Patrol boats of the Imperial Japanese Navy

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Patrol boat No. 35 , formerly the Momi-class destroyer Tsuta , around 1940

The patrol boats ( Japanese 哨 戒 艇 , Shōkaitei ) of the Imperial Japanese Navy do not represent independent ship developments, but were created in 1939/40 through the reclassification of obsolete destroyers . They were used during World War II ( Pacific War ) for escort protection and to support landing operations. Furthermore, a number of captured Allied ships were put into Japanese service as patrol boats.

Conversion of obsolete destroyers

Destroyer Shimakaze of the Minekaze class before the conversion, later patrol boat No. 1 (picture around 1922)

With the Minekaze class and the light classes Momi and Wakatake, Japan put three extensive destroyer series into service shortly after the First World War . By the end of the 1930s, these ships were completely out of date and undersized in most areas and should be replaced by new units. In view of the existing lack of support and escort ships, the naval command decided, instead of directly decommissioning the old destroyers, to convert some of them into patrol boats and thus to extend the ship's life with a modernized operational profile.

It was this done by the end of 1939 to April 1940 extensive renovations to the ships to the changing needs adapt: It removed a boiler engineer - which had a speed reduction to about 18 knots result - and the torpedo tubes , the mine detection equipment and a Part of the main guns. Newly added anti-aircraft guns and depth charges . Furthermore, the displacement and thus also the stability was significantly increased by additional ballast. The ships were thus now responsible for defending units against submarines and air attacks, instead of, as before, for offensive attack missions against surface targets. The conversion work was carried out in the Kure , Sasebo , Yokosuka and Hakodate naval shipyards .

Patrol boat No. 46 , formerly Wakatake class Yūgao , 1940

In mid-1941, about a year later, most of the patrol boats were modified again to accommodate one or two Daihatsu landing craft at the stern . The depth charges were removed again. At the same time, accommodations for 150-250 marines were set up. The patrol boats thus became small landing craft - mother ships (so-called fast amphibious transport ships ) for the support of landing operations. Similar conversions were also carried out in the United States, where the former destroyers were classified as High-speed Transports (APD) .

A total of two destroyers of the Minekaze, nine of the Momi and one of the Wakatake class were converted into patrol boats. As a result of the reclassification, the ships lost their names and only bore a number instead.

commitment

Wrecks of # 32 and # 33 on Wake Beach

The patrol boat No. 46 ( Dai-46-gō shōkaitei , formerly Yūgao of the Wakatake class) initially remained in Japan with the Kure watch fleet. All other eleven boats formed from the end of 1941 the Patrol Boat Squadron 1 (Captain Nishikawa Hayami ), which was subordinate to the 3rd Fleet (Vice Admiral Takahashi Ibo ) as part of the Special Base Association 32 ( Rear Admiral Irifune Naosaburo ) .

The patrol boats No. 32 (Aoi) and No. 33 (Hagi) (Momi class) were attached to the invasion fleet that attacked the American atoll Wake shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941 . During the battle for Wake , both boats were put on the beach during the second (successful) invasion attempt to support the landing forces and destroyed in the process.

Patrol Boat No. 39 (Tade) sinks after being torpedoed by USS Seawolf ; Ryūkyū Islands, April 23, 1943

The remaining boats took part in the conquest of the Philippines and East India . During the naval battle off Balikpapan ( Borneo ) on January 24, 1942, the patrol boat No. 37 (Hishi) was sunk. The remaining boats were used as convoy protection after the successful completion of the landing operations.

In Operation MI , the Japanese attack on Midway in May and June 1942, patrol boats No. 1 (Shimakaze) and No. 2 (Nadakaze) (both formerly Minekaze class) and No. 34 (Susuki) and (in one other subunit) No. 35 (Tsuta) used as a troop transport for landing forces. All four boats belonged to the invasion and transport fleet (under Kondō Nobutake and his subordinates Tanaka Raizō ), which formed the rearguard during the operation. After the sinking of the aircraft carrier group in front ( Battle of Midway ), the entire formation had to turn around on June 5 and withdraw without even being near the islands.

No. 31 (Kiku) during Operation Desecrate One , March 30, 1944, Palau

The same boats were used two months later as the Battle of the Solomon Islands began to bring supplies to Guadalcanal . In the following months, boats no. 35 (in September) and no. 1 (early 1943) were lost.

The boats were then used exclusively to secure convoy. Of the original patrol boats, only No. 36 (Fuji) survived the war, the rest of them fell victim to submarines or air raids.

Loot ships as patrol boats

During the invasion of Southeast Asia, the Japanese fell into the hands of numerous smaller British, American and Dutch ships in the colonies there. These ships were mostly out of date, had only a low combat strength and had been put on the ground during the fighting, but could often still be used as useful escort protection after repair and conversion work; especially since Japan increasingly needed supplies for the lost ships as the war progressed.

No. 101 , formerly British destroyer HMS Thracian , 1942

The largest captured combat ships were classified as patrol boats. These were the British S-class destroyer HMS Thracian , the American Clemson-class destroyer USS Stewart and the Dutch admiral-class destroyer Hr. Ms. Banckert , supplemented by a number of weaker ships: the minesweeper USS Finch , the fleet tug USS Genesee , the Filipino customs ship Arayat and the three boats Valk, Arend and Fazant of the Dutch-East Indian governorate navy .

With the exception of the Thracian , which had already been captured in Hong Kong and was put into service by the Japanese Navy as patrol boat No. 101 in the summer of 1942 , the repairs dragged on until 1943 or 1944; the Banckert wasn't even finished until the end of the war.

Of the booty ships, all three destroyers and the Fazant survived the war.

list

Number /
old name 		Former class Commissioning
patrol boat
/ first time 		displacement Crew & Marines Whereabouts
No. 1 (Shimakaze) Minekaze class April 1940/1920 1650 ts 148 + 250 infantrymen for 2 landing craft Sunk on January 12, 1943 off the Tingwon Islands by USS Guardfish (SS-217) .
No. 2 (Nadakaze) Minekaze class April 1940/1920 1650 ts 148 + 250 infantrymen for 2 landing craft Sunk on July 25, 1945 in the Java Sea by HMS Stubborn (P238) .
No. 31 (Kiku) Momi class April 1940/1920 935 ts 110? Sunk in Palau on March 30, 1944 by Operation Desecrate One .
No. 32 (Aoi) Momi class April 1940/1920 935 ts 72 + 150 infantrymen for 1 landing craft Destroyed on December 23, 1941 during the Battle of Wake .
No. 33 (Hagi) Momi class April 1940/1921 935 ts 72 + 150 infantrymen for 1 landing craft Destroyed on December 23, 1941 during the Battle of Wake.
No. 34 (Susuki) Momi class April 1940/1921 935 ts 72 + 150 infantrymen for 1 landing craft After the collision with Yakaze on March 6, 1943, it was towed to Truk and was sunk in an air raid on July 3, 1944.
No. 35 (Tsuta) Momi class April 1940/1921 935 ts 72 + 150 infantrymen for 1 landing craft Sunk by an air raid near Lae on September 2, 1942 .
No. 36 (Fuji) Momi class April 1940/1921 935 ts 72 + 150 infantrymen for 1 landing craft Captured by Indonesian troops in Surabaya at the end of the war, captured by Dutch units in 1946 and scrapped in 1947.
No. 37 (Hishi) Momi class April 1940/1922 935 ts 72 + 150 infantrymen for 1 landing craft Sunk on January 24, 1942 during the sea ​​battle off Balikpapan .
No. 38 (Yomogi) Momi class April 1940/1922 935 ts 72 + 150 infantrymen for 1 landing craft Sunk on November 25, 1944 by USS Atule (SS-403) in Luzon Strait .
No. 39 (Tade) Momi class April 1940/1922 935 ts 72 + 150 infantrymen for 1 landing craft Sunk on April 23, 1943 at Yonaguni (Ryūkyū) by USS Seawolf (SS-197) .
No. 46 (Yūgao) Wakatake class April 1940/1924 910 ts 110 Sunk on November 10, 1944 off the Izu Peninsula by USS Greenling (SS-213) .
No. 101 ( HMS Thracian ) Admiralty S-Class October 1942/1922 905/1213 ts 98 At the end of the war in Yokosuka; returned to the Royal Navy and scrapped in 1946.
No. 102 ( USS Stewart ) Clemson class September 1943/1920 1539/1680 ts 120 At the end of the war near Kure in the Seto Inland Sea ; returned to the US Navy and sunk on May 24, 1946 off San Francisco as a target ship.
No. 103 (USS Finch) Lapwing class (minesweeper) April 1943/1918 950/1260 ts 70 Sunk on January 11, 1945 by Operation Gratitude near Cap Saint-Jacques (Indochina).
No. 104 (Valk; NL) "Opium hunter" January 1944/1930 1011 ts 68 Badly damaged by a sea mine on May 25, 1945; Sunk by another mine on Kammon Street on August 24th .
No. 105 (Arayat; US) (Customs ship) September 1943/1931 904 ts ? On November 28, 1944, in Ormoc Bay on Leyte, badly damaged by PT speedboats and aground; captured by American soldiers ten days later.
No. 106 ( Mr. Ms. Banckert ; NL) Admiral class April 1944/1930 1318 ts 149 Not completely repaired by the end of the war; sunk as a target ship in Madurastraße in September 1949 .
No. 107 (USS Genesee) (Tractor) April 1944/1917 688/1180 ts 56 Sunk by air raid near Lubang on November 5, 1944 .
No. 108 (Arend; NL) "Opium hunter" July 1944/1930 1011 ts 65 Sunk by air raid on March 28, 1945 near Makassar .
No. 109 (Fazant; NL) Merel patrol boats October 1944/1931 623 ts 43 At the end of the war in Batavia ; Return to the Netherlands; 1951–54 as Kartika presidential yacht from Sukarno .

Similar and comparable ship types

In the Japanese Navy there were a number of types of ships that were similar to the patrol boats:

  • the auxiliary patrol boats ( Shōkai-Tokumutei ; Pa class or No. 1 auxiliary patrol boat class ) were the second type of ship that was referred to as "patrol boat". The auxiliary patrol boats were significantly smaller (238 ts) and were used as outpost boats off the Japanese coast towards the end of the war ; they corresponded to the German war fishing boats .
  • Kaibōkan ( ocean defense ship , CD ) was the name for the standard escort ships of the Japanese Navy. In terms of size, they corresponded to the smaller patrol boats (approx. 750–950 ts), but were standardized new constructions and without amphibious capabilities.
  • The T-1 transporters built from 1943 ( 1-Tō Yusōkan ; No. 1 landing craft class ) followed the patrol boats as fast amphibious transport ships. They were based on Matsu destroyer hulls and could accommodate up to 4 landing craft. Due to the course of the war, the 21 completed ships were used, contrary to their intended purpose, mainly as escorts or troop transports.

The counterparts on the Allied side can be considered:

Web links

Commons : Patrol boats of the Imperial Japanese Navy  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia : Pa Class, Japanese Patrol Boats
  2. ↑ navsource.org: High-speed Transport (APD)