Mogami

The second Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) ship named HIJMS Mogami was commissioned in 1935 and officially designated a light cruiser, but its size and gun mountings indicated that Japan wanted to skirt around the Washington Naval Treaty's restrictions and upgrade it to a heavy cruiser.  Mogami was indeed upgraded in 1937, swapping its 6-inch guns for 8-inch guns, and was assigned to Hainan in occupied China.  In 1941, it supported the invasions of Vietnam, Malaysia, and Indonesia, and then conducted raids on Allied shipping in the Indian Ocean. 

After being heavily damaged by American aircraft in the June 1942 Battle of Midway, which cost Japan four aircraft carriers (and their reconnaissance and force-projection capabilities), Mogami was rebuilt as an "aviation cruiser" with a short flight deck on the stern.  It was meant to carry a squadron of Aichi E16A Zuiun reconnaissance seaplanes, but there were not enough of those planes at the time, so Mogami was equipped with older Mitsubishi F1M and Aichi E13A airplanes, which it used to hunt for Allied ships and mount counterattacks. 

Mogami survived the June 1944 Battle of the Philippine Sea, but lost several airplanes in the Great Marianas Turkey Shoot, and failed to intercept the American bombers that sank the aircraft carrier Hiyo.  Mogami scurried back to Japan for repairs, and took to sea in October 1944 to prevent the Allies from liberating the Philippines.  It launched the planes that spotted the American fleet before the Battle of Leyte Gulf, but was lost in the Battle of the Surigao Strait.  Shortly before dawn on October 25, the U.S. Navy attacked the Japanese fleet with PT boats and destroyers, sinking the battleships Fuso and Yamashiro and destroying the main bridge on Mogami. 

The chief gunnery officer assumed command, but what had suddenly become his ship was hit by Admiral Shima's cruiser Nachi in the chaos, causing Mogami to take on water and suffer a torpedo explosion.  Heavy gunfire from American cruisers disabled Mogami's engines, and bombers began tearing up the superstructure and hull.  The crew abandoned ship, and the survivors fled to the destroyer Akebono, which scuttled Mogami with an oxygen torpedo to prevent its wreckage from sinking other ships.  This model of Mogami as an aviation cruiser is on display aboard the museum battleship HIJMS Mikasa in Yokosuka.