Momi class
Momi class | |
---|---|
Destroyer Ashi |
|
Overview | |
Type | destroyer |
units | 21st |
Technical specifications | |
displacement |
|
length |
83.8 m |
width |
7.9 m |
Draft |
2.4 m |
crew |
110 men |
drive |
|
speed |
|
Range |
3,000 nm at 15 kn |
Armament |
upon commissioning:
after reconstruction of patrol boats no.31 to no.33:
after reconstruction of patrol boats No. 34 to No. 39:
|
The Momi- class was a class of destroyers of the Imperial Japanese Navy that were built after the First World War and some were still used in the Second World War .
technology
The Momi-class was the first Japanese type of destroyer that was not built according to British models. The design was reminiscent of the larger Minekaze class , the hull was taken from the Enoki class from the First World War .
Since the main armament (12 cm guns) were placed in a central line and the torpedo tubes between the forecastle and the bridge, the seaworthiness of these small destroyers improved considerably. Problems with excessive heel during turns at high speed were resolved by widening the bow and raising the waterline. The speed of 36 knots and the shallow draft also made the ships excellent destroyers in shallow coastal waters.
The Momi-class destroyers were the first ships in the Japanese Navy to be equipped with the new 53.3 cm torpedo tubes.
Originally, the destroyers were designed to take on offensive tasks in groups of two to four units each. But already at the beginning of the twenties it turned out that this relatively small and weakly armed type of ship was overtaken by the ever faster development of new destroyer types. Therefore, after the completion of the last units of this type of ship, the Japanese Navy stopped building small destroyers and classified the Momi class as a 2nd class destroyer. Accordingly, the Momi class was mainly used to secure local and coastal convoys during World War II.
List of ships
Surname | Shipyard | Keel laying | Launch | Commissioning | Whereabouts |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Momi | Yokosuka naval shipyard | December 23, 1918 | June 10, 1919 | December 27, 1919 | Decommissioned in 1932 |
Kaya | December 23, 1918 | June 10, 1919 | March 28, 1920 | Decommissioned 1939 a. Broken down in 1940 | |
Nire | Kure naval shipyard | September 5, 1919 | December 22, 1919 | March 31, 1920 | |
Nashi | Kawasaki , Kobe | December 2, 1918 | August 22, 1919 | December 25, 1919 | Decommissioned 1939 a. Broken down in 1940 |
Take | December 2, 1918 | August 26, 1919 | December 25, 1919 | ||
Persimmon | Uraga shipyard, Tokyo | February 27, 1919 | October 28, 1919 | August 8, 1920 | |
Kuri | Kure naval shipyard | December 5, 1919 | March 19, 1920 | April 30, 1920 | |
Tsuga | Ishikawajima Zosen , Tokyo | March 5, 1919 | April 17, 1920 | July 20, 1920 | |
Fuji ( No. 36 ) |
Fujinagata Shipyard, Osaka | December 2, 1919 | November 27, 1920 | May 31, 1921 | |
Kiku ( No. 31 ) |
Kawasaki, Kobe | January 20, 1920 | October 13, 1920 | December 10, 1920 | |
Aoi ( No. 32 ) |
April 1, 1920 | November 9, 1920 | December 10, 1920 | ||
Hagi ( No. 33 ) |
Uraga Docks Co. Ltd., Tokyo | February 28, 1920 | October 29, 1920 | April 20, 1921 | |
Susuki ( No. 34 ) |
Ishikawajima Zosen, Tokyo | May 3, 1920 | February 21, 1921 | May 5, 1921 | |
Ashi | Kawasaki, Kobe | November 15, 1920 | September 3, 1921 | October 29, 1921 | |
Tsuta ( No. 35 ) |
October 16, 1920 | May 9, 1921 | June 30, 1921 | ||
Warabi | Fujinagata Shipyard, Osaka | October 12, 1920 | September 28, 1921 | December 19, 1921 | sunk on August 24, 1927 after collision |
Hasu | Uraga Shipyard, Tokyo | March 2, 1921 | December 8, 1921 | July 31, 1922 | |
Hishi ( No. 37 ) |
November 10, 1920 | May 9, 1921 | March 3, 1922 | on January 24, 1942 aground after a battle and deleted from the fleet list after recovery | |
Sumire | Ishikawajima Zosen, Tokyo | November 24, 1920 | December 14, 1921 | March 30, 1923 | |
Yomogi ( No. 38 ) |
February 26, 1921 | March 14, 1922 | August 9, 1922 | by torpedo attack on November 25, 1944 USS ATULE dropped | |
Tade ( No. 39 ) |
Fujinagata Shipyard, Osaka | December 20, 1920 | March 15, 1922 | July 31, 1922 |
The time up to the Second World War
The Warabi was the first ship of this class to be lost. She sank on August 24, 1927 after a collision with the Japanese light cruiser Jintsū off Maizuru . The destroyer Momi was decommissioned in 1932 and the machinery was removed. The hull was brought to Yokosuka for testing purposes.
At the beginning of 1932, the other destroyers were divided into three to four units each in different destroyer divisions in the naval districts of Sasebo , Kure , Maizuru , Chinkei and Mako .
After the incident at the Marco Polo Bridge near Beijing , which led to the Second Sino-Japanese War , most of the Momi-class destroyers were ordered into Chinese waters to support Japanese troop landings and combat operations. Hasu , Kuri and Tsuga were assigned to the naval base in Shanghai and escorted shipping traffic in the Chinese coastal waters and in the Yangtze until December 1941 .
The other destroyers returned to their bases there in Japan by 1939, in order to then undergo extensive modernization and reconstruction measures. In the case of Kaya and Nashi, this effort was not worthwhile due to their poor overall condition; both were decommissioned in 1939 and scrapped by 1940.
All remaining units of this class, with the exception of the Kasu , Kuri and Tsuga stationed in Shanghai , were modernized in 1939. Nine were converted into patrol boats and five into training ships / tenders.
Conversion to patrol boats
By the end of the conversion work on April 1, 1940, a boiler of the machine system was removed, the stern modified to accommodate a Daihatsu landing craft (approx. 14 m long, loading capacity 1 tank or 70 men or 10 tons of material) and accommodation for 150 men landing troops set up. In addition, the armament was adapted to the changed needs, especially for the defense against submarine and aircraft attacks . In order to improve stability, the water displacement was increased to 935 tons by additional ballast. Only the former Fuji or patrol boat No. 36 survived the Second World War. The other patrol boats were mostly sunk by submarines and aircraft attacks.
literature
- Anthony J. Watts: Japanese Warships of World War II
- Francis E. McMurtrie (Ed.): Jane's Fighting Ships of World War II . ISBN 0-517-67963-9
- J. Rohwer, G. Hummelchen: Chronology of the war at sea 1939-1945 . Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, ISBN 1-55750-105-X
Web links
- The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia : Momi Class, Japanese Destroyers , accessed March 2015