Japanese destroyer Yukikaze (1939)

Coordinates: 19°35′00″N 120°39′00″E / 19.58333°N 120.65000°E / 19.58333; 120.65000
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For other ships with the same name, see Japanese destroyer Yukikaze.
Yukikaze underway, December 1939
History
Empire of Japan
NameYukikaze
BuilderSasebo Naval Arsenal
Launched24 March 1939
Commissioned20 January 1940
Stricken5 October 1945
FateTransferred to the Republic of China Navy, 6 July 1947
Republic of China
NameROCS Dan Yang (丹陽) [1]
NamesakeDanyang
Acquired6 July 1947
Commissioned1 May 1948
Decommissioned16 November 1966
IdentificationHull number: DD-12
FateScrapped, 1970
General characteristics
Class and typeKagerō-class destroyer
Displacement2,490 long tons (2,530 t)
Length118.5 m (388 ft 9 in)
Beam10.8 m (35 ft 5 in)
Draft3.8 m (12 ft 6 in)
Speed35 knots (40 mph; 65 km/h)
Complement240
Armament

Yukikaze (雪風, "Snowy Wind") was a Kagerō-class destroyer in service with the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II. She was the only member of her class to survive the war, and did so without suffering any major damage. She participated in the battles of Java Sea, Midway, and Santa Cruz and various naval engagements in the Guadalcanal campaign, before undertaking escort missions during the Battle of the Philippine Sea, partaking in her last major surface engagement in the Battle of Leyte Gulf, and seeing her last major action escorting the battleship Yamato during the Battle of Okinawa. Following the war, the ship was transferred to the Republic of China Navy, where she was renamed Dan Yang (丹陽 DD-12) and served until 1966, before being scrapped in 1970.[1][2]

Design and description[edit]

The Kagerō class was an enlarged and improved version of the preceding Asashio class of destroyers. 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).[3] 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.[4] 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).[5]

The main armament of the Kagerō class consisted of six Type 3 127-millimeter (5.0 in) guns in three twin-gun turrets, one superfiring pair aft and one turret forward of the superstructure. They were built with four Type 96 25-millimeter (1.0 in) 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 610-millimeter (24.0 in) torpedo tubes for the oxygen-fueled Type 93 "Long Lance" torpedo in two quadruple traversing mounts; one reload was carried for each tube.[4] Their anti-submarine weapons consisted of 16 depth charges.[5]

Career in Imperial Japanese Navy[edit]

Yukikaze was launched on 24 March 1939 and completed on January, 1940.[6]

Yukikaze underway off Sasebo, Japan, January 1940

Early in the war, Yukikaze took part in the invasions of the Philippines and the Dutch East Indies. Yukikaze was involved in the Battle of the Java Sea, launching a torpedo attack that caused no damage to the enemy. She also participated in the battle of Midway escorting a troop convoy without seeing action and escorted carriers in the battle of Santa Cruz.

Naval Battle of Guadalcanal[edit]

Main article: Naval Battle of Guadalcanal
Off Rabaul, c. 1943

Yukikaze saw her first major action at the first naval engagement of Guadalcanal, escorting the battleships Hiei and Kirishima to bombard Henderson Field alongside several light cruisers and destroyers. They were attacked by a US cruiser force consisting of two heavy cruisers, three light cruisers, and eight destroyers while underway. Yukikaze survived the battle almost undamaged. Yukikaze first operated alongside the light cruiser Nagara and engaged the destroyer USS Cushing. Yukikaze struck Cushing with her 5-inch (127 mm) guns, completely disabling her and sinking her with the loss of around 70 men.[6][7] Yukikaze together with the destroyer Teruzuki then engaged the destroyer USS Laffey and helped to cripple her beforeYukikaze then launched a salvo of torpedoes, one of which hit Laffey's stern sinking her.[8][6]

Yukikaze took on survivors from Hiei and escorted the crippled destroyer Amatsukaze, disengaged from the battle. She was not hit by a single American shell during the engagement, though she took some minor damage as a result of near misses.[6][9]

Yukikaze returned to Truk on the 18th of November and spent the next few months escorting convoys to strategic locations, as well as escorting the carrier Hiyō between 5–10 December and the carriers Zuihō and Zuikaku between 18th-23 January 1943. In March, Yukikaze was escorting a troop convoy when they were attacked by US land based aircraft during the Battle of the Bismarck Sea. Despite four destroyers and eight troop ships sunk, Yukikaze suffered no damage and took on survivors from several sunken ships.[6]

Battle of Kolombangara[edit]

Main article: Battle of Kolombangara
The collapsed bow of USS Honolulu following a torpedo hit from a mass torpedo attack that Yukikaze took part in.

Yukikaze was involved in her third major action against enemy warships during the Battle of Kolombangara, where her force was attacked by US surface ships during a troop transport run. During the engagement, Yukikaze using her radar led the destroyers Hamakaze, Kiyonami, and Yūgure in a torpedo attack against allied warships, scoring a torpedo hit to the light cruiser HMNZS Leander [10]

About fifteen minutes later, Yukikaze led another torpedo attack. A torpedo hit the destroyer USS Gwin, which destroyed her engine room and sank her. One torpedo badly damaged the light cruiser USS Saint Louis, twisting her bow, while another torpedo crippled the light cruiser USS Honolulu by blowing her bow clean off.[6]

Philippine campaign[edit]

Following the battle, Yukikaze undertook troop transport missions. She damaged herself when she scraped her hull on a reef, which reduced her speed to 25 knots, on the 22 May 1944. From the 19th of June to the 20th, Yukikaze partook in the Battle of the Philippine Sea as a carrier escort, taking no damage when under air attacks and scuttling the Japanese ship Seiyo Maru after removing her crew.[6] Yukikaze then saw action at the Battle of Leyte Gulf. She survived various air attacks on 24 October 1944, before engaging Taffy 3 at the Battle off Samar, her last action against enemy ships. Yukikaze fired torpedoes at US escort carriers without obtaining a hit, and served in a destroyer line that battled the destroyer USS Johnston. Yukikaze was not damaged, but scored hits on Johnston. Johnston eventually began to sink due to damage sustained from multiple ships, most crucially three 18.1-inch (46 cm) shells from the Japanese battleship Yamato sustained earlier in the battle.[6][11]

Final months of the war[edit]

Disarmed Yukikaze after the war, 1945-1947

Heading home to Japan, the battleship Kongō and the destroyer Urakaze were torpedoed and sunk by the submarine USS Sealion, but Yukikaze successfully returned to mainland Japan. In November, she escorted the Japanese aircraft carrier Shinano, but she was sunk by the submarine USS Archerfish. Finally, on 6 April, 1945, she saw her last major action escorting the battleship Yamato to beach herself on the Island of Okinawa during the Battle of Okinawa to act as a stationary, unsinkable fortress to destroy US landing forces. Enroute, on the 7th, the force was attacked by 386 US carrier aircraft, and Yamato, the light cruiser Yahagi, and four destroyers were sunk. Yukikaze survived the engagement with the only damage sustained coming from machine gun fire, killing three men and injuring fifteen others.[6]

As a result of participating in and surviving some of the most dangerous battles the IJN had fought while avoiding any major damage whatsoever, never being hit by a single naval shell or airdropped bomb, Yukikaze is called "the unsinkable ship" and "the miracle ship". Yukikaze took part in more than 10 major battles, and more than 100 escort missions and resupply transport missions during World War II.[12]

ROCS Dan Yang[edit]

Yukikaze alongside escort ship Shisaka at Tokyo after they were used to repatriate Japanese nationals from overseas, May 1947
Dan Yang in ROC Navy service

On 6 July 1947, Yukikaze was transferred to the Republic of China as a war reparation, where she was renamed Dan Yang (丹陽 DD-12).[13] All destroyers were named after Yang regardless of country of origin.[1]

Dan Yang served as flagship of the Republic of China Navy.[13] It was an unarmed training vessel until 1952. In 1953, it was fitted with Type 89 12.7 cm/40 dual mounted guns, in addition to the Type 98 10cm/65 dual mounted guns already in use. In 1956, Dan Yang had all the Japanese armaments removed and replaced with three open air mounted 5"/38 caliber guns, 3"/50 caliber guns replaced the torpedo tubes, Bofors 40 mm guns, and newer depth charge launchers. The Republic of China Navy had no use for the original torpedo tubes as they did not have access to the appropriate armaments.

She is notable for visiting Manila where 50,000 overseas Chinese visited her in August 1953. Dan Yang's service included patrolling the South China Sea and intercepting incoming ships carrying wartime materials into Shanghai. On 4 October 1953, she captured the Polish civilian oil tanker Praca at 21°06'N 122°48'E in the West Pacific Ocean, 125 sea miles southeast of Taiwan.[14] On 12 May 1954, She bombarded and captured another Polish civilian freighter Prezydent Gottwald with machinery and medicines at 23°45'N 128°35'E.[15] On 23 June 1954, she captured the civilian oil tanker Tuapse of the Soviet Union carrying kerosene eastbound at 19°35′00″N 120°39′00″E / 19.58333°N 120.65000°E / 19.58333; 120.65000 in the high sea of Balintang Channel near Philippines[16] All ships were confiscated into the ROC Navy list, and the crews were either released, executed or detained for various time frames up to 35 years in captivity till 1988.[17][18] She also saw action along the Taiwan Strait in a supporting role as she was one of the few ships with long range guns. However, the arrival of surplus US destroyers entering service put the famous destroyer that once served as flagship into retirement, and she was scrapped in 1970 after being damaged beyond repair in a typhoon in 1969.[2]

In Japan, there was a campaign to have her returned to Japan from Taiwan for preservation as a museum ship since she was a symbol of longevity. Her rudder and one of her anchors were repatriated to the Japan Navy Academy museum as a good will gesture.[2]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ a b c Navy Memorial Digital Archives - Yang Class Destroyers (1996). "丹陽軍籃" [ROCS Dan-Yang] (in Chinese (Taiwan)). Taipei: Academia Sinica Center for Digital Cultures. Retrieved 3 January 2022.
  2. ^ a b c 程嘉文; 林以君 (2021-06-22). "【不死鳥丹陽艦／下】曾是海軍狀元分發首選 退役被拆零件分送台日兩地遙望" [[ROCS Danyang the Phoenix /Part 2] Once Retired from the Top Choice for the Navy Personnel Assignment, her Components were Dismantled and Distributed to Taiwan and Japan] (in Chinese (Taiwan)). Taipei: United Daily News. Retrieved 3 January 2022.
  3. ^ Chesneau, p. 194
  4. ^ a b Whitley, pp. 200–01
  5. ^ a b Jentschura, Jung & Mickel, p. 148
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i "Long Lancers". www.combinedfleet.com. Retrieved 2023-04-23.
  7. ^ Frank, Richard (January 1, 1992). Guadalcanal: The Definitive Account of the Landmark Battle (Illustrated ed.). Penguin Books. p. 441. ISBN 978-0-14-016561-6.
  8. ^ "Laffey I (DD-459)". public1.nhhcaws.local. Retrieved 2023-04-23.
  9. ^ Hara, Tameichi (1961). Japanese destroyer Captain. Ballantine Books. pp. Chapter 23. ISBN 0-345-02522-9.
  10. ^ "Long Lancers". www.combinedfleet.com. Retrieved 2024-05-16.
  11. ^ Cutler, p. 243
  12. ^ 豊田穣 (2004). 雪風ハ沈マズ 強運駆逐艦栄光の生涯. 光人社NF文庫新装版. ISBN 978-4-7698-2027-7.
  13. ^ a b 程嘉文 (2021-06-22). "【不死鳥丹陽艦／上】日本戰敗雪風號成賠償艦 輾轉來台成當時台灣最大軍艦" [[ROCS Danyang the Phoenix /Part 1] As a War Compensation after Japan Defeated in WWII, Yukikaze Became the Largest Warship in Taiwan] (in Chinese (Taiwan)). Taipei: United Daily News. Retrieved 3 January 2022.
  14. ^ Li Zhen-hsiang (2009-01-08). "Praca" (in Chinese (Taiwan)). Taiwan News Weekly, ver. 376, Taiwan Association for Truth and Reconciliation.
  15. ^ Lin Hong-yi (2009). "Chapter 4，1953-1960" (PDF). 《封鎖大陸沿海──中華民國政府的「關閉政策」，1949-1960》 (M.D. thesis) (in Chinese (Taiwan)). National Chengchi University.
  16. ^ Andrey Maximov (2020-08-18). "Provocation - In 1954, the Taiwanese Navy captured the Soviet tanker "Tuapse"" (in Russian). Versia.
  17. ^ Prof. Sergey Vradiy (2020-02-20). ""Tuapse" Oil Tanker Episode in the History of Taiwan-Russia Relations" (PDF). Taiwan Fellowship, Center for Chinese Studies, National Central Library.
  18. ^ Oleg Bulovich. "Танкер "Туапсе", или возвращение из тайваньского плена" (in Russian). Odessa, Ukraine: Odesskiy.

References[edit]

External links[edit]

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