Shiratsuyu class
 Yamakaze
|
||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
The Shiratsuyu class ( Japanese白露 型 駆 逐 艦, Shiratsuyu-gata kuchikukan ) was a class of ten destroyers of the Imperial Japanese Navy , which were used in World War II .
Development history and construction
As part of the 1st construction program ( Maru 1 Keikaku ) from 1931, twelve units of the Hatsuharu class were ordered. As a result of the Tomozuru incident , in which the torpedo boat Tomozuru capsized in heavy seas on March 12, 1934 , losing a large part of the crew due to top- heaviness, the stability of the two ships already in service was checked and this was found to be defective rated. Four more units were already in the more advanced stages of construction and so the design was revised and the last six units of the originally planned class now formed the basis of the Shiratsuyu class. In addition to these six units, there were four more which were ordered as part of the 2nd construction program ( Maru 2 Keikaku ) from 1934, so that the class now comprised ten units.
The design of the Shiratsuyu class was essentially the same as the revised Hatsuharu class, but had a greater draft with a smaller ship length and width. Improvements were made in the torpedo armament, in which the triple torpedo tube sets were replaced by quadruple sets and the reserve torpedoes for the front tube set were now on both sides of the aft chimney. This also eliminated the characteristic asymmetrical arrangement of the chimneys of the Hatsuharu class in relation to the ship's center line . The four ships ordered as part of the 1934 construction program had improvements that made them similar to the subsequent Asashio class .
List of ships
| Surname | Shipyard | Keel laying | Launch | Commissioning | Whereabouts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Maru 1 Keikaku | ||||||
|
Shiratsuyu ( 白露 ) |
Sasebo naval shipyard | November 14, 1933 | April 5, 1935 | August 20, 1936 | sunk on June 14, 1944 after colliding with tanker Seiyo Maru , in the Strait of Surigao during a storm |
|
|
Shigure ( 時 雨 ) |
Uraga shipyard , Yokosuka |
December 9, 1933 | May 18, 1936 | September 7, 1937 | sunk on January 24, 1945 by americans USS Blackfin submarine , off the east coast of Malaysia |
|
|
Murasame ( 村 雨 ) |
Fujinaga Shipyard, Osaka |
February 1, 1934 | June 20, 1935 | January 7, 1937 | sunk on March 6, 1943 after meeting Task Force 68 by torpedo of the Americans. Destroyer USS Waller in the Kula Gulf |
|
|
Yūdachi ( 夕 立 ) |
Sasebo naval shipyard | October 16, 1934 | June 21, 1936 | January 7, 1937 | sunk on November 13, 1942 by americans Cruiser USS Portland , during the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal in Savo Sound |
|
|
Samidars ( 五月 雨 ) |
Uraga shipyard, Yokosuka |
December 19, 1934 | July 6, 1935 | January 29, 1937 | sunk on August 25, 1944 after being stranded on the Palau Islands | |
|
Harusame ( 春雨 ) |
Uraga shipyard, Yokosuka |
February 3, 1935 | September 21, 1935 | August 26, 1937 | sunk on June 8, 1944 by air raid, northwest of New Guinea |
|
| Maru 2 Keikaku | ||||||
|
Umikaze ( 海風 ) |
Maizuru naval shipyard | May 4, 1935 | November 27, 1936 | May 31, 1937 | sunk on February 1, 1944 by americans USS Guardfish submarine , south of Truk |
|
|
Yamakaze ( 山風 ) |
Uraga shipyard, Yokosuka |
May 25, 1935 | February 21, 1936 | January 30, 1937 | sunk on June 25, 1942 by americans USS Nautilus submarine | |
|
Kawakaze ( 江 風 ) |
Fujinagata Shipyard, Osaka |
April 25, 1935 | November 1, 1936 | April 30, 1937 | sunk on August 6, 1943 during the Battle of the Vella Gulf | |
|
Suzukaze ( 涼風 ) |
Uraga shipyard, Yokosuka |
July 9, 1935 | March 11, 1937 | August 31, 1937 | sunk on January 26, 1944 by americans USS Skipjack submarine , south of New Britain |
|
technology
hull
The hull of a Shiratsuya- class destroyer was 107.5 meters long, 9.9 meters wide and had a draft of 3.5 meters with an operational displacement of 2,011 tons .
drive
It was driven by two turbine sets with simple toothed gears with three oil-fired steam generators - Kampon-type boilers , each housed in a separate room - with a total output of 42,000 HP (30,891 kW ). The power was delivered to two shafts with one screw each . The top speed was 34 knots (63 km / h ). 508 tons of fuel could be bunkered, resulting in a maximum travel distance of 6,000 nautical miles (11,112 km) at 15 knots.
Crew The crew had a strength of 180 men.
Armament
When commissioned, the armament consisted of five 12.7 cm Type 3 guns with a caliber length of 50 in two twin turrets of the C model and a single turret of the B model. Which were set up back to back in the boat center line, one in front of the bridge structure and two behind the aft deckhouse. For anti-aircraft were two 13 mm machine guns in single carriage of the type 93 are available, which were placed on both sides on a platform at the rear chimney. Furthermore, there were a torpedo armament two quadruple torpedo tube sets in the caliber of 61 cm for torpedoes of the type 93 with eight spare torpedoes and two drain racks for sixteen depth charges on board.
Due to the strong Allied air forces during the Pacific War , there was a continuous reinforcement of the 2.5 cm guns , these had already replaced the two 13 mm MG in single mounts with two double mounts before the war. The beginning was to set up an additional double carriage on a platform in front of the bridge, then to bring the single tower ashore and to replace it with a triple carriage. With the twin mounts on both sides of the aft funnel replaced by triple mounts, there were now eleven 2.5 cm guns on board. From 1944 onwards ten more single guns were added, which increased the total to twenty-one guns.
Sensors
radar
Japanese destroyers were not equipped with radio measurement technology from the beginning of the war . It was not until the middle of 1943 that the first selected units received the Type 22 radar . This system, which is capable of surveillance of the sea and fire control , which consisted of a double horn - one for sending and one for receiving - was installed in the main mast behind the bridge. Due to the fact that early Japanese radar devices were unreliable and their operating personnel were poorly trained, commanders tended not to take any information from them seriously and to rely on classic reconnaissance methods such as lookouts with optical devices. This trust became more and more problematic as the Americans introduced better and better radar systems and used them primarily for fire control.
In 1944, the surviving destroyers received type 13 devices for air surveillance , which had a long ladder antenna that was usually mounted on the aft mast.
sonar
To search for submarines one was echolocation system of the type 93 and a hydrophone -Set the Type 93 scaffolded. This hydrophone set consisted of two groups of eight sensors each, one group on each side of the ship.
literature
- Harald Fock: Fleet Chronicle - The active warships involved in the two world wars and their whereabouts . Koehlers Verlagsgesellschaft, Hamburg 2000, ISBN 3-7822-0788-2 , p. 173-200 .
- Mark Stille: Imperial Japanese Navy Destroyers 1919–45 . tape 1 . Osprey Publishing , Oxford 2013, ISBN 978-1-84908-984-5 , pp. 7–8 and 39–46 (English).
- Mike J. Whitley: Destroyer in World War II . Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart 1997, ISBN 3-613-01426-2 , p. 191-192 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Japanese Sonar and Asdic (USNTMJ E-10). (PDF) US Navy Technical Mission to Japan, December 14, 1945, pp. 7 and 11 , accessed on August 23, 2020 .