Heavy Cruiser Haguro Launching Commemorative Ax-shaped Paperweight/昭和三年三月 軍艦羽黒 進水記念 斧型文鎮

Length 145 mm.
Width 45 mm.

Heavy Cruiser Haguro Launching Commemorative Ax-shaped Paperweight.jpg


Heavy  Cruiser Haguro Launching Commemorative Ax-shaped Paperweight.jpg


Heavy Cruiser Haguro  Launching Commemorative Ax-shaped Paperweight.jpg


Heavy Cruiser  Haguro Launching Commemorative Ax-shaped Paperweight.jpg



軍艦羽黒進水記念 - Cruiser Haguro Launching Commemorative


Heavy Cruiser Haguro Launching Commemorative  Ax-shaped Paperweight.jpg


昭和三年三月 - March 1928

三菱造船株式會社長崎造船所 - Mitsubishi Shipbuilding Co., Ltd. Nagasaki Shipbuilding Co., Ltd.


Heavy Cruiser Haguro Launching Commemorative Ax-shaped  Paperweight.jpg


Original case.

Heavy Cruiser Haguro  Launching Commemorative  Ax-shaped Paperweight.jpg


Heavy Cruiser Haguro Launching  Commemorative  Ax-shaped Paperweight.jpg
 
Haguro was laid down at the Mitsubishi shipyard in Nagasaki on 16 March 1925, launched and named on 24 March 1928, and was commissioned into the Imperial Navy on 25 April 1929.

Haguro.jpg


Between 1931 and 1933 she was commanded by Nomura Naokuni who subsequently achieved flag rank.

Her service in World War II started in the Dutch East Indies, where she engaged the enemy off Makassar on 8 February 1942. Haguro then played a key role in the Battle of the Java Sea on 27 February 1942, first sinking the destroyer HNLMS Kortenaer and then later the same day the Allied fleet's flagship, the cruiser HNLMS De Ruyter; both by torpedo. Two days later, on 1 March 1942 in another action south of Borneo, Haguro took part in the sinking of the cruiser HMS Exeter and the destroyer HMS Encounter.


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. Haguro took light damage in the Battle of Empress Augusta Bay on 2 November 1943.
Japanese cruiser Haguro Rabaul.jpg


Haguro under attack at Rabaul on 2 November 1943, showing damage received in the Battle of Empress Augusta Bay that morning.

Japanese cruiser Haguro Rabaul-.jpg


On 19 June 1944, she survived the Battle of the Philippine Sea, and from 23–25 October 1944 she took light damage in the Battle of Leyte Gulf.

Japanese-heavy-cruiser-Haguro.jpg

Haguro firing on US carrier aircraft while under air attack, Battle of the Sibuyan Sea, 24 October 1944.


In May 1945, Haguro was the target of the British "Operation Dukedom" and was ambushed. The 26th Destroyer Flotilla found her with the destroyer Kamikaze just after midnight on 16 May 1945, and began the attack. During the battle, Kamikaze was lightly damaged, but Haguro was hit by gunfire and three Mark IX torpedoes from the British destroyers. She soon began to slow down and took a 30-degree list to port.

At 02:32, Haguro began to go down stern first in the Malacca Strait, 55 mi (48 nmi; 89 km) off Penang; Kamikaze rescued 320 survivors, but 900 men, including Vice Admiral Hashimoto and Rear Admiral Sugiura, perished with her. Rear Admiral Sugiura was posthumously promoted to vice admiral on 16 May. Haguro was the last major Japanese warship to be sunk in a surface action during the war.

Haguro was stricken from the navy list on 20 June 1945.​
 
On 4 March 2003, a group of specialised shipwreck divers operating off MV Empress discovered the wreck of Haguro in 67 metres (220 ft) of water in the Malacca Strait south of Penang. The wreck sits upright, covered in places by discarded trawler nets with her hull opposite her forward turrets buried in the seabed to about her original waterline, but this level gradually reduces until at the stern her outer propellers and shafts are actually up above the seabed. Her foremast and the top half of the bridge structure are missing/collapsed. Her mainmast is collapsed. Her funnels are missing. British hits are visible in places. The bow section forward of No. 2 turret is badly damaged by torpedo hits. Haguro's No. 1 turret and barbette are uprooted and lie against the hull, the rear of the turret on the starboard sea bed and the barrels pointing vertically towards the surface. Her No. 2 turret is trained to starboard at approximately the 1 o'clock position, with its roof collapsed and both barrels and breeches missing, as they were not replaced after being damaged by a bomb at the earlier Battle of Leyte Gulf. Her No. 3 turret's guns are askew and trained to the port quarter at the 8 o'clock position. Both her stern main turrets' guns point almost directly astern. Just behind the No. 5 turret, the wreck is broken in half, although the very stern section is still "partially" attached and heavily damaged on the port side.
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Another cased example.

Heavy Cruiser Haguro Launching  Commemorative Ax-shaped Paperweight.jpg


Heavy Cruiser Haguro Launching Commemorative  Ax-shaped Paperweight.jpg


Heavy Cruiser Haguro Launching Commemorative Ax-shaped Paperweight.jpg


Heavy Cruiser  Haguro Launching Commemorative Ax-shaped Paperweight.jpg
 
  • Tags
    1928年軍艦羽黒進水記念斧型文鎮 heavy cruiser haguro launching paperweight japanese army paperweight japanese launching commemorative medal 昭和三年三月軍艦羽黒進水記念斧型文鎮
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