was an which served with the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) during World War II. She was named after the Noshiro River in Akita Prefecture in northern Japan. Background Noshiro was the second of the four vessels completed in the Agano class of light cruisers, which were intended to replace increasingly obsolete light cruisers in the Imperial Japanese Navy. Funding was authorized in the 4th Naval Armaments Supplement Programme of 1939, although construction was delayed due to lack of capacity in Japanese shipyards. Like other vessels of her class, Noshiro was intended for use as the flagship of a destroyer flotilla. Design The design for the Agano class was based on technologies developed by the experimental cruiser , resulting in a graceful and uncluttered deck line and single smokestack. Noshiro was armed with six 152 mm Type 41 guns in three gun turrets. Secondary armament included four 76 mm Type 98 DP guns designed specifically for the class, in two twin turrets amidships. Anti-aircraft weapons included two triple 25 mm AA guns in front of the bridge, and two twin 13 mm mounts near the mast. Noshiro also had two quadruple torpedo launchers for Type 93 torpedoes located below the flight deck, with eight reserve torpedoes. The torpedo tubes were mounted on the centerline, as was more common with destroyers, and had a rapid reload system with eight spare torpedoes. Being mounted on the centerline allowed the twin launchers to fire to either port or starboard, meaning that a full eight-torpedo broadside could be fired, whereas a ship with separate port and starboard launchers can only fire half of its torpedoes at a time. Two depth charge rails and 18 depth charges were also installed aft. Noshiro was also equipped with two Aichi E13A aircraft and had a flight deck with a 26-foot catapult. The engines were a quadruple-shaft geared turbine arrangement with six boilers in five boiler rooms, developing for a maximum speed of . Service career Early career Noshiro was launched at Yokosuka Naval Arsenal on 19 July 1942 and completed less than a year later on 30 June 1943. On completion, she was initially assigned to the IJN 1st Fleet for training off of Hashirajima. On 15 August 1943, she was reassigned to Vice Admiral Takeo Kurita's Second Fleet as the flagship of DesRon 2, replacing the cruiser , which had been sunk a month earlier at the