Light Cruiser Abukuma

Abukuma was laid down at Uraga Dock Company on 8 December 1921, launched 16 March 1923, and commissioned 26 May 1925, the last of the six Nagara-class light cruisers to enter service. She participated in the attack on Pearl Harbor as flagship of Destroyer Squadron 1 under Rear Admiral Sentaro Omori. In the Pacific War she served in fleet operations across the Pacific and Indian Ocean theaters. During the Battle of Leyte Gulf in October 1944, Abukuma, still flagship of Destroyer Squadron 1, sailed with Vice Admiral Kiyohide Shima's Second Striking Force, which followed Vice Admiral Shoji Nishimura's force into Surigao Strait. At about 03:25 on 25 October, as Shima's ships entered the strait, she was struck near her No. 1 boiler room by a torpedo from U.S. Motor Torpedo Boat PT-137, which killed 37 men and made her fall behind. Down by the bow, she was ordered to Dapitan for emergency repairs, escorted by the destroyer Ushio. On 26 October 1944, after leaving Dapitan for Coron, Abukuma was found off Negros Island and attacked by U.S. Army Air Forces B-24 Liberators of the 13th and 5th Air Forces; bomb hits started fires that detonated her torpedoes, and she sank. Her loss was the last act of the failed southern thrust into Leyte Gulf.