Japanese Destroyer Ushio (1930)

was the twentieth of twenty-four s that were built for the Imperial Japanese Navy following World War I. U''shio'' the only destroyer of the 20 ship strong Fubuki class destroyers, the first modern destroyer class in history, to survive World War II and was the only ship out of the 22 combat ships involved in the Pearl Harbor assault force to survive post-war. ''Ushio's'' only significant naval victory came by scoring primary credit for finishing off the badly damaged submarine USS ''Perch'' on 2-3 March 1942. She was sold for scrap in 1948.

History

Construction of the advanced ''Fubuki''-class destroyers was authorized as part of the Imperial Japanese Navy's expansion program from fiscal 1923, intended to give Japan a qualitative edge with the world's most modern ships. The ''Fubuki'' class had performance that was a quantum leap over previous destroyer designs, so much so that they were designated . The large size, powerful engines, high speed, large radius of action and unprecedented armament gave these destroyers the firepower similar to many light cruisers in other navies. ''Ushio'', built at the Uraga Dock Company was the tenth in an improved series, which incorporated a modified gun turret which could elevate her main battery of Type 3 127 mm 50 caliber naval guns to 75° as opposed to the original 40°, thus permitting the guns to be used as dual purpose guns against aircraft. ''Ushio'' was laid down on 24 December 1929, launched on 17 November 1930 and commissioned on 15 November 1931. Originally assigned hull designation “Destroyer No. 54”, she was designated ''Ushio'' before her launch.

Operational history

In 1932, after the First Shanghai Incident, ''Ushio'' was assigned to patrols of the Yangtze River. In 1935, after the Fourth Fleet Incident, in which a large number of ships were damaged by a typhoon, she, along with her sister ships, were modified with stronger hulls and increased displacement. From 1937, ''Ushio'' covered landing of Japanese forces in Shanghai and Hangzhou during the Second Sino-Japanese War. From 1940, she was assigned to patrol and cover landings of Japanese forces in south China, and subsequently participated in the Invasion of French Indochina.

World War II history

At the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor, ''Ushio'' was Captain Konishi Kaname's flagship of destroyer division 7 (''Ushio, Sazanami, Akebono'') of the IJN 1st Air Fleet, and had deployed from Tateyama Naval Air Station as part of the force which bombarded Midway Atoll in the opening stages of the war.

''Ushio'' was part of the escort for the aircraft carriers and during air strikes against Ambon. She was subsequently part of the escort for the cruisers and during the Japanese invasion of the eastern Netherlands East Indies. On 27 February, at the Battle of the Java Sea, ''Ushio'' fired torpedoes at an allied cruiser-destroyer group, but none hit as ''Haguro'' and ''Nachi'' primarily carried the battle into a Japanese victory. However, in the battle's aftermath on 2 March, ''Ushio'' and ''Sazanami'' located the already badly damaged submarine USS ''Perch'', which the previous day had been mortally wounded by gunfire and depth charges from the destroyers '' Amatsukaze'' and '' Hatsukaze''. ''Ushio'' and ''Sazanami'' dropped another pattern of depth charges that even further devastated ''Perch'', leaving the submarine unable to dive and barely capable of 5 knots. The idea to scuttle ''Perch'' was being debated as she desperately limped to home base, only for ''Ushio'' to rediscover the trashed ''Perch'' the next day and open fire. Right as the first 5-inch (127 mm) shell hit the conning tower, the crew abandoned ship and left the submarine to sink. Miraculously, all 59 sailors survived and were rescued by ''Ushio''. She returned to Yokosuka Naval Arsenal for repairs at the end of March.

''Ushio'' subsequently escorted aircraft carrier to Truk, at the Battle of the Coral Sea. On 4–5 June, ''Ushio'' participated in the Battle of Midway as was part of the diversionary Aleutian Invasion force and was subsequently based at Ōminato Guard District for patrols of northern waters until mid-July.

On 14 July, ''Ushio'' was reassigned to the Combined Fleet, and escorted the battleship and aircraft carrier at the Battle of the Eastern Solomons on 24 August, returning with ''Yamato'' to Truk after the battle.

She was then assigned to numerous "Tokyo Express" transport missions to various locations in the Solomon Islands in September. Through the end of 1943, ''Ushio'' served as an escort for , , ,　and ''Taiyō'' in various missions between the Japanese home islands, Truk, the Netherlands East Indies and the Philippines.

In early 1944, ''Ushio'' was assigned to escort duty, mostly of troop convoys from Truk. From April through August, she was based at Ōminato Guard District for patrols of northern waters, and escort of ships between Hokkaidō and Yokosuka or Kure.

During the Battle of Leyte Gulf, ''Ushio'' was assigned to Admiral Kiyohide Shima's Diversionary Force at the Battle of Surigao Strait, remaining based in Manila after the battle to escort convoys in the Philippines, during which on 5 November she survived an air raid, rescued survivors from the sunken heavy cruiser '' Nachi'', then towed the crippled ''Akebono'' back to Manila. She was damaged on 13 November during an American air raid on Manila that also sank the still crippled ''Akebono'' and three other anchored Japanese destroyers ('' Hatsuharu, Okinami, Akishimo''), during which her starboard engine was disabled, and 23 crewmen killed. After temporally repairs were made in Singapore, the still damaged ''Ushio'' was reassigned to the IJN 2nd Fleet. In December, she assisted the damaged heavy cruiser and escort her to Japan to receive permanent repairs for both ships. However, while underway on the 13th, they were located by the submarine USS ''Bergall'', which due to the shallow depth of the water surfaced to torpedo the Japanese ships above the waterline "like a PT-Boat". Right as the Japanese located her, one of ''Bergall's'' six torpedoes struck ''Myōkō'' and blew off her stern. ''Ushio'' returned fire and unloaded four salvos, the first scored a near miss, while the second landed a hit to the loading hatch and tore a large hole in the submarine's pressure hull as she just barely avoided destruction and dashed off. ''Ushio'' assisted the now crippled ''Myōkō'' in reaching Singapore where the cruiser spent the rest of the war.

Returning to Yokosuka Naval Arsenal for repairs, ''Ushio'' remained in Japanese waters until the surrender of Japan. On 18 July 1945 she provided antiaircraft fire to defend the battleship during the attack on Yokosuka. On 15 September 1945, ''Ushio'' was removed from the navy list. She was broken up for scrap in 1948.

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Ushio
Fubuki-class destroyers
Ships built by Uraga Dock Company
1930 ships
Second Sino-Japanese War naval ships of Japan
World War II destroyers of Japan
Ships of the Aleutian Islands campaign