in the same engagement. Chōkai was lost a few days later at the Battle off Samar, leaving Takao as the sole survivor of her class. Takao limped back to Brunei, escorted by the destroyers and , the torpedo boat Hiyodori and the transport Mitsu Maru, and on to Singapore by 12 November. Takao was assessed as being unrepairable at Singapore and impossible to tow to Japan. She was therefore moored as a floating anti-aircraft battery defending Seletar Naval Base along with Myōkō, the latter crippled at the Battle of the Sibuyan Sea and then further damaged by a submarine-launched torpedo. Concerned that both cruisers could interfere with Allied forces approaching Singapore, the Royal Navy launched Operation Struggle on 31 July 1945 with the midget submarines (Lieutenant Ian Edward Fraser) assigned to attack Takao, and (Lieutenant J. E. Smart) to attack Myōkō. After penetrating the harbor defenses, XE3 maneuvered under Takao, where diver Acting Leading Seaman James Joseph Magennis exited the submarine and attached six limpet mines to Takaos hull using an improvised piece of rope (the hull was covered with a thick layer of seaweed, and the magnets of the limpet mines would not hold them on the hull); when the mines exploded, they blew a hole . Several compartments below the lower deck were flooded, including two ammunition magazines, the main gun plotting room and the lower communications room. Fraser and Magennis were awarded the Victoria Cross. It was discovered after the end of the war that Takao was manned by a skeleton crew and had no ammunition aboard for her 8-inch main armament. Japanese forces surrendered Seletar Naval Base to the British on 21 September 1945. On 27 October 1946, Takao was towed to the Strait of Malacca and was sunk as a target ship by the light cruiser on 29 October 1946 at . She was removed from the navy list on 3 May 1947. References Notes Books External links Takao-class cruisers Ships built by Yokosuka Naval Arsenal 1930 ships Second Sino-Japanese War cruisers of Japan World War II cruisers of Japan Ships of the Aleutian Islands campaign World War II shipwrecks in the Strait of Malacca Ships sunk as targets Maritime incidents in 1946