Heavy Cruiser Chokai

Chokai (鳥海) was the fourth and final ship of the Takao-class heavy cruisers, laid down at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in Nagasaki on 26 March 1928, launched on 5 April 1931, and commissioned on 30 June 1932. Named after Mount Chokai in Yamagata Prefecture.

Chokai had an exceptionally distinguished combat record. She served as the flagship of Vice Admiral Gunichi Mikawa during the Battle of Savo Island on 9 August 1942, where a Japanese surface force surprised and devastated a Allied cruiser force, sinking four heavy cruisers (USS Quincy, USS Vincennes, USS Astoria, and HMAS Canberra) without losing a single ship—arguably Japan's greatest tactical naval victory of the war.

During the Guadalcanal campaign and subsequent operations, Chokai continued to play a major role. In the Battle of the Philippine Sea (June 1944) and the opening of the Battle of Leyte Gulf (October 1944), she remained active.

On 25 October 1944, during the Battle off Samar, Chokai engaged the American escort carrier task group "Taffy 3." During the fighting, she was struck multiple times by 5-inch gunfire from escort carriers and destroyers, and a bomb from a TBM Avenger of USS Kitkun Bay detonated in her forward machinery room, leaving her dead in the water. The destroyer Fujinami took off her crew and sank her with torpedoes at approximately 11°22′N 126°22′E. Fujinami herself was later sunk by American aircraft with most of Chokai's survivors still aboard.