On June 30th, 2019, the RV Petrel announced on Facebook that they'd located the wreck of a Japanese warship near the island of Palawan. This ship was the Maya, a Takao class heavy cruiser that had last been seen on October 23rd, 1944.
Posted on 7/2/2019
Revised with information from posted video on 7/6/2019
At 0557 hours on October 23rd, 1944, Maya was struck by four torpedoes from the USS Dace (SS-247), a Gato class submarine, from a range of 1,800 yards. The first torpedo struck the bow, in the area of the forward chain locker. The second struck near Turret I, the third hit the Number 7 boiler room, and the last stuck the aft engine room.
Maya sank in less than ten minutes, taking 335 crewmen and her captain down with her. After the end of the battle and the resulting losses, 498 of Maya's complement of 1105 were lost.
This opening move in the larger battle of Leyte Gulf put two Japanese heavy cruisers on the bottom of the ocean (Atago and Maya), and crippled the Takao. This would have a serious impact on the later Battle off Samar, where the addition of three heavy cruisers might have caused even more mayhem among the ships that were stationed there.
Now that the circumstances of the wreck have been established, let's have a look at the wreck itself.
The Wreck
The bow of Maya has been broken/blown off, and is resting upside down on the port side of the stern of the rest of the ship. Part of the anchor chain can be seen wrapped around, but there aren't any photographs or video of the torpedo damage to the bow section that is the most likely culprit for its detachment.
Absent is the Imperial Crysanthamum that was attached to the bows of major Japanese warships, as can be seen in the photo below of Chokai, another ship in the Takao class.
Since the bow is inverted, there is a good chance that it is buried under the sediment.
Turrets One and Two, each with two 20.3 cm/50 caliber guns. These were new mounts designated the model 'E' and were designed to elevate to 70 degrees for use against aircraft. But the highly restrictive tonnage limitations imposed by the naval treaties of the 1920s and 1930s resulted in a lightweight mechanism that wasn't able to properly handle fire over 55 degrees of elevation.
Tonnage limits also resulted in the tremendously thin 'armor' protection, only 25 mm over the entire gunhouse. There were also some thin steel sheets as can be seen on Turret II, these were for heat protection and are separated from the gunhouse by about 10-15 cm of space.
The large box structure on the roof of Turret I is the 6-meter rangefinder, and the circular protrusions that can be seen on both are the periscopes for the gun captains.
Another view of a 20.3 cm turret, the central hatch in the face is the turret training porthole, the two hatches on the sides are for gun laying. The captain's periscope can be seen just behind the training porthole, and the 6-meter rangefinder can be seen at the very back of the turret.
Maya was badly damaged by American aircraft in 1942 and 1943, leading to a major rebuild at Yokosuka. The Number III turret was removed entirely, leaving Maya with eight 20.3 cm guns in four turrets. Also removed were the twin torpedo tubes, the twin 25 mm guns, the 120 mm guns, and the floatplane hanger. In their place, six twin 127 mm mounts were added, as were thirteen triple 25 mm AA mounts, nine single 25 mm guns, 36 13.1 mm machine guns, four quad 61 cm torpedo tubes, depth charges, and a 2-Shiki 2-Go RADAR set. Many of these weapons will be seen later on.
Astern of the main battery are three of the triple 25 mm AA mounts that were located in front of the superstructure. One is on the lower platform that is barely visible, the other two are on the upper platform. Of note is the gun shield, which was so rare I can't even find photographs of them elsewhere. Maya mounted 13 of these weapons, each of which had a crew of nine men. Two loaders for each gun, and one sight setter, one pointer, and one trainer.
As has been mentioned every time these weapons show up on this blog, the Type 96 wasn't a good weapons system. It had a small magazine capacity, excessive vibration, excessive flash, lacking gunsights, and projectiles that were just too light and short ranged by the 1940s.
This is a view of the same platform from the starboard side, which includes the anchor chain that runs across a large part of the ship.
Also on the starboard side, where the other 25 mm mount can be faintly seen on the right side of the shot. A higher resolution photo of this same view can be seen below.
Continuing father back on the port side of the ship, there is another triple 25 mm mount, along with a high-angle rangefinder of some description. Probably a 4.5-meter type of some type, this is Item 7 on the deck plan below.
This is on the level of the middle bridge, with the upper bridge deck above it, and the deck that can be seen above the rangefinder is the compass platform.
This is another shot from the starboard side that shows the corresponding raised 25 mm mount as well as the front face of the monolithic superstructure tower.
A slightly higher view of the compass platform and the fire control platform above that, including some of the additional AA directors that were added to the roof of the compass platform.
One of the defining traits of the Takao class was their massive bridge structures, which is mostly intact on Maya. This is the Compass Platform level, with the binnacle for the compass standing in the right half of the frame. To the left of it is a voice tube and the stand for what was probably a set of 12 cm binoculars. There were several sets of these located on this platform as can be seen in the diagram below. As part of their decisive battle doctrine, the IJN put a lot of effort into technology and weapons for night actions, and the massive binoculars were a major part of that in the days before the fielding of RADAR.
Off to the extreme right is probably what is left of another compass, but there aren't enough photos to say for sure.
The circular structure on the left side of the photo (item 8 below), is what is left of a 1.5 meter navigation rangefinder.
Other items on this level that are missing is a 40 cm signal lamp and the books that held the codes for the signals.
What remains of another set of binoculars, along with an electric headset on the right side. Since this doesn't match what was seen on the port side, this is probably either on the port side or is somewhere else entirely on the superstructure.
A closer view of the fire control platform.
An elevated view of the fire control platform from the starboard side, with a pair of some type of directors for AA guns, and some other observation equipment.
The windows on the center to the left side are for the Sokuteki room (target course and speed plotting room) on the bottom and the main gun command communications platform on the top.
At the top of the superstructure is the main gun firing platform and this, the remains of a rangefinder. Unfortunately, the degradation of the structure means that the exact type cannot be properly named. But based on the shape, it is probable that this is the main director control tower, and the raised object behind it is the base of a 4.5-meter rangefinder.
This is another part of the above range finder, alas I cannot read Japanese characters, and while I know someone who is learning Japanese at the time of this writing it's a bit late to be asking him to translate.
A distant view of the rangefinder from the port side, with the red-and-black component visible on the rear of the exposed equipment.
This looks to be the survey telescope tower, which was a feature on the Takao class from when they were first built.
Takao and Atago had these removed when they were rebuilt in the late 1930s, but Maya seems to have retained this until she was sunk.
Continuing back on the port side is a 12.7 cm gun and a triple 25 mm mount on a platform above it. Rising above both of them is the foremast, which looks to be mostly intact. The debris on the upper right side is the remains of the forward funnel.
A single-mounted 25 mm/60 Type 96 cannon on the port side of the ship. Altogether Maya sported 66 25 mm guns in various mountings, around 27 of them were in single mounts like this one.
One of Maya's six twin Type 89 12.7 cm/40 gun mounts, this one also on the port side. There are very few images and photos of Maya post-AA refit, but this is probably the forwardmost mount on the port side, close to the cluster of 25 mm mounts seen above.
12.7 cm DP mounts on the starboard side, these weapons weren't terrible but they were lacking in range. But the greatest shortcoming in Japanese AA was their lack of advanced fire control directors and proximity-fuzed shells for AA guns. This held true for when they deployed superior AA guns like the 10 cm/65 Type 98 dual-purpose guns, which probably would have been a better weapon for an AA cruiser like Maya.
Another Type 89 mount, with what looks to be a ready ammunition locker faintly visible on the left side of the mount, just above the chain that is strung across it. These weapons fired fixed ammunition that weighed just over 75 pounds, with a projectile running around an average of 50 pounds. This particular mount shows the high elevation capability of this weapon, which was able to raise the barrels up to nearly 90 degrees.
This is a recess in the side of the hull where the torpedo tubes would be located, but with the sediment and the rust, there is little identifiable. Something that is of note is how high the sediment here comes up the hull of the ship, on this side it's nearly into the torpedo mounts.
This is the mainmast with the remains of the aircraft crane, which have both collapsed. The cylindrical structure beneath them is a fire control director of some kind, probably another 4.5-meter type like the one on top of the main superstructure.
This is the base of a No. 2 Model 5 catapult on the port side of the ship. Maya had two of these, one on each beam, and each catapult was 64.3 feet (19.6 meters) long. It is probable that Maya still carried three floatplanes, these would be of the Mitsubishi F1M2 'Pete' or the Aichi E13A1 'Jake' types. These would probably have been destroyed or otherwise lost when the ship was sunk.
The Number IV turret, with one gun showing the extent of their possible elevation, with most of the deck having collapsed away from it. The deck below the weather deck, the middle deck, in this area was filled with crew quarters. There isn't really much else that can be identified amid the debris in the middle deck.
A single 25 mm gun can be seen in the collapsed deck area, still upright on its mounting.
Depth charges on the port side, probably Type 2 charges which entered service in 1943. It seems that Maya had four depth charge racks, these clearly were of no help to Maya in 1944 though. This also shows how deeply Maya has settled into the sediment.
This is the fantail, the very stern of the ship. A set of depth charges can be seen on the top of the frame.
The first item from Maya that they located was this smashed paravane a short distance away from the ship.
Further History
The Takao class, like the rest of the treaty-era Japanese cruisers, was built with an emphasis on firepower at the expense of most other aspects. As built the class carried ten 20.3 cm guns, one more than American heavy cruisers, and they also carried a fearsome array of sixteen ready 24 inch (61 centimeter) torpedoes. Each torpedo carried an explosive charge of 1080 pounds and had a top speed of up to 50 knots, and was fueled by compressed oxygen. These were the types of weapons that caused so much mayhem in the waters of Ironbottom Sound, several of the ships lost to these weapons have been covered in previous posts.
But this armament came at a serious cost.
Japanese cruisers and destroyers of the era were very lightly constructed and adequately armored at best (though no one had very well protected treaty cruisers). The main belt on the Takao class varied from four to five inches (102 to 127 mm) over the machinery and magazines respectively. The belt was inclined at 12 degrees and was 3.5 meters high around the machinery and 4.2 meters by the magazines. Most of the armor deck was 1.4 inches thick but went up to a respectable 3.5 inches over the magazines.
The Japanese pursuit for ships that were individually superior to anything that they might face came to a head in 1935 in the Fourth Fleet Incident. During a typhoon, two brand-new heavy cruisers had to be repaired from major hull cracks, and two new destroyers had their entire bows torn away. The causes were traced to the new practice of welding ship hulls, which saved hundreds of tons in weight since it allowed the removal of rivets. Allegedly, the IJN deliberately used flawed equations when designing their ships as well, which gave tonnage figures that were under the treaty limits but actually produced ships that were hundreds of tons over.
As a result of the Fourth Fleet Incident, the IJN embarked on a program to reduce the top-heaviness of their ships, including on the first two ships of the Takao class. Maya was not refitted until 1943-44 though.
During the 1943-44 refit when she was converted to an AA cruiser, she was fitted with bulges that increased her beam from 62.3 feet to 67.9 feet. The stored fuel was reduced to 2370 tons from 2570 tons, and displacement increased to 13,350 tons standard.
There are disappointingly few photographs of Maya so far, especially lacking are photos of the torpedo tubes and the areas where the torpedoes struck. Hopefully, more photographs or video will be released soon.
Sources:
http://combinedfleet.com/ships/takao
http://www.combinedfleet.com/maya_t.htm
http://navypedia.org/ships/japan/jap_cr_takao.htm
http://www.navweaps.com/Weapons/WNJAP_8-50_3ns.php
http://www.navweaps.com/Weapons/WNJAP_5-40_t89.php
http://www.navweaps.com/Weapons/WNJAP_25mm-60_mg.php
Anatomy of the Ship: Takao - Skulski, Janusz
Wreck images from the RV Petrel Facebook page
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