Displacement	16,000 tons
Armament	8 x 2   8" Light AA and T.T.
Speed	32 knots
VTS Rating	(1)+(1)   2   7

Kaminari (rolling thunder) epitomized an extreme of the "Large Cruiser" concept. With as many guns as two "heavy" cruisers, she could put out a withering broadside. Like the Rio de Janeiro, though, she had too many deep holes in her hull for good strength, and other systems below decks were cramped . Also sporting sixteen large guns, the French Côte d'Azur at least kept the "holes" to the more traditional four.

Kaminari was active in Indonesia as the war started. In the Guadalcanal campaign, she was able to take on two Allied cruisers at once. The noise from her sixteen heavy guns substantiated her given name. The fierce twisting of her weak hull in combat and some Allied shell damage forced Kaminari to head home for repairs. Somewhere off the Marianas the Kaminari, travelling alone, was sunk by a prowling US fleet submarine.