By the time of Japan's entry into
World War II with the
attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941,
Haguro was en route to the
Philippines as part of a large cover force to support Japanese landings.
Haguro saw her first action just four days later bombarding
Legaspi, then she bombarded
Davao on the night of 19–20 December after escorting
troop transports, before she conducted more shore bombardment on
Jolo on 24 December. On 4 January 1942, she survived
B-17 bombing attacks undamaged, then took part in several more shore bombardment missions to aid in the invasion of
Celebes. On 26 January, the submarine fired four torpedoes at
Haguro, but none hit their mark. On 10 February,
Haguro bombarded
Makassar, then on 20 January bombarded
Timor to support Japanese troop landings.
Afternoon battle By 6:00 on 27 February
Haguro located the enemy ships and closed to a reasonable firing range. At around ,
Haguro fired her ten 8-inch (203 mm) guns, immediately targeting the Allied flagship, the Dutch light cruiser . As the range drew closer,
Haguro succeeded in hitting
De Ruyter twice. The first hit the auxiliary motor room and started a small fire, killing one crewman and injuring six others, while the second penetrated unarmored portions of the ship without exploding. Even when they did not hit,
Haguros shells still straddled
De Ruyter several times, causing light damage. In turn, several Allied cruisers targeted
Haguro, which they reported to have blown up and sunk with gunfire damage. Gunfire from all four cruisers then destroyed
Exeters guns and lit her aflame, leading to her crew scuttling her. By this point,
Haguro was almost entirely out of ammunition, with enough rounds for 13 salvos and just 4 torpedoes, causing her to retire from the engagement, while
Myōkō and
Ashigara joined the destroyers and in sinking the
Encounter with gunfire.
Pope temporarily escaped, but within two hours was crippled by aircraft from the light carrier and then finished off by gunfire with the arrival of
Ashigara and
Myōkō.
Further operations , 24 August 1942 After the battle, the almost completely depleted
Haguro returned to
Kendari on 3 March, and spent the rest of the month transiting between various naval facilities before returning to mainland Japan. On April 18,
Haguro was present during the
attack on Tokyo by the aircraft carrier but was not damaged, and in turn served in the force that failed to track down the American task force responsible for the air raid, anchoring at
Yokosuka on 22 March.
Haguro spent the rest of the month preparing to support the planned invasion of
Port Moresby. This commenced on 1 May when
Haguro,
Myōkō and six destroyers departed Truk as part of a larger escort to the aircraft carriers and , which fought in the
Battle of the Coral Sea.
Haguros crew watched as the first aircraft carrier battle in history unfolded from 7–8 May, and for her part survived the carrier raids which crippled
Shōkaku without suffering any damage herself before helping to assist the mauled but still-floating carrier.
Haguro arrived back at Truk on 17 May, and returned to Kure on 22 May, then on the 27 May arrived at
Hashirajima in preparation for the
Battle of Midway, where
Haguro escorted a large troop convoy for the planned invasion of
Midway Island, a convoy which was called off on 6 June after the battle turned into a devastating defeat in which Japan lost four aircraft carriers and a heavy cruiser.
Haguro spent the rest of the month assisting invasion convoys. Shortly afterwards
Haguro finally found the range, and along with
Myōkō displayed excellent marksmanship. With just three salvos each at 22,000 yards, they hit
Denver with three 8-inch (203 mm) shell hits at the waterline, causing her to fall out of formation due to a flooded bow, damaged
Columbia with an 8-inch (203 mm) shell that punched through her plating and landed in a sail locker, and straddled
Montpelier several times. However,
Cleveland,
Columbia, and
Montpelier all fired on
Haguro, hitting the ship with ten 6-inch (152 mm) shells over a ten minute period, smashing into
Haguros turret 2, port flight deck and catapult, aft deck hospital room, and paint shed. But six out of the ten hits were duds, and thus only superficial damage was inflicted, killing only one of
Haguros men and injuring five others. Shortly afterwards,
Myōkō hit the destroyer with an 8-inch (203 mm) waterline hit right as the destroyer began to shell the already damaged
Hatsukaze which forced her back. mere hours after the
battle of the Empress Augusta Bay However, the Japanese received far more damage than they inflicted.
Sendai had already been turned into a floating flaming wreck by gunfire from the four American cruisers and sunk with most of her crew in a one-sided massacre.
Spence then called upon Captain
Arleigh Burke's Destroyer Division 45, consisting of , , , and , to deliver the final blow to the crippled
Hatsukaze, which they finished off with gunfire. Deciding to cut their losses,
Haguro and the other Japanese ships retreated. Not only had they lost more tonnage than they damaged, they failed to disrupt the American landings in any way.
Haguro returned to Okinawa on 22 June, and two days later was drydocked in Kure for refit, receiving 52 additional AA guns and upgraded type 13 and 22 radar. She was undocked six days later and immediately departed on a troop transport mission to Manila. She then spent July operating off Singapore, before spending the next few months on vigorous training duties. On 22 October, the fleet departed Brunei for battle,
Haguro in a line of cruisers following the battleships. However, in the darkness of the early morning of 23 October, the fleet was intercepted by the submarines and , which torpedoed and sank the heavy cruisers and , respectively. Shortly afterwards, two torpedoes from a salvo from
Darter forced
Haguro to maneuver to avoid damage. The heavy cruiser was hit by two torpedoes and forced to retire from the battle, taking the destroyers and for protection. by
Haguro, which helped to sink her With four salvos,
Haguro hit
Hoel with nine 8-inch (203 mm) shells and one 5-inch (127 mm) shell, destroying three of
Hoels five 5-inch (127 mm) guns, her port engine, after generator, bridge, and main battery director, as well as inflicting other damage. Had
Haguro correctly identified
Hoel as a destroyer and not a cruiser, the hits to the turrets and handing room would have likely detonated her magazines and sank her then and there. However,
Haguro fired armor-piercing shells that penetrated
Hoels unarmored hull without exploding. Still, the damage was significant, and the crippled
Hoel was later finished off by gunfire from
Yamato and
Nagato.
Haguro temporally retreated to conduct repairs. After 8:30, she returned to the battlefield, where she joined
Tone in continuing to pound
Kalinin Bay. Closing to 10,100 yards,
Haguro and
Tone struck
Kalinin Bay with another eleven 8-inch (203 mm) shell hits, the first two punching through her hangar bay, while the third holed her below the waterline, passed through the ship, and detonated after coming out the other side and hitting the water, effectively acting as a near miss. This shell disabled the ship's fuel lines, shredded her forward bulkhead, and caused notable flooding. The next two hits again punched through the flight deck, while another holed her bow above the waterline. The rest of the hits all plunged into
Kalinin Bays flight deck, starting a fire which raged throughout the hangar bay. In addition to the direct hits, several damaging near misses resulted in seawater flooding the ship. In total,
Kalinin Bay took fourteen direct 8-inch (203 mm) rounds, seven each from
Haguro and
Tone, a 14-inch (356 mm) shell from
Haruna, and after the surface action two
kamikazes. Despite this, she would not sink, undoubtedly due to the use of armor-piercing shells that failed to explode upon hitting the ship, when high explosive shells would have detonated and sunk the carrier.
Japanese retreat Haguro fired her last salvo at 9:12. During the course of the engagement, she unleashed a total of 345 8-inch (203 mm) rounds. With the sinking of the heavy cruisers , , and to air attacks, and the damaging of several more, while believing his ships had sunk at least two fleet carriers (if not more) and multiple cruisers and destroyers, Kurita ordered a withdrawal.
Haguro, while retreating with the other Japanese ships, spotted the formation of escort carriers that made up Taffy 2, but chose not to attack. Just before 11:00, aircraft from American carriers attacked.
Haguros AA guns responded, but failed to shoot down any planes.
Haguro was undamaged, as most of the planes ignored her and targeted
Yamato, which they too failed to damage. More air attacks ensued the next two days, sinking the light cruiser and the destroyers , , and . However,
Haguro was attacked by a single plane whose bomb landed a damaging near miss to her port side. On 28 October,
Haguro returned to Brunei with the rest of the fleet. The battle was a devastating defeat. Japan had lost three battleships, an aircraft carrier, three light carriers, six heavy cruisers, three light cruisers, and 11 destroyers, and in turn sank just one American light carrier, two escort carriers, two destroyers, and two destroyer escorts. This battle crippled the Japanese navy, rendering it unable to effectively operate as a fleet due to the oil fields of the Dutch East Indies being cut off and the sheer number of Japanese ships sunk in both the battle and its immediate aftermath. Despite helping to sink a destroyer and damaging several other ships,
Haguro failed to engage her intended target of the American troop convoys, as with the rest of the fleet, rendering the Battle of Leyte Gulf both a crushing tactical and strategic victory for the Allied forces. With the start of 1945
Haguro was reassigned to the Southwest area fleet, and from 22 to 30 January was drydocked for repairs to her number 3 oil tank. She immediately departed for Lingga and arrived on the 31st, where she remained at anchor for the entirety of February; the 5th saw
Haguro reassigned to Tenth area fleet before the 24th saw
Haguro survive an attack by US air force bombers undamaged.
Haguro finally left Lingga on 20 March on a return journey to Singapore, where a mine exploded nearby and spooked the cruiser's crew, but no damage was inflicted. including Vice Admiral
Hashimoto and Rear Admiral
Sugiura, perished with her. Rear Admiral Sugiura was posthumously promoted to vice admiral on 16 May.
Haguro was the last major Japanese warship to be sunk in a surface action during the war.
Haguro was stricken from the
Navy list on 20 June. gun camera footage of
Haguro under attack at Rabaul ==Wreck==