Japanese destroyer Tanikaze (1940)

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 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.[2] Their anti-submarine weapons comprised 16 depth charges.[3]

In June 1942 the ship participated in the Battle of Midway where she was damaged by air attacks. On 5 June, the day after the main Battle of Midway, Tanikaze was sent by Admiral Nagumo to ensure the last IJN aircraft carrier Hiryū had actually sunk, to scuttle her if necessary, and collect any survivors.

Tanikaze had the unfortunate luck of being seen by 61 US Dauntless dive bombers sent to destroy Hiryū if she was still afloat. After they were unable to locate the aircraft carrier (she had sunk about an hour earlier), the dive bombers turned back to simultaneously attack the hapless Japanese destroyer, since their bombs needed to be jettisoned before landing anyway. Through aggressive maneuvering (zig zagging) by the ship's Captain Katsumi Motoi (勝見 基), not one of the 61 dive bombers managed a direct hit, although shell fragments and shrapnel from a near-miss slashed across the No.3 aft 5" gun turret and triggering an explosion inside the turret that killed all of its six crew. Anti-Aircraft fire from the Tanikaze managed to down one of the attacking dive-bombers, piloted by Lt. Adams of USS Enterprise's VS-5, plunged into the wake of the maneuvering destroyer. A short time later, 5 B-17 level bombers operating out of Midway attacked the Tanikaze from an elevation of 11,000 feet. The bombers scored no hits. Tanikaze counted 11 bombers during this particular attack due to some of the B-17's making multiple attack runs. One of the B-17's accidentally jettisoned its auxiliary fuel tanks along with its bombs and was lost with all its crew (Another B-17 was lost due to fuel shortage on its way back as well). The Tanikaze arrived too late to inspect the Hiryū's hulk, which had already sunk. And returned to rendezvous with the combined fleet.[4]

Later that year, Tanikaze was busy with transport missions to Guadalcanal and in the first months of 1943, she aided in the evacuation of Japanese forces from the island.

On 9 June 1944, Tanikaze was torpedoed and sunk by the submarine USS Harder in Sibutu Passage near Tawitawi, 90 miles (140 km) southwest of Basilan (05°42′N 120°41′E). 114 crew members were killed, while 126 survivors, including her commander Lieutenant Commander Shunsaku Ikeda (池田 周作) [5] (who died two days later),[6] were rescued by the destroyer Urakaze, which five months later would be sunk by the submarine USS Sealion with all hands, including all survivors from Tanikaze.

• 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.
• Whitley, M. J. (1988). Destroyers of World War 2. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-326-1.

• CombinedFleet.com: Kagero-class destroyers
• CombinedFleet.com: Tanikaze history
• Googlebooks.com: The Battle of Midway

05°42′N 120°41′E