Sakawa (酒匂) was the last of four Agano-class light cruisers built for the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) during World War II.

After the war, Sakawa was used to ferry Japanese troops home until she was selected in early 1946 to be expended for nuclear weapon tests during Operation Crossroads.

[4] The main armament of the Agano class consisted of six 15-centimeter (6 in) 41st Year Type guns in three twin-gun turrets, two in front of the superstructure and one aft.

[5] Sakawa, being the last-built ship of her class, had the strongest suite of light anti-aircraft weapons which included 10 triple and 18 single mounts for 2.5-centimeter (1 in) Type 96 AA guns.

Later that month Sakawa was used to evacuate 1,339 Imperial Japanese Army troops stranded on four small islands (Sonsorol, Fanna, Merir and Hatohobei) in the southern Palau group.

She continued to work for the Repatriation Service as a transport until the end of February 1946, returning Japanese troops from New Guinea, Korea and from other locations.

Together with the battleship Nagato, the ship departed Yokosuka for Eniwetok with a 165-man American crew on 18 March, with eleven of her former Japanese officers aboard to assist them.

Ten days later, 300 nautical miles (560 km; 350 mi) from Eniwetok, Sakawa broke down and Nagato attempted to tow the cruiser, but had a boiler failure and then ran out of fuel.

An oil tanker, SS Nickajack Trail, was diverted to refuel the ships, but ran aground on a reef in bad weather and was lost.

They damaged the fuel system, poured sand into the oil and water pumps, smashed gauges, tachometers, and cut high-pressure steam lines.

The blast set the ship afire[9] and its force crushed her superstructure aft of her bridge, damaged her hull and she began taking on water.