Isokaze
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The Isokaze ( Japanese 磯 風 , dt. "Coastal Wind") was a destroyer of the Kagerō class of the Imperial Japanese Navy , which was built for use in the Pacific War .
history
The ship was launched on June 19, 1939. The commissioning took place on November 30, 1940. Under Kaigun-Taisa Toyoshima Shunichi , she was assigned to the 17th Destroyer Division of the First Fleet.
After a trip to the Kuril Islands , the Isokaze was part of the Kidō Butai on December 7, 1941 , which carried out the attack on Pearl Harbor . In January 1942, she escorted the carrier fleet to work at Truk and Rabaul . During the Japanese expansion in Southeast Asia , the Isokaze was mainly used there later in the year. At the Battle of Midway , in early June, she was one of the escort ships of the aircraft carrier Sōryū and participated in rescuing the survivors together with the destroyer Hamakaze .
Battle of the Eastern Solomon Islands
The transfer to the third fleet took place in mid-July. In August, the Isokaze took over the task of protecting the ship for the heavy cruiser Chōkai , with which she arrived at the Solomon Islands on August 23 . The next day, she took part in the bombing of the American airfield at Henderson Field on Guadalcanal . During the battle of the East Solomon Islands and on the following days, the Isokaze escorted a troop transport. She moved to Rabaul at the beginning of September in order to subsequently evacuate Japanese soldiers from Goodenough Island . It was slightly damaged in the ensuing American air raids and the evacuation had to be canceled. At the end of September, the Isokaze ran together with the destroyer Mochizuki to Normanby Island to take in survivors of the destroyer Yayoi .
Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands
At the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands on October 26, the Isokaze escorted Admiral Abe Hiroaki's vanguard fleet . She moved to Japan in early November to do some repairs. After the change of command to Kaigun-Shōsa Kamiura Sumiya , the Isokaze went to Truk and Rabaul, where they landed replacement troops from Japan. By the end of the year it was mainly used for further troop transports, and on 10 January 1943, she was involved in the sinking of the American submarine USS Argonaut involved, the nearby New Britain of depth charges was hit and grenades. The Isokaze then took part in some trips of the Tokyo Express in the Solomon Islands. In a troop evacuation from the Russell Islands , ten of its crew members were killed when the ship was hit directly by a bomb on February 8 during an American air raid. The Isokaze was repaired in Rabaul and then on Truk by March 2nd . After repeated convoy trips, she was involved in skirmishes with American destroyers on August 17 and 18 at the Battle of Horaniu and during the Japanese retreat from the Solomon Islands also in the Battle of Vella Lavella on October 6 and 7.
Battle of the Leyte Gulf
At the beginning of November the Isokaze ran into a mine near Kavieng and was slightly damaged in the process. During the subsequent repair in Kure , the Isokaze was fitted with two 2.5 cm triple guns instead of the rear X turret . In early to mid-1944 she was involved in some convoy trips in Southeast Asia and also in the battle in the Philippine Sea , in which she took in survivors of the torpedoed carrier Taihō . From October 23 to 25, she took part in the sea and air battle in the Gulf of Leyte as part of the diversionary maneuver under Admiral Kurita Takeo . In the battle of Samar she attacked some US escort carriers with torpedoes and was involved in the sinking of the destroyer USS Johnston . The Isokaze and the Yukikaze were the only destroyers under Admiral Kurita's command to survive the battle. They then called on Brunei . From there, the Isokaze supported the troop transports from November 9th to 10th to Leyte and then went to the Japanese inland sea.
Sinking off Okinawa
When on April 6, 1945 the Yamato set out for her voyage to Okinawa ( Operation Ten-gō ), the Isokaze was one of her escort ships. On April 7, the American air raid took place on the battleship , which also hit the Isokaze badly. After a close hit on the bow, she could no longer be steered. 20 crew members were killed and 54 wounded. The Yukikaze was able to take in 285 survivors. They then sank the Isokaze with their on-board guns about 240 kilometers southwest of Nagasaki .
literature
- MJ Whitley: Destroyer in World War II . Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart 1991, ISBN 3-613-01426-2 .
Web links
- Complete operational history of the Isokaze on combinedfleet.com (English)
- Dates of the Isokaze (Japanese)
- Kagerō- class destroyer (Dutch)
Footnotes
- ↑ The Japanese rank Taisa corresponds to the German rank of captain at sea . The prefix Kaigun indicates that it is a naval officer.
- ↑ a b Joachim Wätzig: The Japanese Fleet - From 1868 to today . Brandenburgisches Verlagshaus, Berlin 1996, ISBN 3-89488-104-6 . P. 183
- ↑ The Japanese rank of Shosa corresponds to the German rank of corvette captain . The prefix Kaigun indicates that it is a naval officer.