was an escort ship of the in the service of 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...

 during World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

. Based in the Kuriles

Kuril Islands

The Kuril Islands , in Russia's Sakhalin Oblast region, form a volcanic archipelago that stretches approximately northeast from Hokkaidō, Japan, to Kamchatka, Russia, separating the Sea of Okhotsk from the North Pacific Ocean. There are 56 islands and many more minor rocks. It consists of Greater...

, she patrolled and escorted convoys and ships there.

On October 7, 1943 the Ishigaki sank the submarine . S-44 discovered a target on her radar that she took to be a lone small freighter. S-44 opened fire with her 4-inch deck gun on the refrigerator ship Koko Maru. Ishigaki, Koko Maru's escort, sighted the submarine at 3,300 yards and opened fire with her bow 4.7-inch gun. Captain Francis Brown of the S-44 ordered a crash dive, but Ishigaki scored her first hit on S-44's conning tower before she could submerge. S-44 attempted to fight back with her deck gun, but her gunners were blinded by Ishigaki's 75 cm searchlight and she scored no hits. Ishigaki then scored her second hit on the submarine's battery section. She then turned and all three 4.7-inch guns began firing at S-44. Soon, she scored several more hits on S-44 which began to sink. Perhaps as many as eight men made it off the submarine; Chief Torpedoman's Mate Ernest A. Duva and Radioman Third Class William F. Whitemore were picked up by the Ishigaki.

On May 31, 1944 the Ishigaki was torpedoed by the , and had her bow blown off. She managed to drop several depth charges before sinking with a loss of 167 sailors.