As completed, the Mogami was a fast and well-armed cruiser warship for her time, utilizing the latest in naval construction but, on the whole, still limited by the London Naval Treaty. Her start immediately saw the warship suffer through a period of mechanical issues and defects in her construction quickly showed through. Her design showcased a poor seaworthy vessel that was top-heavy, a horrible quality for a large warship to have - particularly in rough seas. Her deficiencies were such that a complete overhaul of the class was eventually ordered to "right-the-wrongs", leading to a much improved warship before the end.
Mogami's first actions of World War 2 were in the invasion of French Indochina during the middle of 1941. The invasion of Sarawek in December of that year then followed and the warship was then featured in several high profile naval actions that included the Battle of Sunda Straight (February 1942), the Indian Ocean Raids (April 1942) and the Battle of Midway (June 1942). She took damage from American aerial bombs on June 6th.
Following this, she was earmarked for conversion as an "aircraft cruiser" which increased her fleet air arm to eleven Aichi floatplane aircraft, losing turrets No.4 and No.5 in the process. Type 21 air-search radar was also installed as were 10 x Type 96 triple-gunned AA guns (these replaced the original AA protection scheme). The changes led to an increase in overall length to 650 feet, beam to 66 feet and draught to 19.3 feet. Displacement followed by increasing to 13,670 tons. However, the major losses of aircraft carriers of the IJN at the hands of the Americans required such drastic conversions to be made.
From there, various support actions followed. Eventually the warship became a participant in the naval actions related to the Battle of Philippine Sea (June 1944), the Battle of Leyte Gulf (October 1944) and the Battle of the Surigao Straight (October 1944) - the latter where she would meet her end.
American Navy torpedo boats closed in on her and accompanying IJN ships but Mogami survived this initial attack only to be later hit by gunfire from USS Portland which destroyed her bridge section, killing senior officers in the process. After colliding with Nachi during her retreat, Mogami began taking on water and her situation only worsened when onboard fires ignited several of her torpedoes in storage - this took out one of her engines. More Allied gunfire raked the warship until USN torpedo bombers moved in to finish her. Mogami remained afloat for two hours as crews abandoned her. IJN Akebono was called in to provide the death knell and sent her to the bottom of the sea with a torpedo hit. About 192 of Mogami's crew went down with her on October 25th, 1944 - bringing about her wartime tenure.
All four ships of the Mogami-class were sunk during actions in World War 2 - a fate seen with other ship and submarine classes fielded by the IJN as well.
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