page_title: Asama-class cruiser
section_title: The Pacific War
hierarchical_section_title: Asama-class cruiser / Service / The Pacific War
caption_attribution_description: English: Japanese cruiser "Asama" after the end of the war. 日本語: 日立造船因島工場に係留されている練習特務艦「浅間」（1946年8月25日）
context_page_description: The Asama-class cruisers were a pair of armored cruisers built for the Imperial Japanese Navy in the late 1890s. As Japan lacked the industrial capacity to build such warships herself, the ships were built in Britain. They were part of the "Six-Six Fleet" expansion program that began after the defeat of China during the First Sino-Japanese War of 1894–95. Between them, the sister ships participated in all four main naval battles of the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–05—the Battle of Port Arthur, the Battle off Ulsan, the Battle of the Yellow Sea, and the Battle of Tsushima—but played a much more minor role in World War I. Asama ran aground while searching for German commerce raiders in early 1915 and was under repair for the next two years. Tokiwa participated in the Battle of Tsingtao and also searched for commerce raiders. Both ships made training cruises during the war and continued to do so after the war.
  Asama continued to make training cruises until she ran aground again in 1935, after which she became a stationary training ship for the rest of her career. Tokiwa was converted into a minelayer in 1922–24.
context_section_description: A few days after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Tokiwa and the other minelayers of the 19th Division of the 4th Fleet escorted two troop transports that carried the occupation forces for the Gilbert Islands. In January 1942, the ship participated in Operation R (the invasion of Rabaul and Kavieng) and returned to Kwajalein Atoll afterwards. She was damaged by American carrier aircraft in February 1942 and forced to return home for repairs. Tokiwa returned to Truk on 14 July, and reoccupied Makin Atoll the following month after the Makin Raid.
  The ship returned home in 1943 and began to lay defensive minefields in 1944. She was moderately damaged by a mine in April 1945 and struck an American mine two months later. By this time, her armament had been augmented with approximately ten 25 mm Type 96 AA guns in single mounts and 80 depth charges. In addition Tokiwa was fitted with Type 3, Mark 1, Model 3 and Type 2, Mark 2, Model 1 air search radars. While in northern Japan a few days before the end of the war, Tokiwa was severely damaged by American carrier aircraft and had to be beached by her crew lest she sink.
  Asama was reclassified as a training ship in 1942 and became a gunnery training ship later that year. She was disarmed at some point during the war, only retaining several 8 cm/40 3rd Year Type anti-aircraft guns. The ship survived the war intact and she and Tokiwa were stricken from the navy list in November 1945. Asama was scrapped in 1946–47 while Tokiwa was refloated in 1947 and scrapped that same year.
caption: Asama on 25 August 1946
exif: {"Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "CanoScan LiDE 60", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "300", "Image YResolution": "300", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Microsoft Windows Photo Viewer 6.1.7600.16385", "Image DateTime": "2012:11:18 19:19:39", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "2312", "Image Padding": "[]", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "300", "Thumbnail YResolution": "300", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "4626", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "3973", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2012:11:16 18:20:21", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1845", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1118", "EXIF FileSource": "Reflection Print Scanner", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF Padding": "[]"}