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The IJN Haguro was one of the 4-member Nachi class of heavy cruiser of
the Imperial Japanese Navy - the other ships of the class being the Nachi,
Ashigara, and the Myoko.
The class displaced 13300 tons, was 204 meters long, and was capable of
36 knots. She carried one aircraft and her main armament was 10 8-inch guns.
The Haguro was laid down on 16 March 1925, launched and named on 24 March
1928, and was commissioned into the Imperial Navy on 25 April 1929. Her
service in the Second World War started in the Dutch East Indies, where she
engaged the enemy off Makassar on 8 February 1942, played a role in the
sinking of HMS Exeter and her escort in the Battle of the Java Sea on 27
February 1942, and was engaged in another action off south Borneo on 1 March
1942. On 7 May 1942 she participated in the Battle of the Coral Sea, moving
on to the Solomon Islands where she took part in the Battle of the Eastern
Solomons on 24 August 1942, the evacuation from Guadalcanal at the end of
January 1943, and took light damage in the Battle of Empress Augusta Bay on
2 November 1943. On 19 June 1944 she survived the Battle of the Philippine
Sea, and on 23-25 October 1944 she took light damage in the Battle of Leyte
Gulf, before finally being sunk in the Indian Ocean on 16 May 1945.
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