Mikuma was a Japanese heavy cruiser that was sunk at the Battle of Midway, June 6, 1942. While her sinking is generally an afterthought compared to the destruction of the Japanese aircraft carriers, Mikuma had proven a thorn in the side of the Allies for the entire war to that point. She was heavily involved in the Java Sea battles of early 1942, when she and other Japanese cruiser forces swept combined British-American-Australian-Dutch naval forces from the Eastern Pacific, paving the way for the invasion of the Dutch East Indies.