IJN Mikuma - The First Japanese Cruiser to Sink

Over the course of the Pacific War, the Imperial Japanese Navy would lose the vast majority of their warships. The cruisers were no exception to that rule.
Of those losses the first was the Mogami-class cruiser, Mikuma. Rammed by her sister ship and hit by air attack at Midway, this ship didn't even last a full year into the war. An unfortunate fate, that gets overshadowed by her misfortune-riddled sister ship.
Despite the very famous pictures of Mikuma's hulk, often subbed in as a 'battleship' in old documentaries.
Further Reading:
www.amazon.com/Shattered-Swor...
www.amazon.com/Chronology-War...
www.amazon.com/Imperial-Japan...
www.amazon.com/Japanese-Cruis...

[@petestorz172]

This might be a silly thing to notice, but kudos for actually having a picture of USS Tambor when speaking of USS Tambor. Some Pacific War videos wouldn't even have shown a ship of the correct class. Ignoring the diminutive Mackerel class, whose boats did no combat area patrols, the 12 boat Tambor class (including the Gar sub-class) was the class just before the much more numerous Gato class. 7 of the Tambor class were lost in action. All 12 were commissioned before and those not on eternal patrol served the entire war, some in training duties in 1945. They were workhorses!

[@petestorz172]

From what I've read, Mogami's captain decided, sometime before being bombed, to jettison her torpedoes. Mikuma did not. IJN torpedoes were greater dangers to ships carrying them than USN torpedoes. Depending on the vintage of the USN Mark 15, the IJN Type 93 had a ~25% or ~100% larger warhead. The pure oxygen used for the Type 93 was a fire hazard the Mark 15 did not have. Mogami may have been saved by her captain's decision.

[@andrewtaylor940]

Mogami had a very good and very forward thinking Damage Control Officer. And the Captain trusted him. After the Collision it was obvious Mogami had reduced speed and was in no shape to fight. Realizing the biggest threat was from the air, the DC officer ordered the Torpedos and aviation fuel jettisoned, and the seaplanes tossed overboard. Basically anything readily flammable or high risk. When the bombs started falling he further flooded the main magazines. While 500 and 1000lb bombs could maul the superstructure badly. They could not really sink a heavy armored warship unless they triggered secondary explosions and fires. Mikuma did not do these things. The bombs set her seaplanes on fire, which triggered an aviation fuel fire, that spread to the torpedos. Which then cooked off tearing the ship in half.

[@KuvDabGib]

In book "Shattered Sword" authors say that it wasnt the captain, but rather damage officer who had the balls to get rid of all long lance torpedoes - and it saved the ship probably.

[@beverlychmelik5504]

Torpedos in WW2 are sent "To whom it may concern."

[@Verbindungs]

I find Mogami class cruises very pretty. They are difficult to play in World of Warships because a single volley of a battleship sends them to the bottom.

[@petestorz172]

It's ironic that though USN submarine actions during Midway are considered to have been failures, USN submarines contributed to the sinkings of the 4 carriers of Kido Butai and of Mikuma.

[@jackdaniel7465]

That's Totally false information you are stating, every book that has been written about Midway and every movie and documentary that has been made CLEARLY STATES THAT IT WAS U.S CARRIER DIVE BOMBERS THAT SUNK THOSE FOUR JAPANESE CARRIERS AT MIDWAY, where are you getting this FALSE INFORMATION FROM?? you better do better research!!🤣🤣

[@markmaki4460]

Indeed. The eyes of any fleet rarely receive the credit they deserve. As 'eyes' i include coastwatchers and all dedicated patrol craft, along with all fortuitous observers, which i classify submarines with.

[@johnstewart7022]

Great video, thank you very much. With respect to Japanese cruisers, I think it's important to recognize that Japanese doctrine called for cruisers to mount the important part of airborne reconnaissance with their long range float planes. The aircraft formed a vital part of the ship's combat suite, ,and occupied quite a lot of room, much more so than on contemporary American ships. In so doing, they relieved the aircraft carriers from having launch/recovery operations of scout aircraft interfere with handling strike and CAP aircraft operations.

[@DragonShadowfire1]

Such a lonely shipwreck...I never realized she was built specifically with the upgrade to her main armaments in mind. I always thought that was an ad hock decision. That fly-by photo of Mikuma's funnel, and amidships was incredible, and one I've never seen before. Wonder if any of her AAA was able to spit back at the pilots taking those photographs, or was her crew so mauled by that time as to make her effectively defenseless? Great video! I always learn something new from your content, keep it up!!

[@chrisstrawn4108]

The captain of Mikuma had previously ordered Abandoned Ship so there were no shots exchanged. The remarkable series of pictures taken by the Enterprise SBDs (while burred) are of exceptional definition. The saddest part is if you look these over closely you can see her crew milling about all over the ship, clustered at the stern and bobbing in the water. As Mikuma was completely alone at this point almost none of these poor souls survived-- and there must have been hundreds. The elements, exposure and predatory fish took nearly all.

[@lord_vader6545]

Fun fact: The 40mm Bofors used 4 round clips while the Type 96 used 15 round fixed magazines, which severely hampered the usefulness of the Type 96 mount due to having to stop to reload, while a loader of the 40mm bofors can just drop his 4 round clip into place.

[@oceanhome2023]

I love the NEW photographs awesome !!

[@williamashbless7904]

Great format.

[@davidlee8551]

Good work, thank you!

[@alephalon7849]

I'd personally say Kumano is the unluckiest Japanese warship. But given she's also a Mogami class, the entire class was probably cursed (or badly engineered and built for the more realistic).

[@TrickiVicBB71]

Great video

[@dennisvandermarkt8263]

Great stuff

[@ph89787]

The thing about TF 16's attack on Mikuma was that when word of her and Mogami got to RADM Raymond Spruance (as RADM Frank Fletcher had ceded tactical command at this point). The pilots thought Mogami and Mikuma were 2 Battleships, not Heavy Cruisers. So when Hornet's pilots found the two, they flew further to look for the "Battleships" but could not find them. Realising that Mogami and Mikuma were as best as they were going to get. Then, they committed to the attack. Also, Enterprise's attack on Mikuma was the last time the TBD Devastator was deployed in combat. As 3 surviving aircraft had joined the Dauntlesses but were ordered not to attack in fear of a repeat performance of the day before.

[@ciuyr2510]

Sick oil slick you got there bro..

[@gruntforever7437]

When one of the USN search pilots saw the two ships he described them as Battleships. Which was not terribly surprising as they were each longer than any of the US Battleships at Pearl Harbor. From Dec 7 to Coral Sea in May, the IJN lost no ship larger than a destroyer while taking command of 1/8 of the surface of the earth. A truly incredible run of luck and also being prepared; but very much helped by Allied idiocy at many levels and the simple fact the US was not ready for war

[@jackdaniel7465]

Where did you get your information on the length of the two Japanese cruisers being longer than the us battleships at Pearl Harbor, you better research your information, because that is Totally false!!🤣🤣

[@jackdaniel7465]

I have to apologize to you, disregard my previous comment, after I did my own research, your comment about the cruisers being longer than the Battleships at Pearl harbor was in fact correct, again I apologize.

[@gruntforever7437]

@@jackdaniel7465 Mogami Class Cruiser 661 feet long dude. Check the old bbs at Pearl Harbor fool

[@jackdaniel7465]

@@gruntforever7437 You obviously didn't read my other posts that I sent you???? Take the time to scroll down it will help you.

[@jackdaniel7465]

@@gruntforever7437 And there is no need to call me a fool either.

[@chrisnizer5702]

No doubt the Mikuma got the fur torn off her. Looked like floating scrap iron before it went down.

[@gregorylumpkin2128]

If you look closely you can see what appears to be a couple of torpedos hanging out of the launchers in the photo at 15.30. That part of the ship from the funnel to turret 4 is devastated. Also, are those sailors gathered on the stern?

[@chrisstrawn4108]

Yes to all of the above. At least some of the torpedoes were attempted to be jettisoned but not all or enough were. Yes those are sailors at the stern. Look closely and you can see heads bobbing in the water and a small life raft being lowered. In the other pictures you can see crew all over the ship. Only a handful survived, there must have been hundreds who went into the water when she sank.

[@user-tf1rq9vg1j]

The fires below decks forced most everyone topside. The stern was one of the few places that wasn't skillet hot for the sailors to stand on. War IS Hell.

[@thomasschiller404]

Didn't one of the dive bombers from Midway crash on top of one of Mikuma's turrets?

[@JohnReall]

Yup. I do believe he was badly wounded.

[@hourlardnsaver362]

Allegedly.

[@jackdaniel7465]

Not sure if that's true, we don't get into being Kamikaze pilots.🤣🤣

[@chrisstrawn4108]

This was supposedly a Marine aviator who IIRC was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor? The Midway Marine contingent was using older dive-bombers and couldn't dive directly but instead were doing glide bombing, much more dangerous. It's not conclusive if the Marine did crash into the ship or was shot down just short. The wreckage on the rear turret could be his plane but probably is some combination of radio aerial and parts from the rear superstructure from when the torpedoes massively cooked off. This controversy most likely will have to wait until the wreck is discovered for a final resolution, if then.

[@BobSmith-dk8nw]

The wreckage on Mikuma's #4 turret - is wreckage from the ship and may be one of her own search planes. Their catapults were just before that turret. Yes - there was a Marine aircraft that was shot down in this attack - it scored a near miss and crashed near it. There are a lot of people who think that the wreck on that #4 Turret is this Marine Dive Bomber - and - that the pilot intentionally crashed into the ship - but that is not the case. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_E._Fleming#Postwar_myths_and_clarifications_regarding_Fleming's_attack .

[@volkssturmer5820]

Ponjas turros !

[@skyden24195]

The IJN believing that making a ship lighter, to accommodate treaty requirements, would not have consequences... why does that not surprise me? I can think of "Zero" reasons. 😉

[@Backwardlooking]

👍🏻🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🇬🇧🇺🇸✌️

[@sergiodesouzajunior3962]

Compro 2.000.000 unidades para a marinha do Brasil rio de janeiro

[@thedevilinthecircuit1414]

Fascinating stuff! I know you're speaking slowly and clearly to be understood by non-native English speakers, but your halting delivery does detract from the presentation. Try smoothing it out to a less robotic and more conversational style.

[@shengyi1701]

He’s factual and clear unlike President Trump who couldn’t pronounced a killed terrorist’s name and went on to insultingly say that he died like a dog!

[@jamessimms415]

Sounds ok to me

[@williamromine5715]

I agree with you. A narrator who speaks in a casual conversation tone comes across much better than one who sounds like he is making a speech. Good video however.

[@kenyanakase9419]

日本人としては有り難い、発音速度です。