Sagiri
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The Sagiri ( Japanese 狭 霧 , dt. "Fog") was a destroyer of the Imperial Japanese Navy and belonged to the Fubuki class . It entered service in 1931 and took part in the Second Sino-Japanese War and World War II . She was sunk by a Dutch submarine during the Japanese invasion of Borneo .
history
Planning and construction
The construction of the Fubuki- class ships was commissioned in 1923 in order to increase the effectiveness of the Japanese naval forces. Compared to earlier Japanese destroyers, these looked very modern and reminded of the light cruisers of the naval forces of other nations. The Sagiri was built by the Uraga shipyard in what is now Yokosuka and benefited from improvements that were incorporated into ongoing production based on the experience with her sister ships. The 12.7 cm twin guns on the Sagiri had a maximum barrel elevation of 70 ° and could therefore also be used as anti-aircraft guns, which was not possible with the original design. When it was commissioned, it was given hull number 50. One year after commissioning, it was brought back to the shipyard to reinforce the hull.
Sino-Japanese War
The Sagiri became part of Destroyer Division 20 of the 2nd Japanese Fleet. During the Sino-Japanese War, the ship initially took part in landing operations in Hangzhou and Shanghai , until it began patrolling and supporting landing operations in southern China in 1940.
Second World War
At the time of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor , the Sagiri was anchored in the port of Sanya on Hainan to support the Japanese invasion of Thailand at Songkhla .
From December 17, 1941, the ship supported the Japanese invasion of Borneo when Japanese troops landed in the British protectorate of Sarawak . On December 24, 1941, about 35 nautical miles from the city of Kuching , the ship was hit by a torpedo that had been fired from the Dutch submarine K-XVI . The hit caused the Sagiri's own torpedoes to detonate, which was destroyed and sank on the spot. 121 crew members were killed, 120 were saved.
On January 15, 1942, the Sagiri was deleted from the ship register of the Japanese Navy.