Light Cruiser Kiso

Kiso was the fifth and last ship of the Kuma class, laid down at Mitsubishi Nagasaki Shipyard, launched 14 December 1920, and commissioned 4 May 1921. She served in the Pacific War in various roles including destroyer squadron flagship. Kiso took no part in the Battle of Leyte Gulf in October 1944; she was at Kure loading ammunition for Kurita's fleet. She sailed south afterwards with the carrier Jun'yō and reached Manila on 10 November, where she was assigned as flagship of the Fifth Fleet's 1st Destroyer Squadron. On 13 November 1944, U.S. Task Force 38 launched a massive air strike against the shipping concentrated in Manila Bay. Kiso, caught in the bay before she could leave for Brunei, was hit by three bombs and settled in shallow water about eight miles west of Cavite; 89 men were killed and 105 wounded, though her captain and most of her crew survived. The wreck was refloated by the Nippon Salvage Company in December 1955 and broken up at Manila in 1956. She was one of numerous Japanese warships sunk in Philippine waters during the 1944–45 campaign; four destroyers and several merchant ships were lost to the same raid.