Type 2 Ka-Mi

The Type 2 Ka-Mi amphibious tank for the Imperial Japanese Navy was based on the Imperial Japanese Army's Type 95 Ha-Go light tank, with major modifications. It weighed 11 tonnes, carried a crew of five, had a top speed on land of 23 mph. Its fully rotating gun turret had a high-velocity Type 1 37 mm gun and a coaxial 7.7 mm Type 97 light machine gun. A second Type 97 light machine gun was located in the tank's bow. The Type 2 came into active service after Japan's initial campaigns of World War II, and thus for the most part was too late to be used in its original design mission of amphibious landings. Many units served in naval garrison detachments in the South Seas Mandate and the occupied Dutch East Indies. It first saw combat during the Guadalcanal campaign in late 1942, and later in the Marshall and Mariana Islands, particularly on Saipan, where they supported the Yokosuka Base Special Naval Landing Force (SNLF) in its failed amphibious operation. Japan also used them during the fighting on the Philippine island of Leyte in late 1944. Japanese industry produced about 184 examples in 1942-1943.