Suzuya was the third of the Mogami-class heavy cruisers. She was built in Yokosuka Naval Yard, she was launched on November 20, 1934. Her initial armaments before her reconstruction were five triple 6.1 inch 60 cal. naval guns, four twin 5 inch 40 cal. secondary turrets, four 40mm anti-aircraft guns, and four triple 24 inch torpedo tubes, she was put on reserved and undergone reconstruction on January 1, 1936, she was commissioned on October 31, 1937. They raise her displacement from 8,500 tons to 13,670 tons which cut down her speed from 37 knots to 35 knots, her final armaments were five twin 7.9 inch 50 cal. 3rd-Year Type E naval guns, four twin 5 inch 40 cal. dual-purpose guns, fifty 25mm anti-aircraft guns and four triple 24 inch torpedo tubes. Her reconstruction was finished on September 30, 1939 and reclassified as a heavy cruiser. She can carry a total of three floatplanes until they upgrade her aviation facilities which allows her to carry addition eight more floatplanes and reclassified as an aviation cruiser.
She was assigned to the CruDiv 7 along with her sisters, the CruDiv 7 with Ashigara from CruDiv 4 escorted the 2nd CarDiv to Samah to Saigon, they supported the occupation of Cochinchina, French Indochina. During the attack of Pearl Harbor, the CruDiv 7 was put under the command of Vice Admiral Ozawa's First Southern Expeditionary Fleet with heavy cruiser Choukai, and light cruiser Yura, with 8 destroyers from DesDiv 11, DesDiv 12, and DesDiv 19. The First Southern Expeditionary Fleet supported invasion landings on Singora, Pattani, and Khota Baru.
During the invasion of Malaya, submarine I-65 spotted the incoming British Royal Navy Force Z which composed of battleship Prince Wales and battlecruisers Repulse escorted by four destroyers. Suzuya along with Kumano, launched their Aichi E13A1 floatplanes to shadow the incoming Force but they are forced to ditch due to lack of fuel, only Suzuya's pilot was recovered. CruDiv 7 together with DesRon 3 were ordered to engage the incoming Force Z in a night battle. Kongou and Haruna from BatDiv 3 and Takao and Atago from CruDiv 4 joined them, they received a report that The Battleship Wales and Repulse were neutralized by aircraft. She supported landings on Borneo along with Kumano, then they encountered USN submarine USS Searaven SS-196, the submarine fired four MK-14 torpedoes, two for each cruisers which all missed. The CruDiv 7 resumed covering further landings in Borneo, Sumatra and Java.
The CruDiv 7 was assigned to Vice Admiral Ozawa's Second Expeditionary Fleet and participated raids within Indian Ocean, she was assigned Northern Group along with Kumano and destroyer Shirakumo from DesDiv 12 and provided cover on the northern seas, the Northern Group attacked a convoy and sunk the British steamships Silksworth, Autolycus, Malda and Shinkuang and another American steamship Exmoor. The CruDiv 7 arrived at Guam to provide close support for Admiral Tanaka's convoy.
She participated during the Battle of Midway, the CruDiv 7 was ordered to shell Midway along with DesDiv 8, the order was cancelled afterwards. During the battle, Kumano spotted the USN submarine USS Tambor SS-198, the cruisers avoided the submarine by making emergency turns, Kumano and Suzuya managed to execute it correctly but Mikuma makes 90 degrees turn while Mogami turns 46 degrees as commanded. This resulted in a collision, Mogami was heavily damaged while Mikuma was slightly damaged. Because of the collision, Suzuya and Kumano detached from the group while Mogami's group continued westward.
Suzuya returned on Kure on June 23, 1942, the CruDiv 7 was transferred to the IJN 3rd Fleet. Suzuya and Kumano departs from Singapore and provided cover for the invasion of Burma. She was attacked by a Royal Dutch Navy submarine, HNLMS O-23, along the Straight of Malacca, the submarine fires four torpedoes but missed, upon detection, the cruiser and destroyer dropped depth charges, but the submarine manage escaped afterwards.
The CruDiv 7 was assigned to operate within the Southern Pacific waters to recapture Guadalcanal. She was present during the Battle of Eastern Solomons along with the rest of the CruDiv 7. After the battle, Suzuya was assigned on patrol duty between Truk and the Solomon Islands, she was attacked by ten B-17 Flying Fortresses but she managed to avoid receiving any damage from the attack. She also escorted the carriers during the Battle of Santa Cruz Islands but did not directly engaged the enemies due to her position. She was ordered to reinforce Rear Admiral Nishimura's 8th Fleet together with heavy cruiser Maya and light cruiser Tenryuu with destroyers Kazagumo, Makigumo, Michishio and Yuugumo from DesDiv 10 accompanied by heavy cruisers Choukai and Kinugasa and light cruiser Isuzu with destroyers Asashio and Arashio from DesDiv 8. They fired a total 989 8-inch shells at Henderson Field. She was attacked by another USN submarine, USS Flying Fish SS-229 which all missed. They were attacked by torpedo-bombers from USN carrier USS Enterprise CV-6 and land-base torpedo-bombers from Guadalcanal which sunk Kinugasa and damaged Maya and Choukai, Suzuya manage to escape without receiving any damage from the attack.
On January 12, 1943, she returned in Kure for repairs and fitted her with Type 21 air-search radar and addition anti-aircraft guns, she returned at Kure on April 6, which she undergone another modification. They removed dual 13-mm anti-aircraft gun and replaced them with triple 25mm Type-96 anti-aircraft guns. She was undocked, then undergoes training together with Kumano within the inland seas. She departed from Yokosuka on June 16, 1943 for another major resupply mission to Solomon Islands together with Kumano. She was attacked again by Flying Fish and misses again, and was attacked by another USN submarine, USS Spearfish SS-190, which fired four torpedoes and missed. While departing from Rabaul, CruDiv 7 with Chokai, Sendai, and 4 destroyers were attacked again by land-base TBF Avengers from Guadalcanal while sailing off Kolombangara, Suzuya didn't received any damage from the engagement. While on Rabaul, they were attacked by 97 aircraft from Task Force 38 commanded by Rear Admiral Sherman, the raid damaged heavy cruisers Takao, Atago, Maya, and Mogami, light cruisers Agano and Noshiro, and destroyers Amagiri and Fujinami, Suzuya didn't received damage from the raid. She assisted for the evacuation of troops in Truk together with Kumano and Tone, battleship Nagato from BatDiv 1, battleship Fusou from BatDiv 2, destroyers Isokaze, Tanikaze, Hamakaze and Urakaze from DesDiv 17 and destroyer Akizuki from DesDiv 61, they were sighted by USS Permit SS-178 but didn't able to gain any attacking position. She was docked at Singapore and received another additional anti-aircraft guns.
She was also present in the Battle of the Philippine Sea, as part of the reorganized Combined Fleet, CruDiv 7 was assigned under Force C together with battleships Yamato from BatDiv 1 and Musashi from BatDiv 3, light carriers Zuihou, Chitose and Chiyoda from CarDiv 3, heavy cruisers Takao, Atago, Maya, and Choukai from CruDiv 4, light cruiser Noshiro from DesRon 2, and destroyers Asashimo, Kishinami and Okinami from DesDiv 31, and Fujinami, Shimakaze, and Hamakaze from DesDiv 32, they departed from Tawi-Tawi. After the disastrous loss in the battle, Suzuya with the rest of the ships that survived the battle retreated to Okinawa. She proceeds to Kure, they installed addition anti-aircraft guns and upgraded her air-search radar. She departs from Okinawa to Singapore, then she proceeds to Lingga and departed to Brunei.
She's become a part of the Center Force for Operation Sho-go 1. She departed from Brunei, During the Battle off Samar, Kumano was hit by a MK-15 torpedo from USS Johnston DD-557, Suzuya immediately comes alongside Kumano and screen the damaged heavy cruiser, Kumano transferred the flag of the CruDiv 7 to Suzuya and quickly withdrawn from the battle. Suzuya was attacked by 30 aircraft, a bomb hit her No. 1 torpedo tubes loaded with Type-93 torpedoes, the explosion caused fire on her deck and additional torpedoes started to explode. The blast damaged her starboard engine room and the No. 7 boiler room, she was declared unnavigable. Again the flag was transferred to Tone. At noon, Suzuya's remaining torpedoes and ammunition exploded, they declared to abandon her, Captain Teraoka and 401 officers and men crew was rescued by destroyer Okinami. She was scuttled by Okinami afterwards.
Suzuya sunk on October 25, 1944, off Samar Island.
Suzuya sunk on October 25, 1944, off Samar Island.
And in the Philippine Trench.
Suzuya's difficult birthSuzuya, the third ship of Mogami class cruisers, is launched on November 20th.
During the launching process, defect in the supporting blocks caused difficult in the blocks removal and as result, the launching ceremony finally takes place 27 minutes after the ship's naming ceremony.
Because everyone have to stand still until the launching ceremony is finished, the sweating workers are all pale and nervous.
By the way, her younger sister Kumano is completed on October 31st 1937, the same day as Suzuya.
To fix the hull structural integrity problem that has been plaguing Mogami class cruisers, the design has been revised. Because of her different shape from Mogami and Mikuma, she's also classified as Suzuya-class. According to the London Naval Treaty, Japan can maintain up to 50,000 tonnes of cruisers. Because of this reason Mogami class are built as light cruisers.
In 1939, the main triple 15.5 cm guns are replaced with twin 20.3 cm guns and they're reclassified as heavy cruisers.
Later, Mogami is upgraded into aviation cruiser, but the rest of the Mogami class are not equipped with flight equipments. So the aviation cruisers are only in Kantai Collection.
Like the other ships, Suzuya also seen many battles.
But the Battle of Midway is the only battle Suzuya fought with all her sisters. In that battle, Mikuma is sunk.
Although there's no historical record of it, there's story that during retreat, Suzuya sent signal to Kumano, her flagship, that she has an engine trouble. After that she returned to Mikuma to save the survivors and scuttle Mikuma.
She also participated in the Battle Off Samar on October 25th 1944. In this battle she chased the enemy's escort carriers, but later got hit by bombs from carrier airplanes that caused her torpedo to explode and split her hull in half.
She's erased from naval list on December 20th the same year.