Japanese cruiser Agano

Agano off Sasebo, October 1942
History
Empire of Japan
Name	Agano
Namesake	Agano River
Ordered	1939 Fiscal Year
Builder	Sasebo Naval Arsenal
Laid down	18 June 1940
Launched	22 October 1941
Commissioned	31 October 1942
Stricken	31 March 1944
Fate	Sunk by USS Skate, 15 February 1944
General characteristics (as built)
Class and type	Agano-class light cruiser
Displacement	6,652 t (6,547 long tons) (standard) 8,534 t (8,399 long tons) (full load)
Length	174.1 m (571 ft 2 in) (o/a)
Beam	15.2 m (49 ft 10 in)
Draft	5.63 m (18 ft 6 in)
Installed power	6 water-tube boilers 100,000 shp (75,000 kW)
Propulsion	4 shafts; 4 geared steam turbine sets
Speed	35 knots (65 km/h; 40 mph)
Range	6,300 nmi (11,700 km; 7,200 mi) at 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph)
Complement	51 officers, 649 sailors; 57 and 669 when serving as a flagship
Sensors and processing systems	Type 93 Model 2 hydrophone Type 93 Model 3 sonar
Armament	3 × twin 15 cm (6 in) guns 2 × twin 8 cm (3 in) AA guns 2 × triple 2.5 cm (1 in) AA guns 2 × twin 13.2 mm (0.5 in) AA MGs 2 × quadruple 61 cm (24 in) torpedo tubes 2 × depth charge chutes, 18 depth charges 3 × mines
Armor	Belt 60 mm (2.4 in) Deck 20 mm (0.8 in)
Aircraft carried	2 × floatplanes
Aviation facilities	1 × aircraft catapult

Agano (阿賀野) was the lead ship of her class of four light cruisers built for the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) during World War II. Completed in 1942, she escorted a troop convoy to New Guinea in December. In early 1943 the ship participated in Operation Ke, the evacuation of Japanese troops from Guadalcanal. Six months later Agano transported troops and supplies to New Guinea and she played a role in the Battle of Empress Augusta Bay in early November where she damaged the destroyer USS Spence. A few weeks later, the ship was badly damaged by American airstrikes and she sailed for Truk under her own power the following day. While en route, Agano was torpedoed by an American submarine and had to be towed to her destination. After several months of repairs, she left for Japan, but was intercepted and sunk by another American submarine in February 1944. Most of her crew was rescued by her escorting destroyer, but that ship was sunk with the loss of most of her crew and all of Agano's survivors by an American airstrike the following day.