Kitakami was a Japanese light cruiser whose keel was laid in 1919, launched in July 1920, and commissioned in the Imperial Japanese Navy in April 1921. The length of the ship at the time of launching was 152.4 m, width 14.2 m, and her displacement was 5,200 tons. The cruiser Kitakami's maximum speed was 36 knots. At the time of launching, the main armament was 7 140 mm guns in single positions, and the additional armament was, among others: 2 80 mm cannons and 8 533 mm torpedo tubes.
Kitakami was the third Kuma-class cruiser. Cruisers of this type were in fact the enlarged Tenryu class, but had greater range, speed, and better weapons, with the exception of anti-aircraft weapons, which were still very weak. From August 1944 to January 1945 Kitakami was converted into a torpedo cruiser - the number of guns was reduced to three and the number of torpedo tubes increased to 40! The modernized cruiser could also use Kaiten-class suicide torpedoes. The combat career of the cruiser Kitakami began during the Sino-Japanese fighting in the 1930s. The Kitakami combat trail in World War II began in December 1941 with the escorting of a team of battleships on the route from Hashirijama port to the Bonin Islands. In May 1942, he took part in the seizure of the Aleutians. From the second half of 1942, he began to play the role of a fast transport ship, serving in this role, among others in the region of the Solomon Islands and New Guinea until 1944. After the already signaled conversion to the torpedo cruiser Kitakami, it did not take part in major operations in the Pacific, although it was damaged as a result of air attacks. The cruiser survived the war and was scrapped until March 1947.
