1935 Emergency Navy Special Maneuvers Participation Badges "Anchor" Design/1935年非常時海軍特別演習参加章

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1935

非常時 - Emergency [time of emergency]

海軍特別演習 - Navy Special Maneuvers

参加章 - Participation Badge

Stamped with

妙高 - Myōkō

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.​

 

Stamped with

陸奥 - Mutsu

Mutsu was the second and last Nagato-class dreadnought battleship built for the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) at the end of World War I. It was named after the province. In 1923 she carried supplies for the survivors of the Great Kantō earthquake. The ship was modernized in 1934–1936 with improvements to her armour and machinery, and a rebuilt superstructure in the pagoda mast style. Other than participating in the Battle of Midway and the Battle of the Eastern Solomons in 1942, where she did not see any significant combat, Mutsu spent most of the first year of the Pacific War in training. She returned to Japan in early 1943. That June, one of her aft magazines detonated while she was at anchor, sinking the ship with the loss of 1,121 crew and visitors. The IJN investigation into the cause of her loss concluded that it was the work of a disgruntled crew member. The navy dispersed the survivors in an attempt to conceal the sinking in the interest of morale in Japan.

 

Stamped with

龍驤 - Ryūjō

Ryūjō (Japanese: 龍驤 "Prancing Dragon") was a light aircraft carrier built for the Imperial Japanese Navy during the early 1930s. Small and lightly built in an attempt to exploit a loophole in the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922, she proved to be top-heavy and only marginally stable and was back in the shipyard for modifications to address those issues within a year of completion. With her stability improved, Ryūjō returned to service and was employed in operations during the Second Sino-Japanese War. During World War II, she provided air support for operations in the Philippines, Malaya, and the Dutch East Indies, where her aircraft participated in the Second Battle of the Java Sea. During the Indian Ocean raid in April 1942, the carrier attacked British merchant shipping with her guns and aircraft. Ryūjō next participated in the Battle of the Aleutian Islands in June. She was sunk by American carrier aircraft at the Battle of the Eastern Solomons on 24 August 1942.​