Japanese destroyer Shiratsuyu
Encyclopedia
{| was the lead ship
of ten destroyer
s, and first of six to be built for the Imperial Japanese Navy
under the Circle One Program
(Maru Ichi Keikaku).
attacks against the United States Navy
as it advanced across the Pacific Ocean
, according to Japanese naval strategic projections. Despite being one of the most powerful classes of destroyers in the world at the time of their completion, none survived the Pacific War
.
Shiratsuyu, built at the Sasebo Naval Arsenal
was laid down on November 14, 1933, launched on April 5, 1935 and commissioned on September 7, 1936.
, Shiratsuyu was assigned to Destroyer Division 27 of Destroyer Squadron 1 of the IJN 1st Fleet
, and remained in Japanese home waters as part of the protection of the Japanese battleship
forces. From mid-January 1942, she was assisted to escorting convoys between Japan and Taiwan
, and in mid-February escorted the aircraft carrier
to Davao
and back to Hashirajima
. In April, it escorted the and from Mako
to Truk, from which it joined Admiral Takeo Takagi
’s Strike Force at the Battle of the Coral Sea
on May 7–8. At the end of May, it escorted and back to Kure
, from which it was assigned to Admiral Shirō Takasu’s, Aleutians Guard Force during the Battle of Midway
on 4–6 June. On 14 July she was assigned back to the IJN 2nd Fleet and returned to Truk in mid-August, from which she was deployed as a high speed transport to carry troops to reoccupy Makin Atoll after the Makin Raid.
Until mid-September, Shiratsuyu remained based out of Jaluit in the Marshall Islands
, but from October was deployed to the Solomon Islands
, where she made several "Tokyo Express
" high speed transport runs to Guadalcanal
. On an attack mission to Guadalcanal on 25 October, she assisted in sinking the American tug and damaging the . She participated in the First Naval Battle of Guadalcanal on the night of 12–13 November 1942, rescuing survivors from the torpedoed battleship , but was not involved in combat. On 23 November, while on a transport run to Lae
, she rescued survivors from , which she then scuttled with a torpedo.
However, on her next mission to Buna
on 28 November, Shiratsuyu took a direct hit from a bomb during an attack by USAAF B-17 Flying Fortress bombers in her bow
, which required emergency repairs at Rabaul
, Truk, and Saipan
before she should reach Sasebo on 25 February 1943 for complete repairs. She returned to active duty on 20 July 1943 with the IJN 2nd Fleet, escorting the from Yokosuka to Truk and back in late August. She returned to Rabaul in mid-October, after which she was assigned to troop transport runs to Qavuvu.
During the Battle of Empress Augusta Bay
on 2 November, she collided with , after which she was strafed by American aircraft, leaving four dead and two wounded, and necessitating a return back to Sasebo in November. During this refit, one gun turret
was removed and replaced by two triple 25-mm anti-aircraft guns.
She returned to Truk at the end of December as part of the escort for Myōkō, Haguro and , continuing on to Kavieng
in early January. From February through April, she was part of the escort for the . From the end of April, she was reassigned to Take Ichi convoy
duty, escorting troop convoys from China to the Philippines and other points in southeast Asia.
Shiratsuyu was attacked on 8 June off of Biak
by US Navy aircraft, with four killed and five crewmen injured. On the night of 14 June, she collided with the Japanese tanker Seiyo Maru 90 nautical miles (166.7 km) southeast of Surigao Strait
(09°09′N 126°51′E), after which her depth charge
s exploded among survivors. Of her crew, 104 were killed, including her captain, Commander Matsuda. She was removed from the navy list
on 10 August 1944.
Lead ship
The lead ship or class leader is the first of a series or class of ships all constructed according to the same general design. The term is applicable military ships and larger civilian craft.-Overview:...
of ten 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...
s, and first of six to be built for the 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...
under the Circle One Program
1st Naval Armaments Supplement Programme (Japan, 1931)
The , otherwise known as the "Circle One" plan was the first of four expansion plans of the Imperial Japanese Navy between 1930 and the start of World War II.-Background:...
(Maru Ichi Keikaku).
History
The Shiratsuyu class destroyers were modified versions of the , and were designed to accompany the Japanese main striking force and to conduct both day and night torpedoTorpedo
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...
attacks against the United States Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
as it advanced across the Pacific Ocean
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
, according to Japanese naval strategic projections. Despite being one of the most powerful classes of destroyers in the world at the time of their completion, none survived the Pacific War
Pacific War
The Pacific War, also sometimes called the Asia-Pacific War refers broadly to the parts of World War II that took place in the Pacific Ocean, its islands, and in East Asia, then called the Far East...
.
Shiratsuyu, built at the Sasebo Naval Arsenal
Sasebo Naval Arsenal
was one of four principal naval shipyards owned and operated by the Imperial Japanese Navy. -History:The Sasebo Naval District was established at Sasebo, Nagasaki in 1886, as the third of the naval districts responsible for the defense of the Japanese home islands. After the establishment of the...
was laid down on November 14, 1933, launched on April 5, 1935 and commissioned on September 7, 1936.
Operational history
At the time of the attack on Pearl HarborAttack on Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike conducted by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on the morning of December 7, 1941...
, Shiratsuyu was assigned to Destroyer Division 27 of Destroyer Squadron 1 of the IJN 1st Fleet
IJN 1st Fleet
The was the main battleship fleet of the Imperial Japanese Navy.-History:First established on 28 December 1903, the IJN 1st Fleet was created during the Russo-Japanese War when the Imperial General Headquarters divided the Readiness Fleet into a mobile strike force of cruisers and destroyers to...
, and remained in Japanese home waters as part of the protection of the Japanese battleship
Battleship
A battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of heavy caliber guns. Battleships were larger, better armed and armored than cruisers and destroyers. As the largest armed ships in a fleet, battleships were used to attain command of the sea and represented the apex of a...
forces. From mid-January 1942, she was assisted to escorting convoys between Japan and Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
, and in mid-February escorted the aircraft carrier
Aircraft carrier
An aircraft carrier is a warship designed with a primary mission of deploying and recovering aircraft, acting as a seagoing airbase. Aircraft carriers thus allow a naval force to project air power worldwide without having to depend on local bases for staging aircraft operations...
to Davao
Davao
Davao refers to several closely related places in Mindanao in the Philippines. The term is used most often to refer to the city.*Davao Region, an administrative region*Davao del Norte province*Davao del Sur province*Davao Oriental province...
and back to Hashirajima
Hashirajima
is an island in southern Hiroshima Bay of the Inland Sea, Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan. Located 26 kilometers southeast of Iwakuni, it is part of the Kutsuna Islands within the Bōyō Islands group....
. In April, it escorted the and from Mako
Mako Guard District
The was the major navy base for the Imperial Japanese Navy in Taiwan before and during World War II. Located in at Mako ), , the Mako Guard District was responsible for control of the strategic Straits of Taiwan and for patrols along the Taiwan and China coastlines and in the South China Sea...
to Truk, from which it joined Admiral Takeo Takagi
Takeo Takagi
was an admiral in the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II.-Biography:Takagi was a native of Iwaki city, Fukushima prefecture. He was a graduate of the 39th class of the Imperial Japanese Naval Academy, ranking 17th of 148 cadets in 1911...
’s Strike Force at the Battle of the Coral Sea
Battle of the Coral Sea
The Battle of the Coral Sea, fought from 4–8 May 1942, was a major naval battle in the Pacific Theater of World War II between the Imperial Japanese Navy and Allied naval and air forces from the United States and Australia. The battle was the first fleet action in which aircraft carriers engaged...
on May 7–8. At the end of May, it escorted and back to Kure
Kure Naval District
was the second of four main administrative districts of the pre-war Imperial Japanese Navy. Its territory included the Inland Sea of Japan and the Pacific coasts of southern Honshū from Wakayama to Yamaguchi prefectures, eastern and northern Kyūshū and Shikoku....
, from which it was assigned to Admiral Shirō Takasu’s, Aleutians Guard Force during the Battle of Midway
Battle of Midway
The Battle of Midway is widely regarded as the most important naval battle of the Pacific Campaign of World War II. Between 4 and 7 June 1942, approximately one month after the Battle of the Coral Sea and six months after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States Navy decisively defeated...
on 4–6 June. On 14 July she was assigned back to the IJN 2nd Fleet and returned to Truk in mid-August, from which she was deployed as a high speed transport to carry troops to reoccupy Makin Atoll after the Makin Raid.
Until mid-September, Shiratsuyu remained based out of Jaluit in the Marshall Islands
Marshall Islands
The Republic of the Marshall Islands , , is a Micronesian nation of atolls and islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, just west of the International Date Line and just north of the Equator. As of July 2011 the population was 67,182...
, but from October was deployed to the Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands is a sovereign state in Oceania, east of Papua New Guinea, consisting of nearly one thousand islands. It covers a land mass of . The capital, Honiara, is located on the island of Guadalcanal...
, where she made several "Tokyo Express
Tokyo Express
The Tokyo Express was the name given by Allied forces to the use of Imperial Japanese Navy ships at night to deliver personnel, supplies, and equipment to Japanese forces operating in and around New Guinea and the Solomon Islands during the Pacific campaign of World War II...
" high speed transport runs to Guadalcanal
Guadalcanal
Guadalcanal is a tropical island in the South-Western Pacific. The largest island in the Solomons, it was discovered by the Spanish expedition of Alvaro de Mendaña in 1568...
. On an attack mission to Guadalcanal on 25 October, she assisted in sinking the American tug and damaging the . She participated in the First Naval Battle of Guadalcanal on the night of 12–13 November 1942, rescuing survivors from the torpedoed battleship , but was not involved in combat. On 23 November, while on a transport run to Lae
Lae
Lae, the capital of Morobe Province, is the second-largest city in Papua New Guinea. It is located at the start of the Highlands Highway which is the main land transport corridor from the Highlands region to the coast...
, she rescued survivors from , which she then scuttled with a torpedo.
However, on her next mission to Buna
Buna, Papua New Guinea
Buna is a village in Oro Province, Papua New Guinea. It was the site in part, of the Battle of Buna-Gona during World War II, when it constituted a variety of native huts and a handful of houses with a airstrip...
on 28 November, Shiratsuyu took a direct hit from a bomb during an attack by USAAF B-17 Flying Fortress bombers in her bow
Bow (ship)
The bow is a nautical term that refers to the forward part of the hull of a ship or boat, the point that is most forward when the vessel is underway. Both of the adjectives fore and forward mean towards the bow...
, which required emergency repairs at Rabaul
Rabaul
Rabaul is a township in East New Britain province, Papua New Guinea. The town was the provincial capital and most important settlement in the province until it was destroyed in 1994 by falling ash of a volcanic eruption. During the eruption, ash was sent thousands of metres into the air and the...
, Truk, and Saipan
Saipan
Saipan is the largest island of the United States Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands , a chain of 15 tropical islands belonging to the Marianas archipelago in the western Pacific Ocean with a total area of . The 2000 census population was 62,392...
before she should reach Sasebo on 25 February 1943 for complete repairs. She returned to active duty on 20 July 1943 with the IJN 2nd Fleet, escorting the from Yokosuka to Truk and back in late August. She returned to Rabaul in mid-October, after which she was assigned to troop transport runs to Qavuvu.
During the Battle of Empress Augusta Bay
Battle of Empress Augusta Bay
The Battle of Empress Augusta Bay, on 1–2 November 1943—also known as the Battle of Gazelle Bay, Operation Cherry Blossom, and in Japanese sources as the Sea Battle of Bougainville Bay Shore —was a naval battle fought near the island of Bougainville...
on 2 November, she collided with , after which she was strafed by American aircraft, leaving four dead and two wounded, and necessitating a return back to Sasebo in November. During this refit, one gun turret
Gun turret
A gun turret is a weapon mount that protects the crew or mechanism of a projectile-firing weapon and at the same time lets the weapon be aimed and fired in many directions.The turret is also a rotating weapon platform...
was removed and replaced by two triple 25-mm anti-aircraft guns.
She returned to Truk at the end of December as part of the escort for Myōkō, Haguro and , continuing on to Kavieng
Kavieng
Kavieng is the capital of the Papua New Guinean province of New Ireland and the largest town on the island of the same name. The town is located at Balgai Bay, on the northern tip of the island. As of 2000, it had a population of 10,600....
in early January. From February through April, she was part of the escort for the . From the end of April, she was reassigned to Take Ichi convoy
Take Ichi convoy
The convoy was a Japanese convoy of World War II. The convoy left Shanghai on 17 April 1944, carrying two infantry divisions to reinforce Japan's defensive positions in the Philippines and western New Guinea. United States Navy submarines attacked the convoy on 26 April and 6 May, sinking four...
duty, escorting troop convoys from China to the Philippines and other points in southeast Asia.
Shiratsuyu was attacked on 8 June off of Biak
Biak
Biak features a tropical rainforest climate with nearly identical temperatures throughout the course of the year. The average annual temperature in the city is 27 degrees celsius, which is also generally the average temperature of each day in Biak...
by US Navy aircraft, with four killed and five crewmen injured. On the night of 14 June, she collided with the Japanese tanker Seiyo Maru 90 nautical miles (166.7 km) southeast of Surigao Strait
Surigao Strait
Surigao Strait is a body of water in the Philippines located between the islands of Mindanao and Leyte. This strait connects the Bohol Sea with Leyte Gulf and is regularly crossed by ferries that transport goods and people between Visayas and Mindanao...
(09°09′N 126°51′E), after which her depth charge
Depth charge
A depth charge is an anti-submarine warfare weapon intended to destroy or cripple a target submarine by the shock of exploding near it. Most use explosives and a fuze set to go off at a preselected depth in the ocean. Depth charges can be dropped by either surface ships, patrol aircraft, or from...
s exploded among survivors. Of her crew, 104 were killed, including her captain, Commander Matsuda. She was removed from the navy list
Navy List
A Navy List or Naval Register is an official list of naval officers, their ranks and seniority, the ships which they command or to which they are appointed, etc., that is published by the government or naval authorities of a country....
on 10 August 1944.