Tunny. On 25 October 1944, off Cape Engaño, the Northern Mobile Force was attacked by Vice Admiral Marc A. Mitscher’s Task Force 38 carrier planes in a massive strike. During the first strike, Ōyodo suffered two near-misses, but at 0848 she was hit by a bomb that damaged her Number 4 boiler room. At 1054, Vice Admiral Ozawa left the sinking carrier Zuikaku and transferred his flag to Ōyodo. Ozawa then ordered his force to retire northward. Later that day Ōyodo was hit by two rockets from F6F Hellcat fighter-bombers and damaged by the near-miss of a bomb. Ōyodo and the surviving ships arrived at Sakawa Bay, Amami-Oshima the next day. A few days later Ōyodo was sent to Manila on a transport run, arriving on 1 November 1944. Throughout the remainder of the year, Ōyodo was actively involved in numerous operations around Brunei, Camranh and the Philippines, attacking US convoys, bombarding landing sites and engaging US naval forces in the area. Although other ships with her were either damaged or sunk during the sorties, Ōyodo emerged unscathed. By January 1945, Ōyodo had arrived in Singapore, where she took on 300 tons of rubber, zinc, mercury, tin and petrol. Other ships in her unit were similarly loaded with critical war supplies bound for Japan. On 11 February 1945 Ōyodo’s unit, the "Completion Force", left Singapore for Japan in what was designated Operation Kita, and along the way escaped pursuit and dodged attacks by twenty-three Allied submarines. The Force arrived at Kure on 20 February 1945. Ōyodo remained at Kure for the remainder of the war, and on 19 March 1945, Vice Admiral (later Admiral) Marc A. Mitscher’s Task Force 58 aircraft carriers made the first carrier attack on the Kure Arsenal. More than 240 aircraft (SB2C Helldiver dive bombers, F4U Corsair and F6F Hellcat fighter-bombers) attacked the Japanese fleet. Three 500 pound bombs hit Ōyodo; she started to flood, but was towed to Etajima and beached. On 24 July 1945 US Task Force 38 launched a massive attack to destroy any and all remaining units of the Japanese Navy. Ōyodo was strafed and hit by four 500 pound bombs and many near misses that left her listing to starboard. Four days later, another all-day-long attack was launched by the US carrier fleet. Ōyodo was hit by four more bombs; at 1000 hours, hits near the bridge caused extensive flooding and Ōyodo took on a heavy list to starboard. At 1200, she capsized to starboard in shallow water. About 300 crewmen were killed, while her remaining crew abandoned ship that afternoon. Ōyodo was removed from the Navy List on 20 November 1945. The wreck of the Ōyodo was raised 18–20 September 1947 and towed to Kure on 20 December 1947. It was scrapped at Kure - the shipyard where she was completed only a few years previously - from 17 January 1948 to 1 August 1948. (Scale : 1/700e)