Japanese destroyer Akigumo
Encyclopedia
Akigumo was a Imperial Japanese Navy
Imperial Japanese Navy
The Imperial Japanese Navy was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1869 until 1947, when it was dissolved following Japan's constitutional renunciation of the use of force as a means of settling international disputes...
destroyer
Destroyer
In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast and maneuverable yet long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against smaller, powerful, short-range attackers. Destroyers, originally called torpedo-boat destroyers in 1892, evolved from...
of the .
Shortly after the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands during the early hours of 27 October 1942, Akigumo along with the destroyer Makigumo
Japanese destroyer Makigumo
Makigumo was a of the Imperial Japanese Navy. Her name means "Cirrus Clouds" .Following the Battle of Midway in June 1942, downed American aircrew SBD Ensign Frank W. O'Flaherty and AMM1c Bruno P. Gaido were pulled from the water by Makigumo...
sunk the heavily damaged and abandoned USS Hornet
USS Hornet
Eight ships of the United States Navy have been named USS Hornet, after the stinging insect., was a ten-gun sloop commissioned in 1775, and served in the American Revolutionary War, was also a ten-gun sloop and took part in the First Barbary War, was a brig-rigged sloop of war launched on 28 July...
. US Naval ships had attempted to scuttle Hornet earlier but failed to do so before Japanese naval forces forced the US ships to withdraw.
Akigumo served during the Pacific war in various theatres and by 1943/44 received the typical mid-war radar and AA refits, bringing the light AA outfit finally to four triple and one twin 25mm mounts, plus some singles, and mounting both the active type 22 and the passive type E-27 radars.
On 11 April 1944, Akigumo was torpedo
Torpedo
The modern torpedo is a self-propelled missile weapon with an explosive warhead, launched above or below the water surface, propelled underwater towards a target, and designed to detonate either on contact with it or in proximity to it.The term torpedo was originally employed for...
ed and sunk by 30 miles (55 km) southeast of Zamboanga Peninsula
Zamboanga Peninsula
Zamboanga Peninsula / Western Mindanao is a peninsula and an administrative region in the Philippines. Designated as Region IX, the region consists of three provinces, namely, Zamboanga del Norte, Zamboanga del Sur, and Zamboanga Sibugay, its component cities of Dipolog, Dapitan, Pagadian, and...
, Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
(06°43′N 122°23′E).