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The Japanese heavy cruiser IJN Mogami underway at sea.
The Mogami-class (最上型?) were a class of four warships built initially for the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) as light cruisers in the early 1930s under the weight and armament restrictions of the London Naval Treaty. After Japan refused to comply any longer with that agreement, all four ships were rearmed with larger caliber main armament and were reclassified as heavy cruisers. All four fought in World War II, and were sunk.
The Mogami-class have been seen by naval architects as a design failure. The IJN's Naval staff insisted that each new class be superior to anything else in its category, yet designers strove to stay in compliance with treaty regulations. As a result, the initial construction of these ships was overly light; within their first few years of service, all four had to be reconstructed to remain seaworthy. They were also unstable seaboats due to excessive topweight and their welded seams cracked under the stress of firing their own main guns.
Specifications[]
- Type: Heavy Cruiser
- Service Period: 1935-1944
- Characteristics:
- Length: 661 feet 6 inches (201.63 meters)
- Beam: 67 feet 7 inches (20.6 meters)
- Draft: 18 feet 1 inch (5.51 meters)
- Displacement: 8,500 tons (Standard); 10,980 tons (Full Load)
- Crew: 850
- Propulsion: 10 x Kampon boilers, 4 x shaft geared impulse turbines, 152,000 shp
- Range: 8,000 nautical miles (14,816 kilometers) at 14 knots (25.93 km/h)
- Speed: 37 knots (68.52 km/h)
- Armament:
- 15 x 15.5cm/60-caliber 3rd Year Type naval guns (5x3) - replaced by 10 x 20.3cm/55-caliber 3rd Year Type No. 3 naval guns (5x2)
- 8 x 12.7cm/40-caliber Type 89 dual purpose naval guns (4x2)
- 4 x 40mm anti-aircraft guns
- 12 x 24" torpedo tubes (4x3)
- Armour:
- Belt: 3.9-inches (100 mm)
- Deck: 1.4-inches (36 mm)
- Turrets: .98-inches (25 mm)
- Magazines: 5-inches (127 mm)
- Aircraft Carried: 3 x Aichi E16A reconnaissance floatplanes
Unit Run[]
- IJN Mogami
- IJN Mikuma
- IJN Suzuya
- IJN Kumano