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Description
The Imperial Japanese Navy's fourth and final Mogami-class cruiser, HIJMS Kumano (熊野), was built by Kawasaki's Kobe shipyard and commissioned in 1937. Like her sisters, she was designed as a light cruiser with 6-inch guns, but was rebuilt as a heavy cruiser with 8-inch guns after Japan withdrew from the Washington Naval Treaty. Early in World War II, she supported the invasions of Indochina and Malaya, and then patrolled the Indian Ocean, sinking several British ships and trying to track the Royal Navy's Force Z before HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse were sunk by IJN torpedo bombers. HIJMS Kumano came under constant attack by Allied forces throughout the Pacific War, requiring repairs at sea from Yamabiko Maru and HIJMS Akashi, and lost her bow during the chaotic naval battle off Samar in October 1944, in which Commander Ernest E. Evans torpedoed the Japanese cruiser with the much smaller American destroyer USS Johnston.

HIJMS Kumano was attacked while under repair, but managed to return to sea in time to escort a convoy from Manila to Taiwan. This convoy was intercepted by a "wolfpack" of American submarines, and USS Ray torpedoed HIJMS Kumano in the rebuilt bow and the engine room, forcing her to be towed to Santa Cruz. Once again under repairs, HIJMS Kumano was finally sunk when USS Ticonderoga launched an air raid on the Santa Cruz shipyard that struck the damaged cruiser with five torpedoes and four bombs, capsizing HIJMS Kumano and taking almost half the crew with her. This model of HIJMS Kumano, the one Japanese ship Admiral "Bull" Halsey felt sorry for during the war, is on display aboard museum battleship HIJMS Mikasa in Yokosuka. The placard here lists her displacement as 8500 tons, though she has the five double 8-inch guns from her wartime service as a 12,000-ton ship.

Description
The Imperial Japanese Navy's fourth and final Mogami-class cruiser, HIJMS Kumano (熊野), was built by Kawasaki's Kobe shipyard and commissioned in 1937. Like her sisters, she was designed as a light cruiser with 6-inch guns, but was rebuilt as a heavy cruiser with 8-inch guns after Japan withdrew from the Washington Naval Treaty. Early in World War II, she supported the invasions of Indochina and Malaya, and then patrolled the Indian Ocean, sinking several British ships and trying to track the Royal Navy's Force Z before HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse were sunk by IJN torpedo bombers. HIJMS Kumano came under constant attack by Allied forces throughout the Pacific War, requiring repairs at sea from Yamabiko Maru and HIJMS Akashi, and lost her bow during the chaotic naval battle off Samar in October 1944, in which Commander Ernest E. Evans torpedoed the Japanese cruiser with the much smaller American destroyer USS Johnston.

HIJMS Kumano was attacked while under repair, but managed to return to sea in time to escort a convoy from Manila to Taiwan. This convoy was intercepted by a "wolfpack" of American submarines, and USS Ray torpedoed HIJMS Kumano in the rebuilt bow and the engine room, forcing her to be towed to Santa Cruz. Once again under repairs, HIJMS Kumano was finally sunk when USS Ticonderoga launched an air raid on the Santa Cruz shipyard that struck the damaged cruiser with five torpedoes and four bombs, capsizing HIJMS Kumano and taking almost half the crew with her. This model of HIJMS Kumano, the one Japanese ship Admiral "Bull" Halsey felt sorry for during the war, is on display aboard museum battleship HIJMS Mikasa in Yokosuka. The placard here lists her displacement as 8500 tons, though she has the five double 8-inch guns from her wartime service as a 12,000-ton ship.