Japanese Cruiser Haguro Commemorative Watch Fob/軍艦羽黒乘組記念章

Obverse

はぐろ- Haguro https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_cruiser_Haguro



Reverse

軍艦羽黒乘組記念 - Warship Haguro Crew Commemorative

第一士官次室 - 1st Gunroom (i.e. junior officers' mess that is occupied by the officers below the rank of lieutenant).


2591 = 1931


Marked

SBD for Shobido, Osaka https://asiamedals.info/threads/mark-on-japanese-orders-who-and-when.25816 and 純銀 - pure silver.

 

The cruiser was named after the mountain Haguro on February 16, 1925.



One of four Myōkō-class cruisers.

Myōkō-class cruiser - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

All four together in 1930.

 

April 6, 1929 in Nagasaki.



In a stormy sea, 1936





Under attack at Rabaul raid on November 2, 1943





In May 1945, Haguro became the target of the British "Operation Dukedom" and was ambushed. The 26th Destroyer Flotilla found her with the destroyer Kamikaze just after midnight on 16 May 1945, and began the attack. During the battle, Kamikaze was lightly damaged, but Haguro was hit by gunfire and three Mark IX torpedoes from the British destroyers. She soon began to slow down and took a 30-degree list to port.

At 02:32, Haguro began to go down stern first in the Malacca Strait, 55 mi (48 nmi; 89 km) off Penang; Kamikaze rescued 320 survivors, but 900 men, including Vice Admiral Hashimoto and Rear Admiral Sugiura, perished with her. Rear Admiral Sugiura was posthumously promoted to vice admiral on 16 May. Haguro was the last major Japanese warship to be sunk in a surface action during the war.

 

Shipwreck

On 4 March 2003, a group of specialised shipwreck divers operating off MV Empress discovered the wreck of Haguro in 67 metres (220 ft) of water in the Malacca Strait south of Penang.



The wreck sits upright, covered in places by discarded trawler nets with her hull opposite her forward turrets buried in the seabed to about her original waterline, but this level gradually reduces until at the stern her outer propellers and shafts are actually up above the seabed. Her foremast and the top half of the bridge structure are missing/collapsed. Her mainmast is collapsed. Her funnels are missing. British hits are visible in places. The bow section forward of No. 2 turret is badly damaged by torpedo hits. Haguro's No. 1 turret and barbette are uprooted and lie against the hull, the rear of the turret on the starboard sea bed and the barrels pointing vertically towards the surface. Her No. 2 turret is trained to starboard at approximately the 1 o'clock position, with its roof collapsed and both barrels and breeches missing, as they were not replaced after being damaged by a bomb at the earlier Battle of Leyte Gulf. Her No. 3 turret's guns are askew and trained to the port quarter at the 8 o'clock position. Both her stern main turrets' guns point almost directly astern. Just behind the No. 5 turret, the wreck is broken in half, although the very stern section is still "partially" attached and heavily damaged on the port side.