Ashigara (足柄) was the final vessel of the four-member Myōkō class of heavy cruisers of the Imperial Japanese Navy, which were active in World War II.

[4] Naval architect Vice admiral Yuzuru Hiraga was able to keep the design from becoming dangerously top-heavy in its early years by continually rejecting demands from the Imperial Japanese Navy General Staff for additional equipment to the upper decks.

[5] Propulsion was by 12 Kampon boilers driving four sets of single-impulse geared turbine engines, with four shafts turning three-bladed propellers.

[5] Ashigara’s main battery was ten 20 cm/50 3rd Year Type naval guns, the heaviest armament of any heavy cruiser in the world at the time, mounted in five twin turrets.

During a naval review off Kobe on 26 October 1930 stack gases caused problems on the bridge, resulting in a lengthening of the forward smokestack by two meters.

Following the 20 May naval review, Ashigara called on Kiel, Germany and the majority of the crew was allowed to visit Berlin, where the senior staff was received by Adolf Hitler on 24 May.

At the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor, Ashigara deployed out of Mako Guard District in the Pescadores with the cruisers Maya and Kuma to support Japanese forces in the invasion of northern Luzon.

The splashes were clustered about close astern of the cruiser and at the time it was thought at least two bombs hit their target, which turned in a tight circle and appeared to be maneuvering with difficulty.

[8] During the aftermath of the Battle of the Java Sea on 1 March 1942, Ashigara joined the rest of her class in tracking down the severely damaged heavy cruiser HMS Exeter and her two destroyers.

She returned to Makassar in July to resume her position as flagship of the Second Southern Expeditionary Fleet, but for the rest of the year was primarily engaged as a rapid troop transport based out of Surabaya.

A Type 22 surface-search radar was installed in March, and she was based out of the Ōminato Guard District, together with the cruiser Nachi until the end of July.

[6] In the Battle of Leyte Gulf on 24 October 1944, Ashigara, with Captain Hayao Miura in command, was assigned to Vice Admiral Kiyohide Shima's, force along with Nachi and eight destroyers.

She departed Brunei on 17 November with the battleship Haruna and cruiser Ōyodo, and on arriving in the Spratly Islands the following day became the flagship of Vice Admiral Shima.

On 20 November, she departed the Spratly Islands, arriving at Cam Ranh Bay, Indochina on 14 December, where Admiral Shima transferred his flag to Hyūga.

Ashigara and Ōyodo and the destroyers Kiyoshimo, Asashimo, Kasumi, Kaya, Kashi, and Sugi were assigned to join the Raiding Force on the American beachhead in Mindoro in the Philippines.

Ashigara was damaged by a direct hit by a 500-lb bomb, but was still able to complete her mission, bombarding the American positions with over 200 shells and returning to Cam Ranh Bay on 29 December.

On 5 February, she was transferred to the control of the 10th Area Fleet and spent the next five months transporting troops and supplies in the Dutch East Indies and the Bay of Bengal.