Azur Lane just wrapped up a rerun of the Upon the Shimmering Blue event, which gave players a chance at a bunch of Sakura Empire ships that aren’t in the normal build rotation, including the ultra rare destroyer IJN Shimakaze, and super rare aircraft carrier IJN Katsuragi. Neither of them are likely future Rule 5 subjects, but this event did also bring us the super rare heavy cruiser IJN Chikuma, who is absolutely Rule 5 material. So, meet Chikuma!
Unlike a few of our recent subjects the real IJN Chikuma has an actual history. Officially commissioned in 1939, and one of two Tone-class heavy cruisers, she would play a part in many of the significant Pacific Theatre naval battles through October 1944. IJN Chikuma had an interesting design, featuring four twin 8” gun turrets all forward of the bridge, while the aft section was reserved for floatplanes to be used as fleet scouts.
She was part of CruDiv8 during the attack on Pearl Harbor, where one of her Aichi E13A1 Type 0 “Jake” provided weather reconnaissance over Oahu. Her Nakajima E4N2 Type 90-2 seaplanes then acted as pickets and patrolled south of the strike force during the actual attack.
She was a part of the Battle of the Java Sea, Indian Ocean raids against Royal Navy forces, and again had her aircraft providing reconnaissance during the Battle of Midway. She was briefly part of the Aleutian invasion force, before returning south to be part of the fleet around Guadalcanal.
She would continue to be part of battle fleets for the Battle of Santa Cruz, Battle of the Philippine Sea, and the second Battle of Leyte Gulf, before meeting her end during the Battle off Samar.
A lot of the Azur Lane art for her shows her as kind of the big sister to Shimakaze and Katsuragi, which makes sense, considering the real IJN Chikuma’s build date compared to the other two. Somehow, Chikuma hasn’t gotten any alternate costumes yet, so all the fanart for her is purely speculative. Which never stopped anyone before.
She hasn’t played much of a part in anything beyond the Upon the Shimmering Blue event, which may have something to do with it. But with the rerun that just wrapped up, maybe she’ll be seeing some new adventures soon.