Ships
- IJN Myoko Captain from 11 August 1941
Teijiro Yamazumi, a captain in the Imperial Japanese Navy, took command of the heavy cruiser Myoko on 11 August 1941, succeeding Captain Hideo Yano. The ship had been built at Yokosuka and commissioned in 1929 as the lead ship of a class of four heavy cruisers. She carried ten 20-centimeter guns in five twin turrets and a large battery of torpedo tubes. That autumn Rear Admiral Takeo Takagi flew his flag in Myoko as commander of the Fifth Cruiser Division, with Nachi and Haguro as the other ships. Yamazumi was the cruiser's captain while Takagi directed the division.
In December 1941 Myoko sailed with the Southern Force for the opening attack on the Philippines. She covered the landings at Legaspi and at Davao. On 4 January 1942, American heavy bombers struck the anchorage at Davao, and a bomb hit Myoko, killing 35 of her crew. The cruiser was ordered to Sasebo for repairs. Nachi and Haguro went on with the advance into the Netherlands East Indies.
The yard period at Sasebo held Myoko in home waters through the Battle of the Java Sea on 27 February 1942, which Takeo Takagi fought with Nachi and Haguro. Yamazumi brought the cruiser south as soon as the repairs were finished. On 1 March, north of Surabaya, Myoko and the heavy cruiser Ashigara, with the destroyers Akebono and Inazuma, met the British heavy cruiser Exeter, the British destroyer Encounter, and the American destroyer Pope. Exeter and Encounter were sunk by the gunfire and torpedoes of the two Japanese cruisers acting together. Pope drew away in a rain squall and was lost later the same day after air attacks, with the surface ships taking part in the final stage of the action.
In May 1942 Myoko and Haguro screened the carriers Shokaku and Zuikaku in the operation aimed at Port Moresby. That movement brought on the Battle of the Coral Sea, and Takeo Takagi commanded the carrier force. Myoko came through the battle undamaged. On 23 May 1942 Yamazumi turned the ship over to Teruhiko Miyoshi.
Myoko remained in service for the rest of the war. Her later wartime captains were Katsuhei Nakamura, Itsu Ishihara, Sutejiro Onoda, and Hokao Kagayama. She lay at Singapore at the surrender. In July 1946 the British scuttled her in the Strait of Malacca.