IJN Light Cruiser Yahagi

Yahagi was the third Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) Agano-class light cruiser, and the second ship to bear the name.  After being built in Sasebo, Nagasaki and commissioned in 1943, its first assignment was training in Singapore, followed by a transfer to Tawi-Tawi in the Philippines, where it was put in command of seven destroyers.  Along with three aircraft carriers and two cruisers, this fleet was meant to defeat the U.S. Navy Fifth Fleet in a decisive battle that never materialized.  Yahagi managed to survive Japanese defeats at the battles of the Philippine Sea, Leyte Gulf, Sibuyan Sea, Samar, and Panay.  In fall 1944, it sailed back to Sasebo for a refit.

In April 1945, Yahagi was ordered to join the massive battleship Yamato and a small escort fleet in Operation Ten-Go, a suicide mission meant to defend Okinawa against an American landing.  Around half past noon on April 7 (the same time I am writing this description), 380 fighter planes, dive bombers, and torpedo bombers attacked the Japanese fleet.  Yahagi took a torpedo to the engine room, losing its entire engineering crew in an instant.  After being hit by six more torpedoes and twelve bombs, the cruiser capsized and sank.  The admiral and captain managed to escape, but 445 sailors perished.  This model of the cruiser is on display at Shizuoka Hobby Square.