HOME



picture info

Japanese Cruiser Kumano
was one of four of heavy cruisers in the Imperial Japanese Navy, serving in World War II. She was named after the Kumano River Kii Peninsula on the island of Honshu in central Japan. The ''Mogami''-class ships were constructed as "light cruisers" (per the Washington Naval Treaty) with five triple 6.1-inch dual purpose guns. They were exceptionally large for light cruisers, and the barbettes for the main battery were designed for quick refitting with twin 8-inch guns. In 1937 all four ships were "converted" to heavy cruisers in this fashion. ''Kumano'' served in numerous combat engagements in the Pacific War, until she was eventually sunk by carrier aircraft from Task Force 38 while she was undergoing repairs at Santa Cruz, Zambales, Philippines, in November 1944. Background and design Built under the 1st Naval Armaments Supplement Programme, Maru-1 Naval Armaments Supplement Programme, the ''Mogami''-class cruisers were designed to the maximum limits allowed by the Washingto ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Empire Of Japan
The Empire of Japan, also known as the Japanese Empire or Imperial Japan, was the Japanese nation state that existed from the Meiji Restoration on January 3, 1868, until the Constitution of Japan took effect on May 3, 1947. From Japan–Korea Treaty of 1910, 1910 to Japanese Instrument of Surrender, 1945, it included the Japanese archipelago, the Kuril Islands, Kurils, Karafuto Prefecture, Karafuto, Korea under Japanese rule, Korea, and Taiwan under Japanese rule, Taiwan. The South Seas Mandate and Foreign concessions in China#List of concessions, concessions such as the Kwantung Leased Territory were ''de jure'' not internal parts of the empire but dependent territories. In the closing stages of World War II, with Japan defeated alongside the rest of the Axis powers, the Japanese Instrument of Surrender, formalized surrender was issued on September 2, 1945, in compliance with the Potsdam Declaration of the Allies of World War II, Allies, and the empire's territory subsequent ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Reconnaissance Aircraft
A reconnaissance aircraft (colloquially, a spy plane) is a military aircraft designed or adapted to perform aerial reconnaissance with roles including collection of imagery intelligence (including using Aerial photography, photography), signals intelligence, as well as measurement and signature intelligence. Modern technology has also enabled some aircraft and Unmanned aerial vehicle, UAVs to carry out real-time surveillance in addition to general Military intelligence, intelligence gathering. Before the development of devices such as radar, military forces relied on reconnaissance aircraft for visual Artillery observer, observation and Reconnaissance, scouting of enemy movement. An example is the Consolidated PBY Catalina, PBY Catalina Maritime patrol aircraft, maritime patrol flying boat used by the Allies of World War II, Allies in World War II: a Formation flying, flight of United States Navy, U.S. Navy Catalinas spotted part of the Japanese fleet approaching Midway Island ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Pacific War
The Pacific War, sometimes called the Asia–Pacific War or the Pacific Theatre, was the Theater (warfare), theatre of World War II fought between the Empire of Japan and the Allies of World War II, Allies in East Asia, East and Southeast Asia, the Pacific Ocean, Pacific and Indian Oceans, and Oceania. It was geographically the largest theatre of the war, including the Pacific Ocean theater of World War II, Pacific Ocean theatre, the South West Pacific theater of World War II, South West Pacific theatre, the Second Sino-Japanese War, and the brief Soviet–Japanese War, and included some of the Largest naval battle in history, largest naval battles in history. War between Japan and the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic of China had begun in 1937, with hostilities dating back to Japanese invasion of Manchuria, Japan's invasion of Manchuria in 1931, but the Pacific War is more widely accepted to have started in 1941, when the United States and United Kingdom entered the ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Barbette
Barbettes are several types of gun emplacement in terrestrial fortifications or on naval ships. In recent naval usage, a barbette is a protective circular armour support for a heavy gun turret. This evolved from earlier forms of gun protection that eventually led to the pre-dreadnought. The name ''barbette'' ultimately comes from fortification: it originally meant a raised platform or mound, as in the French phrase ''en barbette'', which refers to the practice of firing a cannon over a parapet rather than through an embrasure in a fortification's casemate. The former gives better angles of fire but less protection than the latter. The disappearing gun was a variation on the barbette gun; it consisted of a heavy gun on a carriage that would retract behind a parapet or into a gunpit for reloading. Barbettes were primarily used in coastal defences, but saw some use in a handful of warships, and some inland fortifications. The term is also used for certain aircraft gun mounts. ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Dual Purpose Gun
A dual-purpose gun is a naval artillery mounting designed to engage both surface and air targets. Description Second World War-era capital ships had four classes of artillery: the heavy main battery, intended to engage opposing battleships and cruisers of 305 mm to 457 mm (12 inch to 18 inch); a secondary battery for use against enemy destroyers of 152 mm to 203 mm (6 inch to 8 inch); heavy anti-aircraft guns of 76 mm to 127 mm (3 inch to 5 inch), which could create barrages to knock out airplanes at a distance; finally, light rapid-fire anti-aircraft batteries (A/A) to track and bring down aircraft at close range. The light A/A was dispersed throughout the ship and included both automatic cannons of 20 mm to 40 mm (.787 inch to 1.57 inch) and heavy machine guns of 12.7 mm to 14.5 mm (.50 inch to .58 inch). During World War II, the US Navy, Royal Navy, the French Navy, and the Imperial Japanese Navy combined the secondary batt ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Washington Naval Treaty
The Washington Naval Treaty, also known as the Five-Power Treaty, was signed during 1922 among the major Allies of World War I, Allies of World War I, which agreed to prevent an arms race by limiting Navy, naval construction. It was negotiated at the Washington Naval Conference in Washington, D.C. from November 1921 to February 1922 and signed by the governments of the British Empire (including the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and India), United States, French Third Republic, France, Kingdom of Italy, Italy, and Empire of Japan, Japan. It limited the construction of battleships, battlecruisers and aircraft carriers by the signatories. The numbers of other categories of warships, including cruisers, destroyers, and submarines, were not limited by the treaty, but those ships were limited to 10,000 tons displacement (ship), displacement each. The treaty was finalized on February 6, 1922. Ratifications of it were exchanged in Washington on August 17, 1 ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Light Cruiser
A light cruiser is a type of small or medium-sized warship. The term is a shortening of the phrase "light armored cruiser", describing a small ship that carried armor in the same way as an armored cruiser: a protective belt and deck. Prior to this smaller cruisers had been of the protected cruiser model, possessing armored decks only. While lighter and smaller than other contemporary ships they were still true cruisers, retaining the extended radius of action and self-sufficiency to act independently around the world. Cruisers mounting larger guns and heavier armor relative to most light cruisers would come to be known as heavy cruisers, though the designation of 'light' versus 'heavy' cruisers would vary somewhat between navies. Through their history light cruisers served in a variety of roles, primarily on long-range detached patrol work, covering other military operations or global shipping lanes, as scouts and fleet support vessels for battle fleets, as destroyer command ship ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Japan
Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea in the south. The Japanese archipelago consists of four major islands—Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu—and List of islands of Japan, thousands of smaller islands, covering . Japan has a population of over 123 million as of 2025, making it the List of countries and dependencies by population, eleventh-most populous country. The capital of Japan and List of cities in Japan, its largest city is Tokyo; the Greater Tokyo Area is the List of largest cities, largest metropolitan area in the world, with more than 37 million inhabitants as of 2024. Japan is divided into 47 Prefectures of Japan, administrative prefectures and List of regions of Japan, eight traditional regions. About three-quarters of Geography of Japan, the countr ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Honshu
, historically known as , is the largest of the four main islands of Japan. It lies between the Pacific Ocean (east) and the Sea of Japan (west). It is the list of islands by area, seventh-largest island in the world, and the list of islands by population, second-most populous after the list of islands of Indonesia, Indonesian island of Java. Honshu had a population of 104 million , constituting 81.3% of the entire population of Japan, and mostly concentrated in the coastal areas and plains. Approximately 30% of the total population resides in the Greater Tokyo Area on the Kantō Plain. As the historical center of Japanese cultural and political power, the island includes several past Japanese capitals, including Kyoto, Kyōto, Nara (city), Nara, and Kamakura. Much of the island's southern shore forms part of the Taiheiyō Belt, a megalopolis that spans several of the Japanese islands. Honshu also contains Japan's highest mountain, Mount Fuji, and its largest lake, Lake Biwa. Mo ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  




Kii Peninsula
The is the largest peninsula on the island of Honshū in Japan and is located within the Kansai region. It is named after the ancient Kii Province. The peninsula has long been a sacred place in Buddhism, Shinto, and Shugendo, and many people would visit from all over Japan as part of the Kumano religious practices. Overview The area south of the “ Central Tectonic Line” is called , and is home to reef-like coral communities which are amongst the northernmost in the world (apart from cold-water corals) due to the presence of the warm Kuroshio Current, though these are threatened by global warming and human interference. Because of the Kuroshio’s strong influence, the climate of Nankii is the wettest in the Earth’s subtropics with rainfall in the southern mountains believed to reach per year and averaging in the southeastern town of Owase, comparable to Ketchikan, Alaska or Tortel in southern Chile. When typhoons hit Japan, the Kii Peninsula is typically the worst ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the world's countries participated, with many nations mobilising all resources in pursuit of total war. Tanks in World War II, Tanks and Air warfare of World War II, aircraft played major roles, enabling the strategic bombing of cities and delivery of the Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, first and only nuclear weapons ever used in war. World War II is the List of wars by death toll, deadliest conflict in history, causing World War II casualties, the death of 70 to 85 million people, more than half of whom were civilians. Millions died in genocides, including the Holocaust, and by massacres, starvation, and disease. After the Allied victory, Allied-occupied Germany, Germany, Allied-occupied Austria, Austria, Occupation of Japan, Japan, a ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Imperial Japanese Navy
The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN; Kyūjitai: Shinjitai: ' 'Navy of the Greater Japanese Empire', or ''Nippon Kaigun'', 'Japanese Navy') was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945, Potsdam Declaration, when it was dissolved following surrender of Japan, Japan's surrender in World War II. The Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) was formed between 1952 and 1954 after the dissolution of the IJN. The IJN was the third largest navy in the world by 1920, behind the Royal Navy and the United States Navy (USN). It was supported by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service for reconnaissance and airstrike operations from the fleet. It was the primary opponent of the Allies of World War II, Western Allies in the Pacific War. The IJN additionally fielded Imperial Japanese Navy land forces, limited land-based forces, including Special Naval Landing Forces, professional marines, Japanese marine paratroopers of World War II, marine paratrooper units, anti-aircraft defense units ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]