JUP CRUISER

Grey River Argus, 23 May 1942, Page 5

JUP CRUISER

SUNK BY TORPEDO In S.W. Pacific ALSO TWO MERCHANT SHIPS. (Special to N.Z. Press Assn.) (Rec. 11.20). MELBOURNE, May 22. One Japanese heavy cruiser and two Japanese merchant vessels, one of nine thousand tons and one of six thousand tons, have been sunk oy AAlied submarines in the South-west Pacific.

These sinkings have not been reported previously. They are announced in to-day’s communique from General MacArthur’s headquarters. The cruiser was one of the “Kako” class, carrying six eight-inch guns. There is no indication given of the areas in which the successes were scored, nor are any date? of the actions given.

Japan, it is believed, had four cruisers of the Kako class, these vessels carrying a normal complement" of about six hundred.- Tn addition to six eight-inch guns, they are armed with four point seven antiaircraft guns, and eight or twelve twenty-one-inch torpedo tubes. The class has comprised the Kako, Hurutaka, Kinugasa. and Aoba. All were completed between April, 1925, and September. 1926, LATER. The size of the Kako class cruisers is seven thousand one hundred tons.