Wreck of HIJMS Chōkai (鳥海) | Second World War 1939-1945, military, navy, shipwreck, cruiser

 Second World War 1939-1945, military, navy, shipwreck, cruiser

Laid down at the Mitsubishi Nagasaki Shipyard in March 1928 as the third member of the Takao Class of Heavy Cruisers for the Imperial Japanese Navy, HIJMS Chōkai commissioned into service in June 1932 and was assigned to the Yokosuka Naval District. Joining her three sisterships to form Cruiser Division 4, Chōkai and her crew reported for duty with the IJN Second Fleet in December 1932.

Operational primarily in the waters off China during her first eight years of service, Chōkai and her crew took part in regular exercises and patrols with Japan's rapidly expanding fleet, eventually gaining the role of Flagship for her Cruiser Division as Japan moved towards what many saw as inevitable conflict with the United States. Reporting to Samah Harbor, Hainan in late November 1941 with her divisionmates, Chōkai and her crew joined the powerful IJN Southern Expeditionary Fleet, Malay Force of the IJN Second Fleet and departed on December 2nd, 1941 to capture British Malaya. With Japanese forces securely ashore by early January 1942, Chōkai detached and joined a large amphibious invasion convoy out of Camranh Bay bound for the Dutch East Indies where she supported the landing of Japanese forces at Palembang and Bangka Island Sumatra for the next month before running aground on an uncharted reef off Cap St. Jacques in late February. Forced to seek repairs at the recently captured shipyards in Singapore, Chōkai was back in action less than two weeks later supporting the invasion of Northern Sumatra before joining a powerful surface force to conduct commerce raiding in the Indian Ocean before returning to Singapore at the end of April and shaping a course for Japan for a much-needed period of overhaul.

Back in service in time to participate in the Battle of Midway in June, Chōkai saw no direct action in the disastrous battle and was ordered to Truk Atoll shortly thereafter where she assumed the role of Flagship for the IJN Eighth Fleet. Operating primarily between Rabaul and Truk for the next several months, Chōkai transferred command of the Eighth Fleet ashore at Rabaul shortly before word reached the large Japanese base that American forces had invaded the island of Guadalcanal. Embarking the Flag Staff of Cruiser Division 6 on August 7th, Chōkai led a combined Cruiser/Destroyer task force to the waters off Savo Island on the night of August 9th, where she and her crew engaged in their first warship-to-warship combat against a five-ship formation of Allied Cruisers and aided by total surprise and tactical superiority of Japanese gunners in night combat delivered what is considered to be the worst blue-water defeat in the history of the United States Navy. Steaming back to Rabaul with three American and one Australian Heavy Cruisers sunk in the previous nights action, Chōkai’s crew set about effecting repairs to their own ship, which had taken several direct hits from the USS Quincy (CA-39) and USS Astoria (CA-34) that had knocked her #2 turret out of operation. Repaired at Rabaul and returning to the role of Flagship for the IJN Eighth Fleet, Chōkai began six straight months of direct support for Japanese forces fighting on Guadalcanal, alternating between fire-support missions on the American airfield and screening resupply convoys against air and sea attack as the two sides grappled for control of the island.

Returning to Japan for repairs and modernization following the fall of Guadalcanal in February 1943, Chōkai returned to the waters between Truk and Rabaul where she performed largely rear-area actions for much of the next year as American and Allied forces made steady inroads on Japans once-vast empire, and by February 1944 both of Chōkai’s main operating bases were under threat of or exposed to Allied airstrikes. Abandoning Truk well ahead of Allied airstrikes, Chōkai moved to the Philippines where she remained through June and the disastrous Battle of the Philippine Sea that all but destroyed what remained of Japan’s Carrier Air Forces. Returning to Japan for voyage repairs and the fitting of an upgraded onboard radar system, Chōkai joined the majority of the Japanese Navy’s capital ships at Singapore in July 1944, where for the next three months she and her crew engaged in battle tactics training for the great “decisive battle” Japan’s naval strategists foresaw as their best chance to repulse the US Navy. Following the American Invasion of the Philippines at Leyte Gulf in mid-October 1944, the Imperial Japanese Navy felt that the stage had been set for their long-awaited naval action, and on October 8th Chōkai and the rest of the assembled Japanese Mobile Fleet moved to Brunei Bay, Borneo and prepared for action. Assigned to Force “A” of Vice Admiral Kurita's First Mobile Striking Force as the Flagship of Cruiser Division 4 with her three sisterships HIJMS Atago, HIJMS Maya and HIJMS Takao, Chōkai stood out for Leyte Gulf on October 22nd.

Maintaining strict radio silence as they moved up the coast of Palawan towards the Sibuyan Sea, the ships of Force A ran straight into the crossfire of two American Submarines on the morning of the 23rd which resulted in both HIJMS Maya and HIJMS Atago being sunk with heavy losses and HIJMS Takao badly damaged. Left no choice but to continue onward, the ships reformed and moved into the Sibuyan Sea, where Chōkai joined Cruiser Division 5 in attempting to drive off a total of eleven separate airstrikes carried out by US Navy Task Force 38 through the day which accounted for the SuperBattleship HIJMS Musashi being sunk and almost every other ship in the formation, except Chōkai, being damaged. After performing a formation turn to allow his ships time to effect repairs, Vice Admiral Kurita brought Force A back onto their original course well after dark on the 24th and made for the San Bernardino Straight and the open ocean beyond. Rounding the Northern Coast of Samar Island the following morning before daybreak, the ships of Force A moved out of their single-file formation and increased speed to approach the American beachhead at Leyte, using the spotty rain squalls and rapidly decreasing darkness to get to nearly within visual range of several enemy vessels before they were sighted by a sole recon aircraft. Sighting the unmistakable outline of enemy aircraft carriers in the distance and what appeared to be several Cruisers and Destroyers screening them, Vice Admiral Kurita ordered the ships of Force A into a general attack on what he assumed was a significant portion of the US 7th Fleet, when in reality his Force A was bearing down on the six Escort Carriers, four Destroyers and four Destroyer Escorts, all of which combined weighed less than his Flagship HIJMS Yamato alone.

After acknowledging her orders from the Flagship, Chōkai immediately began to increase speed as her gunners began to load armor-piercing shells into her main batteries. Opening fire at 0558hrs at the nearest formation of enemy aircraft carriers, Chōkai’s gunners immediately began straddling the enemy ships with their salvoes, but found the copious amount of smoke emitted by the American ships difficult to aim through as she bore down on her enemy. After over an hour of a running chase, Chōkai still had yet to conclusively hit one of the enemy Carriers despite their air wings and small force of escorting Destroyers repeatedly and successfully attacking her. The sudden appearance of a torpedo-firing Destroyer Escort out of a smokescreen less than three miles away caused further delay to her attacks on the enemy flattops, as her gunners attempted in vain to engage the fast moving enemy ship and her Captain ordered evasive maneuvers to dodge the inbound torpedoes. With the enemy ship seeming to disappear as quickly as it had came and its torpedoes churning harmlessly into the open ocean, Chōkai came back onto her attack heading and resumed firing on the nearest Carrier, the USS Kalinin Bay (CVE-68). Moving to within 10,000 yards of the enemy ship and turning slightly to unmask her rear batteries, Chōkai had sent her first full salvo downrange at 0856hrs when the Stern-mounted 5-inch gun on the Carrier opened fire, scoring several direct hits on Chōkai’s Port side midship. Seconds later, a tremendous detonation shook through the Cruiser as her battery of eight Oxygen-fueled “Long Lance” torpedoes and their warheads detonated, carving an enormous hole in the ship’s deck and causing enough shock damage and distortion to the ships internals to knock out her engines and rudder controls. Shearing out of formation and slowing to a halt on an Eastward heading, Chōkai went dead in the water as several waves of carrier aircraft quickly moved in to attack her, scoring several hits with armor-piercing bombs that further added to the tremendous damage and rapidly spreading fire amidships.

Damage control efforts in battle conditions aboard Chōkai continued unabated for the next hour but were unable to restore power to her engines or her rudder, and after Vice Admiral Kurita issued the order for Force A to withdraw the Destroyer HIJMS Fujinami was dispatched to assist with the removal of Chōkai’s surviving crew. With both sides having largely broken contact by the time the Fujinami came alongside Chōkai, the removal of the Cruisers crew was likely to have been orderly, allowing the maximum amount of crew to be taken aboard the Destroyer before she withdrew and scuttled HIJMS Chōkai at this location with a salvo of torpedoes sometime after 1000hrs on October 25th, 1944. Withdrawing Northward with the rest of Force A, HIJMS Fujinami was steaming through the Sibuyan Sea roughly 80 miles North of Iloilo when she was attacked by carrier aircraft and sunk with all hands and all of Chōkai’s survivors on October 27th, 1944.

www.combinedfleet.com/chokai_t.htm