She was active in World War II in various campaigns in Malaya, the Dutch East Indies and New Guinea before being sunk by United States Navy carrier-based aircraft in the Philippines in 1944.

[2] The Nagara-class vessels were essentially identical to the previous Kuma-class cruisers, retaining the same hull design, engines and main weaponry, with the addition of the new 610 mm Type 93 Long Lance Torpedoes, which required a larger launcher.

She was based at Hainan and was engaged in covering landings of Japanese forces in the invasion of British Malaya at the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor.

[4] On 9 December 1941, I-65 reported sighting Force Z (the Royal Navy battleship Prince of Wales, battlecruiser Repulse and supporting destroyers).

The reception was poor and it took another 90 minutes to decode and relay the message to Vice Admiral Jisaburo Ozawa aboard his flagship, Chōkai.

[4] On 13 December 1941, Kinu departed Cam Ranh Bay, Indochina with Chōkai, Mogami and Mikuma and the destroyers Hatsuyuki and Shirayuki to provide cover for the invasion landing at Kuantan, Malaya, and from 17–24 December 1941, to cover landings in Brunei and Miri, Seria, Lutong and Kuching in Sarawak.

2 Yokosuka Special Naval Landing Force (SNLF) quickly captured Miri's airfield and oil fields.

On 1 March 1942, Kinu's convoy was attacked in the Java Sea 90 miles (140 km) west of Surabaya by ten obsolete Vickers Vildebeest biplane bombers and 15 fighters of the Australian and New Zealand Air Forces.

It disembarked the troops at Shortland Island and Bougainville on 22 September 1942 and remained on patrol in the Timor Sea and eastern Dutch East Indies through January 1943.

[4] On 23 January 1944, Kinu with Aoba accompanied by Ōi and Kitakami, and escorted by the destroyer Shikinami made a troop transport run from Singapore to Port Blair, Andaman Islands.

[4] From April, Kinu starting escorting transport runs from Saipan via Palau to the Celebes and other locations in the Dutch East Indies.

[4] On 6 June 1944, while anchored off Weigo Island, Vogelkop, New Guinea, Kinu and Aoba were attacked unsuccessfully by B-24 bombers of the Fifth Air Force's 380th Group.

Kinu remained on station for a week, and then returned to her patrol area in the western Dutch East Indies through the end of August.

On 25 September 1944, during Japanese "Operation Sho-I-Go" to boost the defenses the Philippines, Kinu, Aoba and the destroyer Uranami were assigned to Vice Admiral Takeo Kurita's First Raiding Force.

[4] On 21 October 1944 Sentai-16 was detached from Vice Admiral Kurita's Force to assist the Southwest Area Fleet's transport of 2,500 soldiers of the IJA 41st Regiment from Cagayan, Mindanao to Ormoc, Leyte.

Rear Admiral Sakonjo transferred to Kinu, which towed Aoba to the Cavite Navy Yard near Manila for emergency repairs.

On 15 July 1945 divers from USS Chanticleer explored the sunken Kinu, finding the wreck flat on the bottom with a 90 degree list to port, with her back broken in the well deck area behind the bridge, which was largely undamaged.