Yubari

History: Yubari was an experimental light cruiser built between 1922 and 1923 for the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN). Although a test bed for various new designs and technologies, she was commissioned as a front-line warship and participated in numerous combat operations during World War II before she was sunk by the U.S. Navy. Designs pioneered on Yūbari had a major impact on future Japanese warship designs.

Construction of an experimental light cruiser was authorized under the 1917 8-4 Fleet Program but funding was not available until 1921. By that time, due to restrictions imposed by the Washington Naval Treaty, the Imperial Japanese Navy was forced to adopt a limit in the total displacement of its fleet to 300,000 tons. Yūbari was designed as an experimental scout cruiser that would have the combat potential of the standard 5,000 t (4,900 long tons) Sendai-class cruiser but with a much lighter displacement. Captain Yuzuru Hiraga, Japan?s leading naval architect, assisted by Lieutenant Commander Fujimoto Kikuo, developed an innovative design which strongly influenced the design of Japan?s subsequent heavy cruisers, as well as destroyers.

Type: Cruiser

Primary Country: Japan is an island nation in the Pacific Ocean with dense cities, imperial palaces, mountainous national parks and thousands of shrines and temples. Shinkansen bullet trains connect the main islands of Kyushu (with Okinawa's subtropical beaches), Honshu (home to Tokyo and Hiroshima’s atomic-bomb memorial) and Hokkaido (famous for skiing). Tokyo, the capital, is known for skyscrapers, shopping and pop culture.

Although legend has it that Japan was founded in 660BC, archaeologists agree that settlement in the Japanese archpelago dates back as far as 100,000 years. The Jomon Period (8000-c.300BC) is the earliest that has been studied. It is named after the 'jomon' or cord-marked pattern style of pottery of the period.