was a heavy cruiser of the Imperial Japanese Navy. The second vessel in the four-ship ,Whitley, Cruisers of World War Two, pp. 181-184 she was laid down in 1931 and commissioned in 1935. During World War II she participated in the Battle of Sunda Strait in February 1942 and the Battle of Midway in June 1942, and was sunk the last day of the latter engagement, on 6 June.
Background Built under the 1931 Fleet Replenishment Program, the Mogami-class cruisers were designed to the maximum limits allowed by the Washington Naval Treaty, using the latest technology. This resulted in the choice of a 155 mm dual purpose (DP) main battery in five triple turrets capable of 55° elevation. To save weight, electric welding was used, as was aluminum in the superstructure, and the use of a single funnel stack. New impulse geared turbine engines, coupled with ultimately heavy anti-aircraft protection, gave the class a very high speed and protection. However, the Mogami class was also plagued with technical problems due to its untested equipment and proved to be unstable and top-heavy as well, due to cramming too much equipment into a comparatively small hull.
Service career Early career Mikuma was completed at Mitsubishi's Nagasaki shipyardsWatts, Japanese Warships of World War II, p. 101 on 29 August 1935. Following the Japanese ship-naming conventions, the ship was named after the Mikuma river in Oita prefecture, Japan.
Beginning in 1939, Mikuma was brought in for substantial reconstruction, replacing the triple turrets with twin guns (the 155 mm turrets going to the battleship ). Torpedo bulges were also added to improve stability, but the increased displacement caused a reduction in speed.
Mikuma participated in the occupation of Cochinchina, French Indochina, after Japan and Vichy French authorities reached an understanding on use of its air facilities and harbors from July 1941, from its forward operating base on Hainan. At the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor, Mikuma was assigned to cover the invasion of Malaya as part of Cruiser Division 7 under Vice Admiral Jisaburo Ozawa's First Southern Expeditionary Fleet, providing close support for landings of Japanese troops at Singora, Pattani and Kota Bharu.
In December 1941, Mikuma was tasked with the invasion of British Borneo, together with , covering landings of Japanese troops at Miri and Kuching. In February 1942, Mikuma was tasked with covering landings of Japanese troops in Sumatra and Java. On 10 February, Mikuma and were attacked by the submarine , which fired four torpedoes, but missed.
Battle of Sunda Strait At 2300 on 28 February 1942, Mikuma and Mogami, destroyer , light cruiser and destroyers , , , and arrived and engaged the cruisers and with gunfire and torpedoes after the Allied vessels attacked Japanese transports in the Sunda Strait. At 2355, Houston scored hits on Mikuma that knocked out her electrical power, but it was quickly restored. During the battle, Mikuma lost six men and eleven others were wounded. Both Houston and Perth were sunk during the engagement, as was transport Ryujo Maru with IJA 16th Army commander Lieutenant General Hitoshi Imamura—although the general survived the sinking.
In March, Mikuma and Cruiser Division 7 were based at Singapore to cover Japanese landings in Sumatra and the seizure of the Andaman Islands.
From 1 April 1942 Cruiser Division 7 based from Mergui joined with Cruiser Division 4 to participate in the Indian Ocean raids. Mikuma, Mogami and destroyer detached and formed the Southern Group, which hunted for merchant shipping in the Bay of Bengal, while Chōkai, Destroyer Squadron 4's light cruiser and destroyers , , and covered the northern areas. During the operation, the Southern Group claimed kills on 7,726-ton British passenger ship Dardanus and 5,281-ton British steamship Ganara and the 6,622-ton British merchant vessel Indora, en route from Calcutta to Mauritius.
On 22 April, Cruiser Division 7 returned to Kure, and Mikuma went into dry dock for overhaul. On 26 May, Cruiser Division 7 arrived at Guam to provide close support for Rear Admiral Raizo Tanaka's Midway Invasion Transport Group. Mikumas crew was advised that upon the completion of the Midway operation they would proceed to the Aleutian Islands and from there to Australia.
Battle of Midway On 5 June, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, CINC of the Combined Fleet ordered Cruiser Division 7 to shell Midway in preparation for a Japanese landing. The Mikuma at the time was captained by Captain Sakiyama Shakao, former skipper of the cruiser . Cruiser Division 7 and DesDiv 8 were away from the island, so they made a high-speed dash at . The sea was choppy and the destroyers lagged behind. At 2120, the order was canceled; however, due to a mix up, Cruiser Division 7 did not receive the order till 0210 the following day, when it was just off Midway. This placed Cruiser Division 7 within range of the submarine , which was spotted by the cruiser . Kumano signaled a submarine alert to the formation and directed the ships to conduct evasive maneuvers to the port. The squadron was thrown into confusion. Kumano turned sharply to port for a short time, heading west, before turning slightly starboard back to north. Suzuya followed her but coursed slightly less to port. She found herself steaming directly for Kumano but turned sharply to starboard and narrowly avoided a collision. Mikuma attempted to mirror the movements of Suzuya, turning to port and then turning to port further more after witnessing Suzuya maneuvering to avoid the formation's flagship. Mogami at the rear of the formation had made a turn to port and maintained a straight course heading north-west. Mikumas final turn to port had brought her directly into the course of Mogami. In the darkness, Mogami did not sight Mikuma until she was very close to Mogami, moving ahead across her starboard bow. Captain Soji of Mogami attempted a last-second sharp turn to port, but it was too late. This resulted in a collision in which Mogami rammed Mikumas port side, below the bridge. Mogamis bow caved in and she was badly damaged. Mikumas port side oil tanks ruptured and she began to spill oil, but otherwise her damage was slight, thanks in part to the last-second port side turn that deflected Mogamis bow along an angle from Mikumas port side. With her damaged bow, Mogami could make only , and was generally unwieldy and clumsy. The destroyers and of DesDiv 8, which had steamed ahead with the Suzuya and Kumano at high speed to escape the range of Midway's aircraft, were ordered by Kurita to reverse course and escort Mogami and Mikuma. At 0630, a PBY Catalina spotted the stragglers, thanks to the massive oil trail leaking from Mikuma, and radioed their coordinates to Admiral Spruance. Throughout the day, in an aura of great confusion, many American sighting reports would misidentify one of the two ships as a battleship. Other sightings of the flagship of CruDiv 7 steaming at high speed to the north-west, combined with the reports of battleships and suspicions of a fifth carrier lurking about, led to great consternation on the part of Spruance and his staff at Task Force 16, who thought that the faster force steaming northwest was the one that contained the battleship. Midway wasted no time after receiving the report and launched the remnants of VMSB-241 containing 12 dive bombers (6 SBD Dauntlesses and 6 SB2Us divided in two wings). The aircraft travelled the short distance of 40 miles to their target and found the two cruisers. Despite her damaged bow and greatly reduced speed, Mogami began evasive maneuvers along with Mikuma and received no hits from the Dauntless section. Capt. Richard Fleming, in command of the Vindicator section, led his bombers in a glide bombing attack. The two cruisers responded with accurate and effective anti-aircraft fire, and managed to shoot down Fleming's bomber. Almost as soon as this attack ended, a group of eight Boeing B-17 level bombers operating out of Midway, led by Lt. Col. Brooke E. Allen, arrived to attack the two cruisers. They attacked in two sections of four aircraft and dropped a total of 39 bombs around the two ships with no hits. This attack concluded at around 0830.