Yamakaze
Yamakaze underway
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| History | |
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 Empire of Japan
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| Name: | Yamakaze |
| Ordered: | 1934 FY |
| Builder: | Uraga Dock Company |
| Laid down: | 25 May 1935 |
| Launched: | 21 February 1936 |
| Commissioned: | 30 June 1937 |
| Struck: | 20 August 1942 |
| Fate: | Sunk by USS Nautilus, 25 June 1942 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Shiratsuyu-class destroyer |
| Displacement: | 1,685 long tons (1,712 t) |
| Length: |
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| Beam: | 9.9 m (32 ft 6 in) |
| Draft: | 3.5 m (11 ft 6 in) |
| Propulsion: | |
| Speed: | 34 knots (39 mph; 63 km/h) |
| Range: | 4,000 nmi (7,400 km) at 18 kn (33 km/h) |
| Complement: | 226 |
| Armament: |
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| Service record | |
| Operations: |
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Yamakaze (山風 ”Mountain Wind”) was the eighth of ten Shiratsuyu-class destroyers, and the second to be built for the Imperial Japanese Navy under the Circle Two Program (Maru Ni Keikaku).
The Shiratsuyu-class destroyers were modified versions of the Hatsuharu class, and were designed to accompany the Japanese main striking force and to conduct both day and night torpedo 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, none survived the Pacific War.
Yamakaze, built at the Uraga Dock Company was laid down on 25 May 1935, launched on 21 February 1936 and commissioned on 30 June 1937.
At the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor, Yamakaze was assigned to Destroyer Division 24 of Destroyer Squadron 4 of the IJN 2nd Fleet together with her sister ships Umikaze, Kawakaze, and Suzukaze, and had sortied from Palau as part of the Philippine invasion force, covering landings at Legaspi and Lamon Bay. From January 1942, Yamakaze participated in operations in the Netherlands East Indies, including the invasion of Tarakan Island, where she assisted in sinking the Royal Dutch Navy minelayer HNLMS Prins van Oranje. She later covered landings at Balikpapan and Makassar, sinking the submarine USS Shark in the Makassar Strait with her guns on 11 February. After participating in the invasion of eastern Java, Yamakaze engaged a group of Allied destroyers during the Battle of the Java Sea, and was credited with assisting in the sinking of the American destroyer USS Pope, the British cruiser HMS Exeter and destroyer HMS Encounter.
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Wikipedia