The Agano-class light cruiser was the newest class of light cruisers built by Japan in World War II and represented Japan's highest achievement in light cruiser design at the time. It was developed to solve the problem that it was difficult for the light cruisers of the Japanese Navy to cooperate with the new destroyers. This class of ships has a modern style in terms of shape, structure and layout, and has good performance. The main characteristics of the Agano-class light cruisers include: Captain 1745 meters, width 152 meters, draft 56 meters, standard displacement 6652 tons, full load displacement 8534 tons, crew establishment 730 people. The power system is provided by a steam turbine with a power of 100,000 horsepower, a total of 4 axles, and a speed of 353 knots, with a range of 6300 nautical miles and 18 knots.
The class is equipped with six 152 mm 50x diameter guns, which are arranged on two main gun turrets in the bow and one in the stern. In addition, it carried a seaplane. Although the Agano-class light cruisers have modern features in design, due to the limited construction capacity of Japan after the outbreak of World War II, only two light cruisers of this class were built, namely the Agano and Nomi. This also made it difficult for the Japanese Navy to effectively replenish the warships lost in the war, resulting in the gradual weakening of the Japanese Navy. The Agano-class light cruisers were a type of light cruisers built by the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II. The class consists of four ships, namely the Agano, Noh, Yasu, and Sake Beggar.
The main ** of the Agano-class light cruisers consisted of two twin 76-mm 60-caliber secondary guns, two triple 25-mm anti-aircraft guns, two twin 13-mm machine guns, and two quadruple 610-mm torpedo tubes. In addition, ships of this class can carry two seaplanes. Compared to the previous light cruisers of the Japanese Navy, the Agano class had several technical advantages. First of all, the power plant of this class of ships is all burned with oil, and the number of chimneys is reduced to one, which makes the surface of the ship clean and tidy, and increases the effective space. Secondly, the Agano class uses three twin 152-mm guns, which have more firepower and a more reasonable layout of the main guns. Third, the ship uses two quadruple torpedo tubes, located on the center line, which can be fired to both sides, and has a reloading device that can quickly reload torpedoes.
In addition, the bow of the Agano class adopts a spherical design, which reduces wave resistance and increases speed. However, the Agano-class light cruisers did not play their due role. Due to its late commissioning, the Japanese Navy has gone downhill, and the four Agano-class ships can only be regarded as funeral objects of the defeat of the Japanese Navy. The lead ship, the USS Agano, was sunk by a U.S. submarine in February 1944, the No. 2 ship No. 2 was sunk by a U.S. aircraft carrier aircraft during the Battle of Leyte Gulf in October 1944, the No. 3 ship Yatsuki was sunk by a U.S. aircraft carrier carrier along with the Super Battleship Yamato in the Battle Kikusui in April 1945, and the No. 4 ship, the Sake Beggar, was not sunk by the U.S. Army but was sunk by the U.S. Army as a target ship after the war.
Although the Agano class was one of the most advanced light cruisers of the old Japanese Navy, there was still a technological gap compared to the newer light cruisers of other naval powers. This is also one of the proofs that the Japanese Navy in World War II was "higher than the sky, and its strength is thinner than paper".