Kinugasa, an 8300-ton Aoba class heavy cruiser built at Kobe, Japan, was commissioned in September 1927. Her early service was as flagship of the Fifth Squadron (Sentai), and she operated for virtually her entire career with that unit and the Sixth and Seventh Squadrons. In 1928, she became the first Japanese combat ship to carry an aircraft catapult. Kinugasa served off China in 1928 and 1929 and on several occasions during the 1930s. Placed in reserve in September 1937, she was extensively modernized and did not recommission until the end of October 1940.

Kinugasa was assigned to the Sixth Squadron during the year leading up to the start of the Pacific War. In December 1941, the war's first month, she took part in the seizure of the American outposts at Guam and Wake. She participated in the Battle of the Coral Sea in May 1942 and in the heavy fighting to retake Guadalcanal later in the year. During the latter campaign, she took part in the Battle of Savo Island on 9 August, the Battle of Cape Esperance on 13 October and in the shelling of Guadalcanal's Henderson Field on 14 November 1942. While withdrawing on the morning after that bombardment, Kinugasa was sunk by planes based at Henderson Field and on the aircraft carrier Enterprise (CV-6).