Japanese Destroyer Kiyonami

was a of the Imperial Japanese Navy. She saw numerous escorting duties during WWII, and notably played a major role at the battle of Kolombangara, where she helped to sink the American destroyer USS ''Gwin'' and cripple the light cruisers USS ''Honolulu'' and USS ''Saint Louis''. However, on 20 July 1943, ''Kiyonami'' was sunk by land based allied aircraft with the loss of all but one sailor.

Design and description

The ''Yūgumo'' class was a repeat of the preceding with minor improvements that increased their anti-aircraft capabilities. Their crew numbered 228 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, p. 203 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 main armament of the ''Yūgumo'' class consisted of six Type 3 guns in three twin-gun turrets, one superfiring pair aft and one turret forward of the superstructure. The guns were able to elevate up to 75° to increase their ability against aircraft, but their slow rate of fire, slow traversing speed, and the lack of any sort of high-angle fire-control system meant that they were virtually useless as anti-aircraft guns. 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 in a two quadruple traversing mounts; one reload was carried for each tube. Their anti-submarine weapons comprised two depth charge throwers for which 36 depth charges were carried.

Construction and career

''Kiyonami'' was completed on 25 January 1943, and was assigned to the 31st destroyer division (alongside '' Naganami'' and '' Makinami''), and saw her first active service escorting the axillary cruisers ''Bangkok Maru'' and ''Saigon Maru'' from Yokosuka to various occupied territories throughout March, then saw out the next few months of her career partaking in convoy escorting duties.

Battle of Kolombangara

On the 9th of July, ''Kiyonami'' departed as part of a protection force for a Japanese troop transport run consisting of a destroyer flotilla made up by herself and the destroyers '' Yukikaze'', '' Hamakaze'', and , led by the light cruiser '' Jintsū'' and the elderly destroyer '' Mikazuki''. While still underway on the 12th, the force was intercepted by a group of three allied light cruisers, USS ''Honolulu'', USS ''Saint Louis'', and HMZNS ''Leander'', supported by ten destroyers. During the opening stages of the battle of Kolombangara, ''Jintsū'' fired her searchlights, enabling the three allied cruisers to engage her. A hellfire of 6-inch (152 mm) shell hits mostly from ''Honolulu'' and ''Saint Louis'' blasted ''Jintsū'' into a floating wreck, enabling her to be finished off by the destroyer USS ''Taylor's'' torpedo battery.Walker (2024) p 152-158

However, ''Kiyonami'' and the other destroyers went undetected, and quickly swerved into firing formation to engage the enemy. ''Kiyonami'', ''Yukikaze'', ''Hamakaze'', and ''Yūgure'' all fired their torpedo batteries, and several minutes later one of ''Yukikaze's'' torpedoes hit ''Leander'', damaging her so badly she could not be repaired in time to take further part in WWII, and forcing her out of the engagement. ''Kiyonami'' and the others swerved away retreated from the battle scene to reload their torpedoes, which took around 10 minutes, and quickly sailed back to fight the enemy formation. When detected, every US ship targeted ''Yukikaze'', which was straddled and near missed several times, but not directly hit by a single shell. In turn, ''Kiyonami'' fired her torpedoes again simultaneously with the other destroyers, and watched as multiple made their mark. Long lance torpedoes quickly found their targets, sinking the destroyer USS ''Gwin'', twisting the bow of ''Saint Louis'', and completely blasting off the bow of ''Honolulu'', taking both cruisers out of action. ''Kiyonami'' then retreated from the battlefield without damage. While the battle was a costly victory with the loss of ''Jintsū'', it was a victory none the less. Alongside all the allied ships sunk or damaged, all the destroyer transports completed their mission unattacked.

Sinking

On 20 July ''Kiyonami'' was on another troop transport run to Kolombangara. She was sunk by U.S. Army B-25s while rescuing the crew of the destroyer , north-northwest of Kolombangara (). About sixty men survived the sinking, but only one was rescued after several days, leaving only one survivor from ''Kiyonami'''s crew of 241 men, and no survivors from ''Yūgure'''s crew of 228.IJN Yugure: Tabular record of movement
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Notes

References

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* Brett L Walker (2024). ''Yukikaze's War''. Cambridge University Press.

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kiyonami
Yūgumo-class destroyers
World War II destroyers of Japan
Destroyers sunk by aircraft
Shipwrecks in the Solomon Sea
1942 ships
Maritime incidents in July 1943
Ships sunk by US aircraft
Ships built by Uraga Dock Company