Early career Sendai was completed at the
Mitsubishi Nagasaki shipyards on 29 April 1924. Immediately on completion, she was assigned to
Yangtze River patrol in China. She played an important role in the
Battle of Shanghai in the opening stages of the
Second Sino-Japanese War, and later covered the landings of Japanese forces in southern China.
Invasions of Southeast Asia On 20 November 1941,
Sendai became
flagship of Destroyer Squadron 3 (DesRon 3) under
Rear Admiral Shintaro Hashimoto. At the time of the
attack on Pearl Harbor,
Sendai was engaged in escorting transports carrying
Lieutenant General Tomoyuki Yamashita and the
Japanese 25th Army to invade
Malaya. At 23:45 on 7 December 1941,
Sendai and her destroyer squadron (, , , and ) commenced a bombardment of
Kota Bharu, Malaya. They were attacked by seven
RAAF Hudson bombers, which sank one of the transports and damaged two others. On 9 December 1941, the
submarine reported sighting of
Royal Navy Force Z (the Royal Navy
battleship ,
battlecruiser and supporting destroyers). The report was received by
Sendai, which relayed the message to
Vice Admiral Jisaburō Ozawa aboard his flagship, the
heavy cruiser . However, the reception was poor and the message took another 90 minutes to decode. Moreover,
I-65s report was incorrect about the heading of Force Z. The following day, Force Z was overwhelmed by
torpedo bombers of the 22nd Air Flotilla from
Indochina. On 19 December 1941, off Kota Bahru in the
South China Sea,
Royal Netherlands Navy submarine sighted
Sendai escorting the second Malaya Convoy's 39 transports. At 11:15,
Sendais
floatplane, a
Kawanishi E7K2 "Alf", spotted and bombed
O 20, which was also attacked by the destroyers
Ayanami and with
depth charges. That night,
O 20 surfaced to recharge her batteries, and a flame from her engines' exhaust gave her away; she was sunk by
Uranami.
Sendai made three more troop convoy escort runs to Malay at the end of December 1941 and in January 1942. On the fourth run, on 10 January 1942, the US submarine spotted the convoy and fired two torpedoes at the last transport, but both missed. On the fifth run, on 26 January,
Sendai and her convoy were attacked by the destroyers and about north of
Singapore in the
Battle off Endau. The torpedoes from the
Allied vessels missed, and the destroyer and
Sendai returned gunfire.
Thanet was sunk, while
Vampire was undamaged and escaped to
Singapore. From February through March,
Sendai was assigned to cover Japanese landings in
Sumatra, and in sweeping the sea lanes and the
Strait of Malacca for British and Dutch vessels escaping from Singapore. At the end of March,
Sendai covered the landing of one battalion of the
IJA's 18th Infantry Division at
Port Blair,
Andaman Islands. At the end of April,
Sendai returned to
Sasebo for repairs.
Battle of Midway On 29 May 1942,
Sendai departed with the Main Body of the
Combined Fleet for
Midway. The Main Body remained behind Vice Admiral
Chuichi Nagumo's First Carrier Striking Force and thus did not engage American forces.
Sendai returned to
Kure on 14 June 1942 without having seen combat.
Solomon Islands campaigns On 15 July 1942, DesRon 3 was reassigned to the Southwest Force to cover operations in
Burma and
raids in the Indian Ocean, arriving at
Mergui, Burma 31 July. However, with American landings on
Guadalcanal, the planned
Indian Ocean operations were cancelled and
Sendai was sent to
Makassar,
Davao and
Truk instead, to escort troop convoys to
Rabaul,
New Britain and
Shortland,
Bougainville. On 8 September,
Sendai shelled
Tulagi, and on 12 September she and the destroyers
Shikinami, and bombarded
Henderson Field, Guadalcanal.
Sendai remained active in
Solomon Island operations through November 1942, participating in both the
First Naval Battle of Guadalcanal (where she remained as distant cover) and the Second
Naval Battle of Guadalcanal (where she was attacked by the
battleship 's main guns but escaped undamaged). On 25 February 1943,
Sendai was reassigned to the Eighth Fleet at Rabaul under Vice Admiral
Gunichi Mikawa and remained on patrol around Rabaul through April. Returning to Sasebo in May,
Sendai was repaired and modified. Her No.5 gun mount was removed and two triple
25 mm AA gun mounts and Type 21
radar were installed. Repairs were completed 25 June 1943 and
Sendai returned to Truk on 5 July. On 7 July, Rear Admiral
Baron Matsuji Ijuin assumed command of DesRon 3. During the next three months,
Sendai operated out of Rabaul covering reinforcement convoys to
Buin, Papua New Guinea and Shortland. On 18 July 1943, off
Kolombangara, the group was attacked by Guadalcanal-based
Marine Grumman TBF Avenger torpedo bombers, and two days later by
North American B-25 Mitchell medium bombers but was not damaged; it also escaped damage after being bombed by a
Consolidated B-24 Liberator heavy bomber on 1 November 1943. The following day, 2 November 1943, at the
Battle of Empress Augusta Bay, the Japanese fleet attempting to reinforce Bougainville was intercepted by Task Force 39 with the light cruisers , , and and destroyers , , , , , , and . The Japanese force included the cruisers , ,
Sendai and with destroyers , , , , , .
Shigure spotted the American destroyers at , turned hard starboard and launched eight torpedoes.
Sendai also turned hard starboard, but bore down on
Shigure, barely avoiding a collision. All four Allied cruisers took
Sendai under radar directed 6-inch fire. They hit her with their first salvo and more thereafter, setting her afire.
Sendai sank the following morning at , along with
Hatsukaze. Captain Shoji and 184 crewmen went down with the ship, but 236 other crewmen were rescued by destroyers. On 3 November 1943, Admiral Ijuin and 75 more survivors from
Sendai were rescued by the .
Sendai was removed from the Navy List on 5 January 1944. ==References==