was the lead ship of her class of four light cruisers built for the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) during World War II. Completed in 1942, she escorted a troop convoy to New Guinea in December. In early 1943 the ship participated in Operation Ke, the evacuation of Japanese troops from Guadalcanal. Six months later Agano transported troops and supplies to New Guinea and she played a minor role in the Battle of Empress Augusta Bay in early November. A few weeks later, the ship was badly damaged by American airstrikes and she sailed for Truk under her own power the following day. While en route, Agano was torpedoed by an American submarine and had to be towed to her destination. After several months of repairs, she left for Japan, but was intercepted and sunk by another American submarine in February 1944. Most of her crew was rescued by her escorting destroyer, but that ship was sunk with the loss of most of her crew and all of Aganos survivors by an American airstrike the following day.
Design and description
The Agano-class ships were intended to replace the obsolete light cruisers built in the 1910s and 1920s as flagships of destroyer flotillas. The ships measured long overall with a beam of and had a draft of . They displaced at standard load and at deep load. The ships had a crew of 51 officers and 649 enlisted men; assignment as a flagship added 6 officers and 20 more sailors.
The Agano class had four geared steam turbine sets, each driving a single propeller shaft, using steam provided by six Kampon Ro Gō water-tube boilers. The turbines were designed to produce a total of and give the ships a speed of . The ships carried enough fuel oil to give them a range of at a speed of .
Armament and protection
The main armament of the Agano class consisted of six 41st Year Type guns in three twin-gun turrets, two superfiring in front of the superstructure and one aft. The secondary armament included four Type 98 8 cm (3 in) anti-aircraft (AA) guns in two twin-gun mounts amidships. The suite of light anti-aircraft weapons included a pair of triple mounts for Type 96 AA guns and two twin-gun mounts for Type 93 anti-aircraft machineguns. The ships also had two rotating quadruple torpedo launchers on the upper deck for Type 93 (Long Lance) torpedoes on the centerline and had a reload system with eight spare torpedoes. The Agano-class ships were also fitted with a pair of Aichi E13A floatplanes and a catapult. To detect submarines, the Aganos were equipped with a Type 93 Model 2 hydrophone installation and a Type 93 Model 3 sonar. They were equipped with two depth charge chutes for 18 depth charges and could also carry three mines.
The propulsion machinery was protected by a waterline armor belt thick with transverse bulkheads fore and aft of the propulsion machinery and a middle deck of the same thickness. The ships' magazines were enclosed in armored boxes with sides, 20-millimeter tops and 20- or 25-millimeter ends.
Construction and career
Agano, named for the Agano River, was laid down at Sasebo Naval Arsenal on 18 June 1940, launched on 22 October 1941 and completed on 31 October 1942. She was assigned as flagship of Destroyer Squadron 10 () of the Third Fleet on 20 November after working up. The ship departed Kure six days later and arrived at Truk in the Caroline Islands on 1 December where Rear Admiral Susumu Kimura hoisted his flag aboard her the following day. On 16 December Agano escorted the aircraft carrier and a troop convoy to Wewak and Madang in New Guinea. The ships briefly covered the landing of Japanese forces at Hollandia before returning to Truk on 20 December.
Agano escorted the forces covering the evacuation of Japanese troops from Guadalcanal Island (Operation KE) from 31 January to 9 February 1943, during which 11,700 Japanese soldiers were removed. The ship was transferred to the 1st Mobile Fleet the following day. She returned to Kure Naval District in early May for her sea trials and was then assigned to the Combined Fleet preparing to counterattack the American offensive in the Aleutian Islands, but this operation was cancelled after the Allied victory on Attu on 29 May. Agano was refitted at the Kure Naval Arsenal from 3 June to 2 July. The ship exchanged her 13.2 mm machine guns for a pair of twin-gun Type 96 mounts and another pair of triple 25 mm mounts were added amidships, giving her a total of sixteen 25 mm guns. A Type 21 early-warning radar was also installed.