Referred to by naval authorities of the time as an 8600 ton "medium cruiser' the Mogami was the first of a new class of Japanese cruisers that were classified officially as "light" but were very nearly "heavy" cruisers.
The Mogami as a Light Cruiser
Mogami was a happy and hopeful ship when she was commissioned. Her first commanding officer in those cheerful days was the well known Baron Tomoshige Samejima. Samejima later went on to be an Aide to the Emperor and the Admiral in command of the Imperial 4th and later 8th Fleets during World War Two. Mogami was extensively modified into a heavy cruiser design of some 13670 tons in 1939 and refitted with ten 203mm guns. She was paired with her similarly upgraded sister Mikuma in Admiral Kurita's Cruiser Division 7 just before World War Two broke out.
The Mogami as a Heavy cruiser 1939-1942
In the opening days of World War Two, Mogami and her squadron supported the Japanese occupation of Indochina, the invasions of Malaysia and Java as well as participated in a raid into the Indian Ocean. On February 28 1942 she found herself as part of the force engaged with the ABDA cruisers at the lopsided Battle of Sunda Strait. In that nighttime engagement she helped sink the outgunned cruisers USS Houston and HMAS Perth. After surviving that battle Mogami was later damaged in a collision with her sister the Mikuma while only 90 miles off of Midway island just three months later. The two cruisers were caught by carrier and land based US planes two days after the pivotal battle and churned to junk metal by wave after wave of SBD dive bombers. Mikuma sank but Mogami‘s luck held and she limped back to Japanese waters.
The Mogami as a Cruiser-Carrier
The battered Mogami, which had taken no less than six 500 pound bombs off Midway, spent ten months in repair and conversion. Uniquely she was turned into a 14142 ton hybrid cruiser-aircraft carrier. Her forward section was left that of a heavy cruiser and six of her 203mm guns were maintained, while her aft section was that of an aircraft carrier complete with a flattop, cranes, fueling and arming facilities. After this conversion, she was able to carry up to a dozen armed seaplanes including Watanabe Aichi E13A1 "Jake" and Mitsubishi F1M "Pete" aircraft (although she rarely carried that many). Her armament was augmented with a greater quantity of antiaircraft weapons and air search radar. In this configuration she was the perfect scout ship: fast and with a long range flight wing that could find any threat that she couldn’t outfight, while still far enough away that she had time to escape-her survivability was all but assured.
Mogami and the Battle of Surigao Strait
After a year of scouting missions, escort duty and hiding from the growing Allied fleets in the Western Pacific, Mogami was sent along with bulk of the Japanese navy to engage the US fleet in the waters of the Philippines. As a part of the larger Battle of the Leyte Gulf her group fought in the lopsided Battle of Surigao Strait on the morning of October 25, 1944. It was a replay of the 1942 Battle of Sunda Strait but essentially in reverse. The Mogami, with only five aircraft on board, was the only Japanese cruiser facing 8 modern Allied cruisers. Her accompanying pair of Japanese battleships were of no help as they were facing a half of dozen US battlewagons themselves. By the early dawn the Mogami was drifting, battered and broken from heavy gun hits and bombs from the USS Denver, USS Louisville and USS Portland as well as Avenger torpedo bombers. She had collided with another ship and her steering compartment was wrecked. Finally her crew abandoned her and she was scuttled.
Mogami‘s lucky ticket had finally been punched.
Sources
Actions and Activities after 4 June 1942 -- Sinking of Japanese Cruiser Mikuma, 6 June 1942 Department of the Navy, Naval Historical and Heritage Command.
Howarth, Stephen. The Fighting Ships of the Rising Sun: The Drama of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1895-1945. Athenaeum
Jane, Fred T. The Imperial Japanese Navy Thacker
Jentsura, Hansgeorg. Warships of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1869-1945. Naval Institute Press
Lacroix, Eric and Wells, Linton Japanese cruisers of the Pacific War
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