Japanese cruiser Nachi - Definition and Overview

Nachi (那智) was the second of the four-member Myoko class of heavy cruiser of the Imperial Japanese Navy—the other ships of the class being Myoko, Ashigara, and Haguro. She was named after a mountain in Wakayama Prefecture.

The ships of this class displaced 13,300 tons, were 201 metres long, and were capable of 36 knots. They carried one aircraft and their main armament was ten 8-inch guns.

Nachi was laid down at the Kure Naval Arsenal on 26 November 1924, launched and named on 15 June 1927, and was commissioned into the Imperial Navy on 26 November 1928. Her service in the Second World War started in the Dutch East Indies, where she engaged the enemy off Makassar on 8 February 1942, played a key role in the sinking of HMS Exeter and HMS Encounter in the battle of the Java Sea on 27 February 1942, and was engaged in another action off south Borneo on 1 March 1942. She then moved to the Aleutian Islands where she was engaged in the diversionary attack on the islands on 3 June 1942; she was back in the Aleutians when she was damaged on 26 March 1943 in the battle of the Komandorski Islands, and was engaged in an action at Kiska in July 1943. By October 1944 she was in the Philippines where she was damaged in the Battle of Surigao Strait on 25 October 1944, and finally sunk by USS Lexington on 5 November 1944.