Shimakaze
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The Shimakaze ( Japanese 島 風 ) was a naval destroyer of the Imperial Japanese Navy , which was used in World War II . The Japanese Navy also referred to the ship as a Type C destroyer.
history
Development history and construction
The Shimakaze was built as part of the 4th district building program (Maru 4 Keikaku) in 1939 as the eleventh of originally fifteen units of the Yūgumo class with construction no. 125 ordered. Of these destroyers, however, only eleven were completed in the originally planned specifications. Instead, it was the experimental prototype of a new class of destroyer, including a new type of high-pressure steam boiler - presumably due to German influence - and three sets of five torpedo tubes, but without the usual reserve torpedoes. Sixteen other units were part of the 6th district building program (Maru 6 Keikaku) from 1942 with building numbers. 733 to 748 planned, but none of these were keeled.
On August 8, 1941, the Shimakaze was laid down at the naval shipyard in Maizuru and it was launched eleven months later on July 18, 1942. Due to the relatively long construction period, it was not commissioned until May 10, 1943.
Mission history
For such a potentially extraordinary ship, the Shimakaze had a normal career. It was never assigned to a destroyer division, but always led directly by a squadron, which gives an indication of how it was seen by the Japanese themselves.
Her first mission was the evacuation of the Aleutians in June 1943. After this operation was completed, she was assigned to the combined fleet at Truk . With this the destroyer was involved in the defense of the Mariana Islands , the battle in the Philippine Sea and in the sea and air battle in the Gulf of Leyte .
While supplying Japanese troops in Ormoc , the Shimakaze northeast of Cebu was attacked and sunk by carrier aircraft of Task Force 38 on November 11, 1944.
wreck
The wreck was discovered on December 1, 2017 by the research vessel Petrel in Ormoc Bay at a depth of 218 meters.
technical description
hull
The hull of the Shimakaze was 126.5 meters long, 11.2 meters wide and had a draft of 4.14 meters with an operational displacement of 3,096 tons .
drive
It was driven by two sets of geared turbines with three Kampon steam boilers , with which a total output of 75,000 PS (55,162 kW ) was achieved. The power was delivered to two shafts with one screw each . The top speed was 39 knots (72 km / h ).
Armament
When commissioned, the armament consisted of six 12.7 cm Type 3 guns with a caliber length of 50 in three twin towers of the D model. Which were set up in the boat center line, one in front of the bridge structure and two behind or on the aft deckhouse. The inner tower (tower B) was arranged in such a way that it could overshoot the outer one (so-called elevated end position). It was the same guns as in the main artillery of the destroyer of the special type, only the tower model differed from these , except for the Yūgumo class. For air defense were four 2.5-cm automatic cannon of the type 96 in twin guns available, which were placed on both sides on a platform at the rear chimney and two 13 mm machine guns of the type 93 on a platform in front of the bridge. Furthermore, as torpedo armament, three five-fold torpedor tube sets with a caliber of 61 cm for torpedoes of the type 93 and two triple drainage racks for eighteen depth charges .
Due to the strong Allied air forces, there was a continuous reinforcement of the 2.5 cm guns. From 1944, a 2.5 cm double mount replaced the 13 mm machine gun and the guns on the rear funnel were replaced by triplet mounts. Furthermore, tower B was given ashore and replaced by two triplet mounts. By mid-1944, a further fourteen individual mounts were installed on the upper and main deck, giving the Shimakaze a total of twenty-eight 2.5-cm anti-aircraft guns.
radar
Japanese destroyers were not equipped with radio measurement technology from the beginning of the Pacific War , but rather selected units - such as the Shimakaze - received the type 22 radar only in mid-1943 . This system, which was capable of monitoring the sea and fire control, consisted of a double horn - one for sending and one for receiving - and 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 hints from them 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 stern mast.
Remarks
- ↑ Whitley specifies another 2.5 cm double mount instead of the 13 mm MG.
literature
- Mike J. Whitley: Destroyer in World War II . Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart 1997, ISBN 3-613-01426-2 , p. 196 .
- Mark Stille: Imperial Japanese Navy Destroyers 1919–45 . tape 2 . Osprey Publishing , Oxford 2013, ISBN 978-1-84908-987-6 , pp. 28-30 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ IJN Shimakaze. RV Petrel, accessed October 29, 2019 .