page_title: Japanese cruiser Suzuya (1934)
section_title: Early career
hierarchical_section_title: Japanese cruiser Suzuya (1934) / Service career / Early career
caption_attribution_description: English: Japanese cruiser Suzuya moored in Kure Naval harbor, photographed fron the battleship Fuso. Русский: Японский крейсер «Судзуя» на стоянке в Курэ, снятый с линкора «Фусо».
context_page_description: Suzuya was the third of four vessels in the Mogami class of heavy cruisers in the Imperial Japanese Navy. She was named after the Suzuya river on Karafuto.
context_section_description: Suzuya was launched on 20 November 1934 at Yokosuka Naval Arsenal in a ceremony attended by Emperor Hirohito. She was completed in January 1936, but on completion was immediately placed in the reserves while waiting for dry dock space to permit reconstruction and modifications based on experience gained during trials of Mogami to strengthen her welds, and to add bulges to her hull to reduce weight. She was officially commissioned on 31 October 1937; however instead of entering active service, she immediately returned to dry dock for refit work to upgrade her main battery to the heavy cruiser format with 20 cm/50 3rd Year Type naval guns. These  upgrades were completed on 30 September 1939, at which she was assigned to Kure Naval District as CruDiv7 of the IJN 2nd Fleet with her sister ships Mogami, Mikuma and Kumano.
  Suzuya, under the command of Captain Masatomi Kimura, was dispatched on 23 January 1941 as part of a show of force following the Battle of Ko Chang in the Franco-Thai War. She returned to Kure for maintenance, and then took part in training exercises and drills in Japanese home waters though June. From July 1941, she participated in the occupation of Cochinchina, French Indochina from her forward operating base on Hainan, after Japan and Vichy French authorities reached an understanding on use of air facilities and harbors.
  At the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor, Suzuya was assigned to cover the invasion of Malaya as part of Vice Admiral Jisaburo Ozawa's First Southern Expeditionary Fleet, providing close support for landings of Japanese troops at Singora, Pattani and Kota Bharu.
  On 9 December 1941, the Japanese submarine I-65 reported sighting of Royal Navy Force Z (the Royal Navy battleship HMS Prince of Wales, battlecruiser HMS Repulse and supporting destroyers). The report was received by light cruiser Sendai, which relayed the message to Admiral Ozawa aboard his flagship, Chōkai. However, the reception was poor and the message took another 90 minutes to decode. Moreover, I-65's report was incorrect about the heading of Force Z. Two Aichi E13A1 "Jake" floatplanes from Suzuya and Kumano attempted to shadow Force Z, but both were forced to ditch due to lack of fuel. Only Suzuya's crew was recovered. The following day, Force Z was overwhelmed by torpedo bombers of the 22nd Air Flotilla from Indochina.
  In December 1941, Suzuya was tasked with the invasion of Sarawak, together with Kumano, covering landings of Japanese troops at Miri. From her base at Cam Rahn Bay, she sortied with Kumano to cover landings of troops at Anambas, Endau, Palembang and Banka Island, Sabang on Sumatra and Java in the Netherlands East Indies from the end of December 1941 to the middle of March. Suzuya also participated in the seizure of the Andaman Islands in the Indian Ocean on 20 March 1942.
caption: Suzuya in Kure Naval harbor, January 5, 1939. Taken from battleship Fusō.
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