Japanese destroyer Akigumo (1941)

Akigumo (秋雲, "Autumn Clouds") was one of 19 Kagerō-class destroyers built for the Imperial Japanese Navy during the 1930s.

For other ships with the same name, see Japanese destroyer Akigumo.
Officers of the destroyer Akigumo in 1944
History
Empire of Japan
Name: Akigumo
Ordered: 4 March 1939
Laid down: 2 July 1940
Launched: 11 April 1941
Commissioned: 27 September 1941
Stricken: 10 June 1944
Fate: Torpedoed and sunk by USS Redfin, 11 April 1944
General characteristics
Class and type: Kagerō-class destroyer
Displacement: 2,490 long tons (2,530 t)
Length: 118.5 m (388 ft 9 in)
Beam: 10.8 m (35 ft 5 in)
Draft: 3.8 m (12 ft 6 in)
Speed: 35 knots (65 km/h; 40 mph)
Complement: 240
Armament:

Design and description

The Kagerō class was an enlarged and improved version of the preceding Asashio class. Their crew numbered 240 officers and enlisted men. The ships measured 118.5 meters (388 ft 9 in) overall, with a beam of 10.8 meters (35 ft 5 in) and a draft of 3.76 meters (12 ft 4 in).[1] They displaced 2,065 metric tons (2,032 long tons) at standard load and 2,529 metric tons (2,489 long tons) at deep load.[2] 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 52,000 shaft horsepower (39,000 kW) for a designed speed of 35 knots (65 km/h; 40 mph). The ships had a range of 5,000 nautical miles (9,300 km; 5,800 mi) at a speed of 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph).[3]

The main armament of the Kagerō class consisted of six 12.7-centimeter (5 in) Type 3 guns in three twin-gun turrets, one superfiring pair aft and one turret forward of the superstructure. They were built with four 25-millimeter (1 in) 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 61-centimeter (24 in) torpedo tubes for the oxygen-fueled Type 93 "Long Lance" torpedo in two quadruple traversing mounts; one reload was carried for each tube.[2] Their anti-submarine weapons comprised 16 depth charges.[3]

Career

Akigumo was an escort in the carrier fleet that carried out the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor.[4]

Shortly after the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands during the early hours of 27 October 1942, Akigumo along with the destroyer Makigumo sank the heavily damaged and abandoned American aircraft carrier USS Hornet. US naval ships had attempted to scuttle Hornet earlier but failed to do so before Japanese naval forces forced the US ships to withdraw.

Akigumo served during the Pacific war in various theatres and by 1943/44 received the typical mid-war radar and AA refits, bringing the light AA outfit finally to four triple and one twin Type 96 25 mm (0.98 in) mounts, plus some singles, and mounting both the active type 22 and the passive type E-27 radars.

On 11 April 1944, Akigumo was torpedoed and sunk by the submarine USS Redfin 30 miles (48 km) southeast of Zamboanga Peninsula, Philippines (06°43′N 122°23′E).

Notes
  1. Chesneau, p. 194
  2. Whitley, pp. 200–01
  3. Jentschura, Jung & Mickel, p. 148
  4. Diary of Lieutenant Commander Sadao Chigusa, cited at Best, Nicholas (2015). Seven Days of Infamy: Pearl Harbor Across the World. Thomas Dunne Books. p. 60. ISBN 978-1250078018. Retrieved March 28, 2017.

References
  • Chesneau, Roger, ed. (1980). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922–1946. Greenwich, UK: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-146-7.
  • Jentschura, Hansgeorg; Jung, Dieter & Mickel, Peter (1977). Warships of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1869–1945. Annapolis, Maryland: United States Naval Institute. ISBN 0-87021-893-X.
  • Tamura, Toshio (2004). "Correcting the Record: New Insights Concerning Japanese Destroyers and Cruisers of World War II". Warship International. XLI (3): 269–285. ISSN 0043-0374.
  • Whitley, M. J. (1988). Destroyers of World War 2. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-326-1.

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