IJN Ashigara - A Cruiser That Was Denied Action

The life of a Japanese heavy cruiser was often one of intense action. These ships were used, and used hard over the course of the Pacific War. However, there were exceptions to this rule.
Ashigara is perhaps the most notable, in that her entire wartime career- with only a couple exceptions -was playing transport. For the entire middle period of the Pacific War, this cruiser was reduced to playing fast transport. Certainly not the most exciting or glamorous of duties.
This did, however, see Ashigara very nearly survive the war. She was only sunk very close to the end of that conflict. That's something.
Further Reading:
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[@clmk28]

She is definitely a beautiful ship and very impressive armament.

[@manveerparmar6570]

I know that her wreck has been found a while ago, the only Myoko class heavy cruiser left to be discovered is Myoko herself.

[@CJ_Welch]

I find that ironic

[@alexbenis4726]

Myoko was scuttled in the Malacca Strait by the British, followed a few months later by Takeo. The problem is that the Strait is very busy and visibility is awful so it's doubtful they will ever be visited by divers. 🤔

[@Lawnmower737]

@@alexbenis4726I think scrappers found her first

[@mister_fjk1972]

Ashigara was the most photogenic of IJN warships with her beautiful lines.

[@GaryNumeroUno]

Nice front half... beyond the torpedo tubes she looked quite weird and misconstructed! 😂

[@fabianzimmermann5495]

HMS Trenchant at War, by Sir Arthur Hezlet, who commanded the British submarine, makes for a very good read. You get a good insight into British submarine operations during the war, especially in the late stages of the Pacific War. He intercepted the Ashigara in a narrow strait that had a minefield laid by a Dutch submarine at the entrance. So he had to manouver around this minefield to enter the strait, while a second submarine, HMS Stygian, waited outside, in case the Trenchant didn't get the Japanese cruiser inside the strait. After a small engagement at night with the Kamikaze, which had sailed ahead alone, Ashigara entered the strait unescorted, as the Kamikaze had encountered Stygian outside the strait. The Kamikaze probably wrongfully assumed it was the same submarine from earlier and kept her down with depth charges. Thinking because of this, that the path was clear, Ashigara entered the strait and sailed right into Trenchant. Hezlet described it as a submariner's dream, since the ship was without an escort. After the Ashigara was hit, Hezlet invited the other crew members to take a look through the periscope, until some of Ashigara's guns opened fire at it, at which point Trenchant went deep.

[@GM-fh5jp]

Twelve hundred troops trapped below decks when she went down.
What a tragic loss.

[@MooreFishing-ky3wq]

Very nice looking ship .

[@lyedavide]

What a spectacularly uneventful career for a Japanese warship during a time when every fighting ship afloat was needed for combat.

[@aldenconsolver3428]

Going to have to say that the IJN knew that these vessels were far over the treaty limit. If you miss by 35% by accident you could not build anything, if they were say 5% long 10,500 tons I could believe

[@malakaman9468]

All I recall reading about the brit's impression of Ashigara was that they were surprised that Japan could cram all that in a ship and still abide by the treaty. Maybe I'm remembering it wrong, but never heard of the living conditions meme

[@JGCR59]

I wonder if Ashigara had some mechanical issues that made her slower or less reliable than her sisters. A bit like HMS Malaya with the Queen Elizabeth class

[@GaryNumeroUno]

Looks like they lost their spirit level during construction of the stern section! 😂
After the torpedo tubes the portholes go up and down in a wavy line! Looks a bit amateurish... wonder why they finished her off like that? 😊

[@Vaul_Fusbin]

thankyou for covering these oft-known vessels!

[@tomlindsay4629]

Thanks for posting!

[@waynedavis7245]

Very good video, as usual. I really enjoy your videos keep them coming .

[@Ashigaraa]

Nostalgic

[@kevinyoung9557]

Good looking ship

[@kristelvidhi5038]

Just the Carrier Shinano.

[@osvaldoruiz3826]

Post something about IJN Shigure

[@alanh1406]

Wow, a rather dull war time career that ended all at once towards the end of the war. One might forgive the surviving crew for being angry and frustrated.

[@RebeccaCampbell1969]

13:40 For a nation as small and isolated as it is Japan... it is as important, if not more, to protect cargo than to actually fight against the impossible odds (America).
Don’t think less of what IJN Ashigara did... think of it as “doing the job as good as enemy vessels not able to catch it and it’s protected cargo ships”.
An entire section of the American navy was dedicated to destroy this (subs)... and in time they were successful by crippling the already weak and small Japan, who at least we should commend for fighting way above their weight

[@dennisvandermarkt8263]

5 torpedoes will ruin your day

[@YukkoChan28]

A Glorified Freighter 😅😅😅

[@jermasus]

Kobe is not pronounced like “cole be”, it’s “cole bae”. The “Be” sound in English would be “Bi” in romaji.

[@Mogmogs]

The hungry wolf which nicknamed by the british because of her crew compartment being small,
And the japanese take that as compliment
I found it on a kancolle wiki,

[@Will_CH1]

Cheating on the weight limit by 35%

[@Backwardlooking]

👍🏻🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

[@JohnSmith-oh9ux]

Real Tokio Express ;)