Kumano (熊野) was one of four Mogami class of heavy cruisers in the Imperial Japanese Navy, serving in World War II.

They were exceptionally large for light cruisers, and the barbettes for the main battery were designed for quick refitting with twin 8-inch guns.

[3] Kumano served in numerous combat engagements in the Pacific War, until she was eventually sunk by carrier aircraft from Task Force 38 while she was undergoing repairs at Santa Cruz, Zambales, Philippines, in November 1944.

This resulted in the choice of the dual purpose (DP) 15.5 cm/60 3rd Year Type naval guns as the main battery in five triple turrets capable of 55° elevation.

New impulse geared turbine engines, driving four shafts with three-bladed propellers gave a top speed of 35 knots (65 km/h; 40 mph), which was better than most contemporary cruiser designs.

[4] The class was designed from the start to be upgraded into heavy cruisers with the replacement of their main battery with 20 cm/50 3rd Year Type naval guns in twin turrets.

From 16 July 1941, Kumano was part of Sentai-7, together with her sisters Mogami, Mikuma and Suzuya, and was based out of Hainan in support of the Japanese invasion of French Indochina.

[6] At the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor, Kumano was the flagship for Vice Admiral Shigeyoshi Inoue’s IJN 4th Fleet and deployed to cover the Japanese invasion of Malaya as part of Vice Admiral Jisaburō Ozawa's First Southern Expeditionary Fleet, providing close support for landings of Japanese troops at Singora, Pattani and Kota Bharu.

From her base at Cam Ranh Bay, she sortied with Suzuya to cover landings of troops at Anambas, Endau, Palembang and Banka Island, Sabang on Sumatra and Java in the Netherlands East Indies from the end of December 1941 to the middle of March.

On 26 May, she arrived at Guam to join the escort for the Midway Invasion Transport Group under Sentai -7 (Rear Admiral Raizō Tanaka).

However, she was attacked on 14 September north of the Solomon Islands by a flight of ten USAAF B-17 Flying Fortress bombers, and suffered light damage.

During the Battle of Santa Cruz on 26 October, she provided support for Admiral Nagumo’s Carrier Strike Force, but did not see any combat.

On 18 July, Kumano was escorting a Tokyo Express high speed transport mission with Chōkai and Sendai, but was attacked off of Kolombangara by USMC Grumman TBF Avenger torpedo bombers from Guadalcanal.

The next day, 26 October Kumano was attacked from aircraft launched by the carrier USS Hancock while in the Sibuyan Sea, and was struck by three 500 lb (227 kg) bombs.

On 6 November 1944 off Cape Bolinao, Luzon, the convoy came under attack by a U.S. submarine wolfpack consisting of Batfish, Guitarro, Bream, Raton and Ray.