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Yasoshima, a 2200-ton (standard displacement) escort vessel, was built at Shanghai, China, as the Chinese Navy's cruiser Ping Hai. Of Japanese design, and fitted with guns and much other equipment from that nation, her construction was delayed by strife between Japan and China in 1931 and 1932, but was resumed later. She was completed in June 1936. In August of the next year, after full-scale war began with Japan, Ping Hai was sent up the Yangtse River as part of the defenses of Nanking, China's capital city. While on this duty on 22-23 September 1937 she was attacked by aircraft from the aircraft carrier Kaga and sunk in shallow water.
The Japanese raised Ping Hai's wreck in 1938 and towed her to Sasebo, Japan, where she remained until the beginning of 1944. Her only employment during this time was as an accomodation hulk. However, the critical need for escort vessels to defend Japan's shipping against U.S. submarines caused her reconstruction for active service between January and June 1944. Renamed Yasoshima and placed in commission in the latter month, she performed escort service during July and August. In September she was reclassified as a second class cruiser and began conversion for use as a flagship. Upon completion of this work in mid-November she was sent to the Philippines. On 25 November 1944, while steaming off the western coast of Luzon in company with three transport vessels, Yasoshima was attacked and sunk by planes from U.S. Third Fleet aircraft carriers.
This page features the only images we have of the Japanese warship Yasoshima.
| If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions." |
Click on the small photograph to prompt a larger view of the same image.
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Photo #: NH 102089 Yasoshima (Japanese cruiser, formerly the Chinese Ping Hai) Under attack by Task Force 38 aircraft off Luzon, 25 November 1944. She was sunk in this incident. The original photograph was included in the TG38.3 Action Report of 24 December 1944. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 101KB; 740 x 550 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 102090 Yasoshima (Japanese cruiser, formerly the Chinese Ping Hai) Under attack by Task Force 38 aircraft off Luzon, 25 November 1944. She was sunk in this incident. The original photograph was included in the TG38.3 Action Report of 24 December 1944. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 100KB; 740 x 560 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 102091 Yasoshima (Japanese cruiser, formerly the Chinese Ping Hai) Under attack by Task Force 38 torpedo planes, off Luzon on 25 November 1944. Tracks of two Mark 13 aerial torpedos are visible. The torpedo about to hit Yashojima's stern was dropped by Ensign D.V. Parker, of Torpedo Squadron 80 (VT-80), based on USS Ticonderoga (CV-14). The original photograph was included in the TG38.3 Action Report of 24 December 1944. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 93KB; 545 x 765 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 102092 Yasoshima (Japanese cruiser, formerly the Chinese Ping Hai) Sinking after she was attacked by Task Force 38 aircraft off Luzon, 25 November 1944. The original photograph, taken from a USS Langley (CVL-27) aircraft, was included in the TG38.3 Action Report of 24 December 1944. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 102KB; 740 x 555 pixels |
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| If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions." |
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Historical Center home page.Page made 23 March 2003