Photos and the story

Natori

Class	Nagara class
Type	Light cruiser (CL)
Builder	Mitsubishi, Nagasaki
Launched	1922-02-16
Commissioned	1922-09-15
Fate	Sunk. Not sunk at Sunda Strait. USS Hardhead sank her on 18 August 1944, east of Samar.
Armament (class)	5,500-ton light cruiser. Four funnels, used as a destroyer-squadron flagship.
Command	Sasaki, Seigo Captain from 28 July 1941; Relieved on 1 July 1942 Hara, Kenzaburo Flag, not her captain, 1 March 1942

Laid down, displacement, length, beam, draft, speed, and complement are not stored for each hull, so this table leaves them out.

The armament line is the class drawing, not a measurement of this hull.

Natori was a Nagara-class light cruiser, built by Mitsubishi at Nagasaki. She was launched on 16 February 1922 and commissioned on 15 September 1922.

At Sunda Strait, Rear Admiral Kenzaburo Hara flew his flag in her. He was not her captain. Captain Seigo Sasaki had her from 28 July 1941 to 1 July 1942. That night she launched four torpedoes. The sinking of Perth and Houston is not credited to her.

USS Hardhead sank her on 18 August 1944, east of Samar. Her captain then was Toshi Kubota, and he died with her. Sasaki had left in July 1942. He later had Mogami.

The photograph shows her at Singapore in 1943, after a near miss had flooded a boiler room. She was waiting for repairs.

The pictures on this page are the originals.