Action of 8 June 1945

Part of the Pacific theatre of the Second World War

Japanese Myōkō-class heavy cruiser Ashigara

Date	8 June 1945
Location	Bangka Strait, Java Sea 01°59′S 104°56′E / 1.983°S 104.933°E / -1.983; 104.933Coordinates: 01°59′S 104°56′E / 1.983°S 104.933°E / -1.983; 104.933
Result	British victory

Belligerents

United Kingdom

Japan

Commanders and leaders

Commander Arthur Hezlet

Captain Hayao Miura

Strength

1 submarine

1 Heavy cruiser
1 Destroyer

Casualties and losses

None

1 cruiser sunk
1,350 dead

The Action of 8 June 1945, sometimes called the Sinking of Ashigara was a naval action that resulted in the sinking of the heavy cruiser Ashigara of the Imperial Japanese Navy by the British Royal Navy submarine HMS Trenchant. Ashigara—which was being escorted by the destroyer Kamikaze—was being used to transport troops from Indonesia for the defence of Singapore and the sinking resulted in a huge loss of life.

Trenchant, under the command of Arthur Hezlet, took up position on the inside of the Bangka Strait while the submarine HMS Stygian watched on the other side. On 8 June 1945, Ashigara left Batavia for Singapore with 1,600 troops on board to reinforce the defence of Singapore. She was escorted by the destroyer Kamikaze which had been present at the Japanese defeat in the Malacca Strait. Blueback reported this movement to Hezlet as he was in a better position and soon patrolled the area.

Kamikaze was patrolling the area and soon a cautious Hezlet spotted the masts of Ashigara nearly 6 mi (5.2 nmi; 9.7 km) away through the periscope at around 11:48. It soon became clear to Hezlet that he could not reach a firing position closer to Ashigara than 4,000 yd (3,700 m), the limit of his torpedoes' range.

At such a distance, Hezlet had to make precise estimable calculations before his chance of an attack disappeared. After 21 minutes, Trenchant fired a full bow salvo of eight torpedoes at about 12:12 at a range of 4,000 yd (3,700 m) aimed individually from a quarter of length ahead to a quarter of a length astern. Because of the shoreline to port Ashigara could only alter toward Trenchant and that meant running into the torpedoes. After three minutes five torpedoes struck Ashigara. Trenchant's company queued to view through the search periscope, but the periscope attracted anti-aircraft fire from Ashigara. Hezlet then turned Trenchant to bring her stern tubes to bear and fired two more torpedoes nearly an hour after first sighting the cruiser. Torpedoes fired by Ashigara at Trenchant's periscope missed, but a fire caused by the first hits had spread rapidly through Ashigara causing a huge pall of smoke to obscure Hezlet's view.

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Wikipedia