Japanese destroyer Amatsukaze (1939)

Kagerō class destroyer

Amatsukaze (天津風) was a of the Imperial Japanese Navy.

The Kagerō class was an enlarged and improved version of the preceding Their crew numbered 240 officers and enlisted men. The ships measured overall, with a beam of and a draft of They displaced at standard load and at deep load. The ships had two Kampon geared steam turbines, each driving one propeller shaft, using steam provided by three Kampon water tube boilers. The turbines were rated at a total of for a designed speed of The ships had a range of at a speed of
The main armament of the Kagerō class consisted of six Type 3 guns in three twin gun turrets, one superfiring pair aft and one turret forward of the superstructure. They were built with four Type 96 anti aircraft guns in two twin gun mounts, but more of these guns were added over the course of the war. The ships were also armed with eight torpedo tubes for the oxygen fueled Type 93 "Long Lance" torpedo in two quadruple traversing mounts; one reload was carried for each tube.

In November 1942, Amatsukaze would escort the battleships Hiei and Kirishima to bombard Henderson Field, a crucial air base which was captured by American forces. Understandably, the US sent out as many naval forces as possible to protect Henderson Field upon allied intelligence discovering the plan. In the night of the 12 13th, the force was intercepted by an allied cruiser force at point blank range, consisting of two heavy cruisers, three light cruisers, and eight destroyers. In the ensuing action, Amatsukaze would come to play a critical role as she launched a full salvo of eight type 93 torpedoes against the attacking ships. Two of these torpedoes hit their intended target, the destroyer USS Barton, who blew up and sank within a few minutes. A third, however, veered off and hit a more critical target, the light cruiser USS Juneau. The torpedo broke Juneau's keel, cut her speed to 13 knots, and knocked out most of her systems, forcing her clean out of the battle. The crippled Juneau was later finished off by the submarine I 26, as a torpedo hit nearly the exact same spot Amatsukaze's torpedo landed, causing the cruiser to capsize. Either in its sinking or its aftermath, the five Sullivan brothers were all killed, leading to the mandate that if all but one sibling is killed in combat, the remaining sibling is withdrawn from service to continue the bloodline. Captain Hara then claimed the destroyer Murasame sank Helena, but she survived without major damage and was later sunk by the destroyers Suzukaze and Tanikaze at the Battle of Kula Gulf, July 1943. On 11 January 1944, while escorting a convoy of four ships in the South China Sea, Amatsukaze was torpedoed by the submarine Redfin. The resulting magazine explosion severed the bow of the ship and killed 80 crewmen. Miraculously, the ship did not sink. Presumed sunk, the ship was not discovered for six days until she was spotted by a patrol plane. Amatsukaze was eventually towed to Singapore where a temporary bow was rigged. On 6 April 1945, Amatsukaze was attacked by USAAF B 25s, 6 mile (10 km) east of Amoy She managed to shoot down two of her assailants, but was hit by one or two bombs. Her crew managed to beach the ship; salvage attempts were abandoned on 8 April. On 10 April, the ship was scuttled with explosive charges. In 2012, the wreckage of Amatsukaze was found by a Chinese engineering ship. About 30 tons of the wreckage was salvaged, cut into pieces and sold as scrap metal before the intervention of local relics administration departments. According to Chinese media, a museum will be built to protect the remaining wreckage.