Ultradog MN
Well-known Member
- Location
- Twin Cities
Today is the 70th anniversary of American subs Darter and Dace and their ambush of the three Japanese Heavy Cruisers at the Palawan Passage.
We all know the story on that so I wont go into it in detail.
But a little on Heavy Cruisers might be in order.
Heavies, along with attack carriers and battleships were considered Capital Ships by all the navies of the world.
They were big - two football fields long and about 16,000 tons -
8 times the size of a large destroyer - and fast.
Usually 30+ knots on 130,000+ horsepower.
The Japanese started the war with 20 of them.
But 4 of those would be lost prior to Leyte.
Takao, Atago, Chokai and Maya were the 4 sisters of the Takao Class. They were modern vessels - completed in 1932, and updated prior to the war.
At the time they were built they were the most heavily armed cruisers in the world with 10 8" guns.
Plus they carried a bunch of Long Lance torpedoes (the world's finest)
for an extra punch the US and Brit cruisers never did match.
So the Japanese bring their might to Leyte and in the opening round lose 3 of them.
Wham! Atago goes down.
Bam! Maya explodes.
Bang! Takao is heavily damaged but will limp off to Singapore and never fight again.
20% of their remaining Heavies gone in the bat of an eye.
It was very, very high cost to pay as the price of entry to the battles of Leyte Gulf.
They will lose 5 more Heavies sunk and 6 more badly damaged as the battles unfold.
Including the last of the 4 sisters, Chokai, who will only live for 2 more days and go down to her rest at Samar.
Edit,
I had a photo of Chokai but it was too large so I deleted it.
We all know the story on that so I wont go into it in detail.
But a little on Heavy Cruisers might be in order.
Heavies, along with attack carriers and battleships were considered Capital Ships by all the navies of the world.
They were big - two football fields long and about 16,000 tons -
8 times the size of a large destroyer - and fast.
Usually 30+ knots on 130,000+ horsepower.
The Japanese started the war with 20 of them.
But 4 of those would be lost prior to Leyte.
Takao, Atago, Chokai and Maya were the 4 sisters of the Takao Class. They were modern vessels - completed in 1932, and updated prior to the war.
At the time they were built they were the most heavily armed cruisers in the world with 10 8" guns.
Plus they carried a bunch of Long Lance torpedoes (the world's finest)
for an extra punch the US and Brit cruisers never did match.
So the Japanese bring their might to Leyte and in the opening round lose 3 of them.
Wham! Atago goes down.
Bam! Maya explodes.
Bang! Takao is heavily damaged but will limp off to Singapore and never fight again.
20% of their remaining Heavies gone in the bat of an eye.
It was very, very high cost to pay as the price of entry to the battles of Leyte Gulf.
They will lose 5 more Heavies sunk and 6 more badly damaged as the battles unfold.
Including the last of the 4 sisters, Chokai, who will only live for 2 more days and go down to her rest at Samar.
Edit,
I had a photo of Chokai but it was too large so I deleted it.