Tatsuta was a Tenryu-class light cruiser of the Imperial Japanese Navy. In December 1941 she was serving with the light cruiser Tenryu in Cruiser Division 18.
On 11 December 1941, in the Battle of Wake Island, a Wildcat of VMF-211 strafed her and raked the radio shack. The cruiser's record treats Elrod and Captain Frank C. Tharin as the likely pilots and leaves the pass unassigned to either man alone. Tatsuta stayed afloat. She returned to Wake for the landing on 23 December.
Yoshifumi Baba had commanded her since 20 August 1941. He was relieved on 20 July 1942 by Matake Yoshimura, who remained captain until 7 January 1943.
On 13 March 1944 USS Sand Lance torpedoed Tatsuta about forty miles west-southwest of Hachijo-jima. She sank that afternoon. Twenty-six men were killed.