Yahagi, the second Japanese warship of that name, was the third of the four Agano-class vessels (the other three being Agano, Noshiro and Sakawa). Construction of the Agano-class cruisers was approved by the Japanese parliament (Diet) in March 1939 under the Fourth Naval Armaments Enhancement Program (Dai-Yon-Ji Kaigun Gunbi JÅ«jitsu Keikaku), also known as “Four-in-Circle†Program (Maru Yon Keikaku), or simply Maru 4. Under the terms of the program, the four light cruisers (kei jun’yÅkan), also referred to as type B cruisers (otsu-gata jun’yÅkan, or simply otsu jun) and officially classed as second-class cruisers (ni-tÅ jun’yÅkan), were to fulfill the role of destroyer squadron flagships. At that time destroyer squadrons (DesRon), called literarily torpedo squadrons (suirai sentai), consisted of four four-ship destroyer divisions (DesDiv, or kuchiku-tai).
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‘With bonus pull-out scale plans, this is a useful reference work for anyone planning a build of this notable and very elegant Japanese warship.’ Airfix Model World