Japanese Destroyer Kagerō (1938)

was the lead ship of the 19-vessel s built for the Imperial Japanese Navy in the late-1930s under the Circle Three Supplementary Naval Expansion Program (''Maru San Keikaku'').

Design and description

The ''Kagerō''-class destroyers were outwardly almost identical to the preceding light cruiser-sized , with improvements made by Japanese naval architects to improve stability and to take advantage of Japan's lead in torpedo technology. They were designed to accompany the Japanese main striking force and in both day and night attacks against the United States Navy as it advanced across the Pacific Ocean, according to Japanese naval strategic projections. Despite being one of the most powerful classes of destroyers in the world at the time of their completion, only one survived the Pacific War.

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.Whitley, pp. 200–01 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 .Jentschura, Jung & Mickel, p. 148

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. Their anti-submarine weapons comprised 16 depth charges.

Construction and career

''Kagerō'' was laid down at the Maizuru Naval Arsenal on 3 September 1937. The ship was launched on 27 September 1938 and commissioned on 6 November 1939.

At the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor, 7 December 1941, ''Kagerō'', was assigned as part of Destroyer Division 18 (''Shiranui, Kagerō, Kasumi, Arare''), and a member of Destroyer Squadron 2 of the IJN 2nd Fleet, and had deployed from Etorofu in the Kurile Islands, as part of the escort for Admiral Nagumo's Carrier Strike Force. She returned to Kure on 24 December.

In January 1942, ''Kagerō'' escorted aircraft carriers and to Truk, and onwards to Rabaul to cover landings of Japanese forces at Rabaul and Kavieng. She returned with ''Shōkaku'' from Palau to Yokosuka Naval District, Yokosuka on 3 February, and spent the following month in training patrols.

On 1 March, ''Kagerō'' was escorted the Kido Butai when the force stumbled upon the 8,806-ton Dutch freighter ''Modjokerto,'' and a number of destroyers were detached to sink the large cargo ship. ''Kagerō, Shiranui, Kasumi, Japanese destroyer Isokaze (1939), Isokaze, Japanese destroyer Ariake (1934), Ariake,'' and ''Japanese destroyer Yūgure (1934), Yūgure'' all opened fire and blasted ''Modjokerto'', sinking her in just 3 minutes without a fight with the loss of 42 men. 26 survivors were rescued.

On 17 March, she departed Yokosuka with ''Shōkaku'' and ''Zuikaku'' to Staring-baai in Sulawesi, Netherlands East Indies. ''Kagerō'' departed Staring-baai on 27 March to escort the carrier force in the Indian Ocean raid. After the Japanese air strikes on Colombo and Trincomalee in Sri Lanka, Ceylon, she returned to Kure for repairs on 23 April. She deployed from Saipan on 3 June as part of the escort for the troop convoy in the Battle of Midway. Afterwards, she escorted the cruisers and from Truk back to Kure.

On 5 July, she was assigned to escort the transport ''Kikukawa Maru'' to Kiska in the Aleutian Islands on a supply mission. During this mission, the submarine USS Growler (SS-215), USS ''Growler'' launched a spread of torpedoes that hit every other ship of desdiv 18, sinking ''Arare'' and crippling ''Kasumi'' and ''Shiranui''. On 8 August, ''Kagerō'' assisted in towing the wounded ''Kasumi'' back to Japan. On 20 July, she was reassigned to destroyer division 15 (''Japanese destroyer Oyashio, Oyashio, Japanese destroyer Hayashio, Hayashio, Japanese destroyer Kuroshio, Kuroshio, Kagerō''), still within the IJN 2nd Fleet.

In mid-August, ''Kagerō'' escorted the cruiser to Truk, and continued on from Truk on a high speed transport run to Guadalcanal. For the remainder of 1942 and into February 1943, she was assigned to patrols from Guadalcanal towards Shortland Island, Shortland, and to numerous “Tokyo Express" high speed transport operations in the Solomon Islands. During this period, ''Kagerō'' escorted aircraft carriers during the battle of the Eastern Solomons on August 24, then escorted carriers at the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands, battle of Santa Cruz on October 26.

In November, ''Kagerō'' took part in two major naval battles. On the 15th, ''Kagerō'' was involved in the Second Naval Battle of Guadalcanal, second naval battle of Guadalcanal, where she took part in a torpedo attack on the battleship USS Washington (BB-56), USS ''Washington'' but failed to damage her as ''Washington'' sank the battleship ''Japanese battleship Kirishima, Kirishima'' and the destroyer ''Japanese destroyer Ayanami (1929), Ayanami'' and sent back the entire force.

On the 30th, ''Kagerō'' was one of eight destroyers tasked with a supply drum transport mission off Lunga Point. Later that night, the force was dropping their supply off when they were intercepted by a force of five American cruisers and six destroyers, kicking off the battle of Tassafaronga.

As the battle continued, ''Kagerō'' lost track of the main formation and sailed away, joined by the destroyer ''Japanese destroyer Makinami (1941), Makinami'' in abandoning the flotilla, leaving them unable to take part in the main torpedo spreads fired by ''Japanese destroyer Takanami (1942), Takanami, Japanese destroyer Oyashio, Oyashio, Japanese destroyer Kuroshio, Kuroshio, Japanese destroyer Kawakaze (1936), Kawakaze'', and ''Japanese destroyer Naganami, Naganami; Takanami'' was sunk while the heavy cruisers USS Minneapolis (CA-36), USS ''Minneapolis'''', USS New Orleans (CA-32), New Orleans'', and ''USS Pensacola (CA-24), Pensacola'' were crippled by torpedo hits and the light cruiser USS Honolulu (CL-48), USS ''Honolulu'' was forced to turn away to dodge torpedo spreads.

However, the heavy cruiser USS Northampton (CA-26), USS ''Northampton'' turned northwest and continued on alone to engage the Japanese destroyers. This put her right in ''Kagerō's'' and ''Makinami's'' crosshairs, which had also turned northwest and still had their torpedoes loaded. They noticed the enemy ship and dumped their remaining long lances to the port side at the sole remaining US cruiser, and scored the greatest victory of the battle. Two of their torpedoes gouged into ''Northampton'' next to each other on the port side of the ship's rear half, one hitting and destroying engine room, and the other hitting right behind her turret 3. The damage detonated her fuel takes, flooded three of her four propellers and left the cruiser dead in the water, and started a gigantic fire inside the ship. ''Northampton'' immediately listed at 10 degrees, and as flooding and fires quickly overwhelmed damage control until the abandon ship order with issued. Over a period of 3 hours, ''Northampton'' sank by the stern, taking 50 men with her.

In mid-February 1943, ''Kagerō '' returned with the aircraft carrier via Truk to Kure for repairs. In mid-March ''Kagerō'', ''Junyō'' and returned to Truk, and ''Kagerō'' continued on to Shortlands, arriving on 24 April. After making a troop transport run from Rabaul to Kolombangara on 7 May '' Kagerō '' was disabled by a naval mine while leaving Vila, Solomon Islands, Vila port. Barely able to maneuver, she was then attacked by Allies of World War II, Allied aircraft and sank southwest of Rendova (). On '' Kagerō '', 18 crewmen were killed and 36 were wounded. ''Kagerō '' was removed from the navy list on 20 June 1943.

See also

* List of ships of the Imperial Japanese Navy

Notes

Books

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External links

CombinedFleet.com: ''Kagero''-class destroyers
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Kagero
Kagerō-class destroyers
World War II destroyers of Japan
Destroyers sunk by aircraft
Shipwrecks in the Solomon Sea
1938 ships
Ships built by Maizuru Naval Arsenal
Maritime incidents in May 1943
Ships sunk by US aircraft