A colorised photograph of the Imperial Japanese Navy Kinugasa, an Aoba-class heavy cruiser taken in 1929. Kinugasa took part in several important battles including the attack on Pearl Harbor, the invasions of Guam and Wake Island, the battle of the Coral Sea, Savo Island, and Cape Esperance. She was sunk at the naval battle of Guadalcanal on 14 November 1942.

#IJN strength for the second attempt to take #WakeIsland #OTD Dec. 23 1941 (including those remaining from the first attempt): aircraft carriers #Sōryū and #Hiryū, heavy cruisers #Tone and #Chikuma, light cruisers #Aoba #Furutake #Kako and #Kinugasa (pictured), and 7 destroyers. 1/2

None of the six carriers that took part in the raid survived the war. #Akagi, #Hiryū and #Soryū were damaged at #Midway and scuttled. #Kaga was sunk at Midway. #Shōkaku was torpedoed during the battle of the Philippine sea. #Zuikaku was sunk by naval aircraft at Leyte Gulf. #NavalHistory #WW2 #IJN

#OTD Nov. 26th 1941, the #ImperialJapaneseNavy First Air Fleet under Adm. Chuichi #Nagumo departed #Etorofu for #PearlHarbor. Emperor #Hirohito gave his final approval for #OperationZ on Dec. 1st. #NavalHistory #MaritimeHistory #USN #IJN #Akagi #Kaga #Sōryū #Hiryū #Shōkaku #Zuikaku