was the lead ship of her class of four light cruisers built for the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) during World War II. Completed in 1942, she escorted a troop convoy to New Guinea in December. In early 1943 the ship participated in Operation Ke, the evacuation of Japanese troops from Guadalcanal. Six months later Agano transported troops and supplies to New Guinea and she played a minor role in the Battle of Empress Augusta Bay in early November. A few weeks later, the ship was badly damaged by American airstrikes and she sailed for Truk under her own power the following day. While en route, Agano was torpedoed by an American submarine and had to be towed to her destination. After several months of repairs, she left for Japan, but was intercepted and sunk by another American submarine in February 1944. Most of her crew was rescued by her escorting destroyer, but that ship was sunk with the loss of most of her crew and all of Aganos survivors by an American airstrike the following day. Design and description The Agano-class ships were intended to replace the obsolete light cruisers built in the 1910s and 1920s as flagships of destroyer flotillas. The ships measured long overall with a beam of and had a draft of . They displaced at standard load and at deep load. The ships had a crew of 51 officers and 649 enlisted men; assignment as a flagship added 6 officers and 20 more sailors. The Agano class had four geared steam turbine sets, each driving a single propeller shaft, using steam provided by six Kampon Ro Gō water-tube boilers. The turbines were designed to produce a total of and give the ships a speed of . The ships carried enough fuel oil to give them a range of at a speed of . Armament and protection The main armament of the Agano class consisted of six 41st Year Type guns in three twin-gun turrets, two superfiring in front of the superstructure and one aft. The secondary armament included four Type 98 8 cm (3 in) anti-aircraft (AA) guns in two twin-gun mounts amidships. The suite of light anti-aircraft weapons included a pair of triple mounts for Type 96 AA guns and two twin-gun mounts for Type 93 anti-aircraft machineguns. The ships also had two rotating quadruple torpedo launchers on the upper deck for Type 93 (Long