1934 Emergency Navy Large Maneuvers Participation Commemorative Badges "Mum" Design/1934年非常時海軍大演習参加記念章

Silvered variation.

Obverse

皇國 - Imperial Country

reverse

非常時 - Emergency [time of emergency]

海軍大演習 - Navy Large Maneuvers

参加記念章 - Participation Commemorative Badge

1934

Stamped with

大井 - Ōi.

Ōi was the fourth of five Kuma-class light cruiser, which served in the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II. She was named after the Ōi River in Shizuoka prefecture, Japan. Designed as a command vessel for a destroyer squadron, she was converted into a torpedo cruiser with forty torpedo launch tubes in a plan abandoned by the Japanese Navy in 1942. During most of the Pacific War, she was used primarily as a fast troop transport and was sunk by a United States Navy submarine in 1944.​

Suspension (from bronze version).

 

About the term 皇國 -Kōkoku /Imperial Country/.

Kōkoku thought is an emperor-centered view of Japan that focuses on the uninterrupted imperial bloodline descending from the kami. This idea can be traced back to the medieval period. The word “Kōkoku,” literally meaning “the Imperial Country,” was the name Kokugaku scholars used to address Japan in the later half of the Edo-period.

 

Stamped with

金剛 - Kongō.

Kongō /japanese equivalent of Vajra, translation variants include "Divine Thunder", "Indestructible Diamond" or "Indra's Spear", named for Mount Kongō) was a warship of the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War I and World War II. She was the first battlecruiser of the Kongō class, among the most heavily armed ships in any navy when built. Her designer was the British naval engineer George Thurston, and she was laid down in 1911 at Barrow-in-Furness in Britain by Vickers Shipbuilding Company. Kongō was the last Japanese capital ship constructed outside Japan. She was formally commissioned in 1913, and patrolled off the Chinese coast during World War I.

Kongō underwent two major reconstructions. Beginning in 1929, the Imperial Japanese Navy rebuilt her as a battleship, strengthening her armor and improving her speed and power capabilities. In 1935, her superstructure was completely rebuilt, her speed was increased, and she was equipped with launch catapults for floatplanes. Now fast enough to accompany Japan's growing carrier fleet, Kongō was reclassified as a fast battleship. During the Second Sino-Japanese War, Kongō operated off the coast of mainland China before being redeployed to the Third Battleship Division in 1941. In 1942, she sailed as part of the Southern Force in preparation for the Battle of Singapore.

Kongō fought in many major naval actions of the Pacific War during World War II. She covered the Japanese Army's amphibious landings in British Malaya (part of present-day Malaysia) and the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) in 1942, before engaging American forces at the Battle of Midway and during the Guadalcanal Campaign. Throughout 1943, Kongō primarily remained at Truk Lagoon in the Caroline Islands, Kure Naval Base (near Hiroshima), Sasebo Naval Base (near Nagasaki), and Lingga Roads, and deployed several times in response to American aircraft carrier air raids on Japanese island bases scattered across the Pacific. Kongō participated in the Battle of the Philippine Sea and the Battle of Leyte Gulf in 1944 (22–23 October), engaging and sinking American vessels in the latter. Kongō was torpedoed and sunk by the submarine USS Sealion while transiting the Formosa Strait on 21 November 1944. She was the only Japanese battleship sunk by submarine in the Second World War​

Case with label of Shibusawa Medals https://asiamedals.info/threads/badges-and-watch-fobs-of-shibusawa-medals-tokyo.21948/

 

Stamped with

妙高- Myōkō.

Another example.

Myōkō was the lead ship of the four-member Myōkō class of heavy cruisers of the Imperial Japanese Navy. Myōkō was approved under the 1922–1929 Fleet Modernization Program, as the first heavy cruiser to be built by Japan within the design constraints imposed by the Washington Naval Treaty, and was the first of the "10,000 ton" cruisers built by any nation. Naval architect Vice-admiral Yuzuru Hiraga was able to keep the design from becoming dangerously top-heavy in its early years by continually rejecting demands from the Imperial Japanese Navy General Staff for additional equipment to the upper decks. However, during modifications and rebuildings in the 1930s, the final displacement rose to 15,933 tons, well over the treaty limits.
Myōkō participated in the Battle of Leyte Gulf as part of Vice Admiral Takeo Kurita's First Mobile Striking Force (Center Force) consisting of four battleships and ten cruisers. As the Center Force tried to force a passage through the Sibuyan Sea it was spotted and attacked by US Task Force 38. Although most airstrikes concentrated on the battleship Musashi, Myōkō was hit by a torpedo aft on the starboard side, which damaged her starboard screws. She broke off and headed for Singapore at a reduced speed of 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph), arriving on 2 November 1944. After temporary repairs she departed for Japan with a stop at Cam Ranh Bay.
En route to Cam Ranh Bay Myōkō was hit by one torpedo from a spread of six, fired by the submarine USS Bergall at 17:35 on 13 December 1944 on her aft port side, blowing away her stern, and leaving her unable to steer. She went dead in the water. Despite the extensive damage to the aft, one port screw remained operable and she could make 6 knots (11 km/h; 6.9 mph). Unable to steer, she was towed by destroyer Ushio (which assisted in damaging Bergall, which survived and returned to Fremantle) and several other ships to Singapore harbor for repairs; however, there were insufficient materials in Singapore to complete the repairs for both Myōkō and Takao, the latter which had been severely damaged by two submarine-launched torpedoes prior to the Sibuyan Sea battle.
In February 1945, the harbor commander reported that Myōkō was irreparable at Singapore without more materials, and impossible to tow to Japan. He recommended that Myōkō be kept in Singapore as a floating anti-aircraft battery, and this suggestion was approved. Both Myōkō and Takao were targeted by British midget submarine attacks on 26 July, but survived the war. Myōkō formally surrendered to Royal Navy units on 21 September 1945, and was subsequently towed to the Strait of Malacca and scuttled off Port Swettenham, Malaya.​

 

Well-patinated watch fob.

Stamped with

那珂 - Naka

Naka was a Sendai-class light cruiser in the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN), named after the Naka River in the Tochigi and Ibaraki prefectures of eastern Japan. Naka was the third (and final) vessel completed in the Sendai class of light cruisers, and like other vessels of her class, she was intended for use as the flagship of a destroyer flotilla.

 

Bronze with blackening version.

Same inscriptions as on silvered version.

Stamped with

那智 - Nachi

Nachi was the second vessel completed of the four-member Myōkō class of heavy cruisers of the Imperial Japanese Navy. Nachi was reassigned to Kure Naval District from 31 July 1944 and spent the month of August in training. Her anti-aircraft defenses were updated with an additional two twin-mount and twenty single mount Type 96 25-mm autocannon, bringing her final total to 48 barrels in September. In October 1944, she was sent to the Philippines as part of a cruiser force under the command of Vice Admiral Kiyohide Shima. During the Battle of Leyte Gulf from 24 October, Nachi and Ashigara were part of Vice Admiral Shoji Nishimura’s force, which included the battleships Yamashiro, Fuso and the cruiser Mogami. On 25 October, after the Battle of Surigao Strait, Nachi and Mogami collided, resulting in severe damage to both vessels. Nachi was forced to retire to Manila to repair damage to her bow. While under repair at Manila on 29 October, Nachi and Kumano were attacked by aircraft from USN Task Force 38. Nachi was hit by a single bomb to her aircraft deck, and this, as well as strafing attacks, killed 53 crewmen and further delayed repairs. On 5 November, again in Manila Bay, Nachi was attacked by three waves of U.S. planes from the aircraft carriers USS Lexington and Ticonderoga. She escaped the first wave undamaged, but was hit by five bombs and two or three torpedoes in the second wave while attempting to get underway. During the third wave, Nachi was hit by five torpedoes in her port side, which severed her bow and stern, and by an additional twenty bombs and 16 rockets. Nachi's flag commander, Vice Admiral Kiyohide Shima, was ashore for a conference at the time of the attack, but arrived at dockside in time to see his flagship blown apart. The central portion of the vessel sank in 102 feet (31 m) of water about 12 nautical miles (22 km) northeast of Corregidor.​

 

Blackened version with different reverse inscription.

See also https://asiamedals.info/threads/193...-badges-anchor-design-1934.24889/#post-352962

Unlike previous versions this one lacks

非常時 - Emergency [time of emergency]

line.

Also instead of

海軍大演習 - Navy Large Maneuvers

this one has

海軍特別大演習 - Navy Special Large Maneuvers


Engraved with

五十鈴 - Isuzu

Isuzu was the second of six vessels in the Nagara class of light cruisers, and like other vessels of her class, she was intended for use as the flagship of a destroyer flotilla. She was named after the Isuzu River, near Ise Shrine in the Chūbu region of Japan. She saw action during World War II in the Battle of Hong Kong and in the Solomon Islands campaign, and the Battle of Leyte Gulf before being sunk by American submarines in the Netherlands East Indies in April 1945.​

 

Engraved with

比叡 - Hiei

Hiei was a warship of the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War I and World War II. Designed by British naval architect George Thurston, she was the second launched of four Kongō-class battlecruisers, among the most heavily armed ships in any navy when built. Laid down in 1911 at the Yokosuka Naval Arsenal, Hiei was formally commissioned in 1914. She patrolled off the Chinese coast on several occasions during World War I, and helped with rescue efforts following the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake.

Starting in 1929, Hiei was converted to a gunnery training ship to avoid being scrapped under the terms of the Washington Naval Treaty. She served as Emperor Hirohito's transport in the mid-1930s. Starting in 1937, she underwent a full-scale reconstruction that completely rebuilt her superstructure, upgraded her powerplant, and equipped her with launch catapults for floatplanes. Now fast enough to accompany Japan's growing fleet of aircraft carriers, she was reclassified as a fast battleship. On the eve of the US entry into World War II, she sailed as part of Vice-Admiral Chuichi Nagumo's Combined Fleet, escorting the six carriers that attacked Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941.

As part of the Third Battleship Division, Hiei participated in many of the Imperial Japanese Navy's early actions in 1942, providing support for the invasion of the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) as well as the Indian Ocean raid of April 1942. During the Battle of Midway, she sailed in the Invasion Force under Admiral Nobutake Kondō, before being redeployed to the Solomon Islands during the Battle of Guadalcanal. She escorted Japanese carrier forces during the battles of the Eastern Solomons and Santa Cruz Islands, before sailing as part of a bombardment force under Admiral Kondō during the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal. On the evening of 13 November 1942, Hiei engaged American cruisers and destroyers alongside her sister ship Kirishima. After inflicting heavy damage on American cruisers and destroyers, Hiei was crippled by American vessels. Subjected to an air attack from the USS Enterprise, she was scuttled on the evening of 13 November 1942.​

 

Silvered variation of Isuzu watch fob https://asiamedals.info/threads/193...ive-badges-mum-design-1934.24884/#post-352945

 

Bronze with blackening version of Aoba watch fob.

Obverse

皇國 - Imperial Country

reverse

非常時 - Emergency [time of emergency]

海軍大演習 - Navy Large Maneuvers

参加記念章 - Participation Commemorative Badge

1934

Stamped with

青葉 - Aoba https://asiamedals.info/threads/193...badges-and-watch-fobs-1935.23149/#post-346685

Original case.

海軍大演習 - Navy Large Maneuvers

参加記念章 - Participation Commemorative Badge