of 1943 and first half of 1944, Chōkai was made the flagship of the Cruiser Division Four ("CruDiv 4") comprising , , , and Chōkai on 3 August 1944. All four ships took part in the Battle of the Philippine Sea. Battle of Leyte Gulf CruDiv 4 was part of Admiral Takeo Kurita's large fleet of IJN battleships, cruisers, and destroyers that took part in the various engagements of the Battle of Leyte Gulf at the Philippines. CruDiv 4 suffered a harrowing submarine attack on 23 October 1944, with the sinking of and (which was Kurita's flagship though he survived), while was left permanently crippled, leaving Chōkai as the only undamaged ship of CruDiv 4. Chōkai was then transferred to Cruiser Division Five, where she survived an air attack on 24 October 1944, while the battleship Musashi was sunk. Sunk in the battle off Samar On the morning of 25 October, Chōkai engaged an American force of escort carriers, destroyers, and destroyer escorts in the Battle off Samar. During her approach to the US escort carriers, Chōkai was hit several times on the port side amidships by 5"/38 caliber guns of this force's escort carriers and destroyers. It was believed at the time that one of these hits may have set off the eight deck-mounted Japanese Type 93 "Long Lance" torpedoes; however, 's expedition in 2019 found Chōkais torpedoes still intact. An explosion was observed aboard Chōkai before a TBM Avenger from Kitkun Bay dropped a 500 lb (230 kg) bomb on her forward machinery room. Fires began to rage and she went dead in the water. She was scuttled later that day by torpedoes from the destroyer (), which also rescued some of her crew. Two days later Fujinami was itself sunk with the loss of all hands, including the Chōkai survivors. Wreck Chōkai sits upright in of water on the edge of the Philippine Deep. RV Petrel discovered the wreck of Chōkai on 5 May 2019 and dived it via ROV on 30 May 2019. References Bibliography Takao-class cruisers Ships built by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries 1932 ships World War II cruisers of Japan World War II shipwrecks in the Philippine Sea Cruisers sunk by aircraft Warships lost in combat with all hands Maritime incidents in October 1944 Ships sunk by US aircraft 2019 archaeological discoveries