Japanese destroyer Akigumo (1941)

Coordinates: 06°43′N 122°23′E / 6.717°N 122.383°E / 6.717; 122.383
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For other ships with the same name, see Japanese destroyer Akigumo.
Officers of the destroyer Akigumo in 1944
History
Empire of Japan
NameAkigumo
Ordered4 March 1939
BuilderUraga Dock Company
Laid down2 July 1940
Launched11 April 1941
Commissioned27 September 1941
Stricken10 June 1944
FateTorpedoed and sunk by
USS Redfin
, 11 April 1944
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 (65 km/h; 40 mph)
Complement240
Armament

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

Design and description

The Kagerō class was an enlarged and improved version of the preceding

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

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 / 6.717°N 122.383°E / 6.717; 122.383).

Notes

  1. ^ Chesneau, p. 194
  2. ^ a b Whitley, pp. 200–01
  3. ^ a b Jentschura, Jung & Mickel, p. 148
  4. ISBN 978-1250078018
    . Retrieved March 28, 2017.

References

External links

06°43′N 122°23′E / 6.717°N 122.383°E / 6.717; 122.383

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