Yūdachi

History

Yūdachi (夕立 "Evening Squall") was the fourth of ten Shiratsuyu-class destroyers built for the Imperial Japanese Navy under the "Circle One" Program (Maru Ichi Keikaku).

Design

Service

Ordered in 1931 as part of the 1st Naval Armaments Supplement Program, Yūdachi was the fourth of six Shiratsuyu-class destroyers ordered under the program. Construction on Yūdachi was a lengthy process – despite being ordered in 1931 she was not laid down until 16 October 1934, and she was finally launched on 21 June 1936. The ship was completed and commissioned into the Imperial Japanese navy on 7 January 1937.

Her first state of action was far from illustrious. On the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese war, Yūdachi was deployed and operated off the Chinese coast near the Yangtze River. In 1939-1940 her 13.2mm machine guns were replaced by two twin 25mm Type 96 AA mounts.

Prior to Japan’s declaration of war against the United States, Yūdachi was earmarked for Operation ‘M’, the invasion of the Philippines. She was part of Destroyer Division 2 (hereafter DesDiv 2), of Squadron 4 of the 2nd Fleet, along with her sisters Murasame, Harusame, and Samidare. The destroyer division departed for the Pescadores on 26 November 1941, and on 7 December 1941 departed from there to invade the Philippines. Following that they began moving south, supporting successive invasions, from Lingayen to Tarakan, then Balikpapan in the Dutch East Indies. On 27 February 1942, DesDiv2 took part in the Battle of the Java Sea, but played a minor role. Destroyer Division 2 then steamed north again to aid in the subjugation of the Philippines, spending March and April blockading Manila and also supporting the occupation of Cebu. Finally, on 6 May 1942, they returned to Japan, arriving at Yokosuka for repairs. In June of 1942, the division played a peripheral role in the Battle of Midway, as they were meant to have been part of the force sent to occupy Midway island – but that was scrapped due to the heavy defeat suffered by the carrier forces. In mid-July DesDiv 2 once again departed Japan, this time being sent to Mergui in Burma for raids into the Indian Ocean. However, due to the heavy losses being suffered by the Japanese Navy in the Solomon Islands, this operation was cancelled too, with the division departing on 8 August.

DesDiv2 arrived on 30 August 1942, and was immediately assigned to the supply operations dubbed the ‘Tokyo Express’ by the Americans. On the evening of 1 September, Yūdachi departed with destroyer Murakumo, successfully escorting two cargo ships from the Shortlands to Gizo and back again. On the evening of the fourth, she led a troop transport effort (formed of two waves, she lead the first with Hatsyuki and Murakumo) to Guadalcanal itself, the six destroyers landing a total of 1,000 troops. They then moved to bombard Henderson Field. Unbeknownst to the Japanese destroyers, two small American APDs (fast transports converted from WWI Wickes-class destroyers), Gregory and Little, were also in the vicinity. They had just finished landing marines on Savo island and were returning to their anchorage when the flashes of gunfire from the Japanese bombardment alerted them to the fact they weren’t as alone as they had thought. Upon gaining radar contact, it was not clear whether it was wise or not to engage – the transports were badly out-gunned – when in a terrible turn of luck, a patrolling American aircraft, also spotting the gunfire, dropped a string of five flares to illuminate the two Japanese ships – directly on top of Gregory and Little. Immediately spotted by the Japanese, there was little they could do to save themselves, massively outgunned as they were. Gregory only had time to fire off five rounds before a broadside from Yūdachi pummeled her. The action was finished within minutes, both APDs burning, but the Japanese weren’t done with them yet. The three destroyers swept through the water where the ships were sinking, shelling and machine-gunning the survivors. By some miracle, despite the Japanese expending over 500 rounds of main battery ammunition at the ships and the helpless men in the water, casualties were fairly light.

Over the course of the next two months, Yūdachi continued to run Tokyo Express missions, sometimes attempting sweeps for American convoys (although never with success), sometimes delivering supplies, and very often bombarding Henderson field or other American positions. On 25 October, she was forced to scuttle accompanying light cruiser Yura, crippled by American aircraft during a bombardment mission. The day after, she participated in the Battle of Santa Cruz, but again played a negligible role. Three more transport runs would be undertaken before Yūdachi finally got her chance to shine – on 11 November DesDiv 2 departed their base at Shortlands, and joined the bombardment force of Admiral Aba – centered on the battlecruisers Kirishima and Hiei, light cruiser Nagara, and fourteen destroyers. They departed for Guadalcanal, set to attack on the night of the 12th.

What they did not know was that the Americans were at sea as well, and in force. They had spotted the approach of the Japanese force via aerial reconnaissance, and sortied with a force of two heavy cruisers, one light, two anti-aircraft, and eight destroyers. Contact between the two was far from neat – the Japanese force had approached under the cover of a squall, hiding much of their approach, but also greatly confusing their formation. In addition, they arrived in the dead of night. For Yūdachi, it would be a night full of costly errors. Yūdachi was meant to be part of the scouting vanguard, the eyes of the Japanese force – but coming out of the squall, she had no idea where she was relative to the rest of the Japanese force. Even worse, she would be the instrument of warning not for the Japanese, but rather the Americans, when the radar of light cruiser Helena painted her at 0124, range 27,000 yards. At 0128 the American force came around on a heading to intercept the Japanese. Soon more radars began picking up the Japanese ships. Suddenly, at 0141 the Yūdachi ran smack into the American destroyer Cushing – or, rather, Cushing nearly ran into her – the two destroyers barely avoided each other, but both were too startled to engage each other, instead radioing their respective forces. For the Americans, who had radar, this was less of a surprise (although the erratic maneuver of Cushing caused chaos in their formation), but for the Japanese, the random warning of Yūdachi created chaos, as no one, including Yūdachi, actually knew where Yūdachi was. A warning as to how close the Americans came, however, came when Hiei spotted four large shapes – American cruisers – at 10,000 yards. What came next was a maelstrom that consumed both sides. At 0148 Japanese searchlights illuminated the anti-aircraft cruiser Atlanta, which began pouring 5” salvos at the searchlights in return. The range was not even 2,000 yards. The action collapsed into chaos as the two forces grappled in the dark. Meanwhile, Yūdachi sped off to the northeast, chased away from the action by 8” salvos from one or more of the American heavy cruisers. Her captain, Commander Kiyoshi Kikkawa, related after the battle; “We ran for a few minutes and I saw gunfire. I was covered with confusion and shame. I ordered Yudachi about to head back toward the American column. By that time every man in my ship was boiling mad—at our failure to hit the enemy.”

Commander Kikkawa was quick to bring Yūdachi back into action, maneuvering along the starboard side of the rapidly disintegrating American column. He brought her back to a southwest course, and made a torpedo run against the first target he saw – the heavy cruiser Portland, firing off a full salvo of eight torpedoes at 0155. Between three and six minutes later, one of her torpedoes stuck, detonating under the fantail of the heavy cruiser aft and to starboard, jamming her steering in a turn to starboard – a maneuver Portland was forced to conduct all night as a result. Her aft turret was also jammed as a result. Yūdachi continued on her course, and as a result steamed directly through the American line between the cruiser Juneau and the destroyer Aaron Ward at 0159, the latter of which only barely avoided colliding with her. She swapped fire with the American ships, but quickly came off worse, with Juneau putting a 5” shell into her bridge. It very nearly could have been the end for Yūdachi – but she was saved by the intervention of Kikkawa’s friend, Commander Tameichi Hara of the Amatsukaze, who had fired his own torpedoes minutes before. Two of them passed beneath Aaron Ward, but Barton, behind her, was not so lucky and caught two of the torpedoes amidships at 0159. The unfortunate American destroyer was blown in two and sank almost immediately. At almost the same time Juneau also took a torpedo hit amidships, either from Amatsukaze or Murasame, which physically lifted the ship out of the water. This caused a list to port and entirely disabled her gun batteries, forcing the American cruiser to retire from the melee. Aaron Ward continued to steam north, but managed to attract friendly 8” fire for her efforts. She narrowly dodged another collision with destroyer Sterett at 0207. At 0210 she encountered Yūdachi again, and the two exchanged gunfire. Yūdachi again failed to score any hits, but Aaron Ward loosed twenty-five 5” salvos at the Japanese destroyer, putting one shell into her forward fireroom, and damaging her forecastle with another. Additionally, Sterett fired two torpedoes, but missed. Yūdachi escaped to the west in order to reload her torpedo tubes, before doubling back to rejoin the action at 0220 – and ran back into Sterett. Kikkawa assumed the destroyer was friendly, and flashed a recognition signal. Sterett assumed the destroyer she was faced with was hostile, and her gun flashes greeted Yūdachi. Her opening salvos hit the forecastle and forward fireroom once again, and while 'Yudachi returned fire, her gunnery was again ineffective. More 5” shells from Sterett registered hits on the gun director, the bridge, and the forward engine room.

However, before more damage could be racked up by Sterett, another Japanese destroyer came to the rescue of Yūdachi (again). Out of the night came the Teruzuki, her 10cm guns blazing. Rapidly, she pummeled the American destroyer into submission, knocking out her own director, and also disabling her aft guns. Sterett disengaged and fled to the northeast but lost steering control and by 0235 she was drifting without power, aflame and with a rapidly flooding forward engine room. Yūdachi, meanwhile, wasn’t doing much better. She too was drifting without power, having suffered twenty-six dead and thirty-five wounded. Not long after, the destroyer Samidare came upon the wreck, and after taking off the survivors (some 207 men), fired three torpedoes at the destroyer to finish her off. Two ran deep, diving under the hull of the destroyer, while the third either missed entirely or failed to detonate. Samidare left the now abandoned wreck to its own devices and retreated, following the rest of the Japanese fleet back up ‘the slot’. Later that morning, at around 0630, of all ships, Portland happened upon the drifting destroyer. Expending thirty-six 8” shells in six six-gun salvos from 12,500 yards, she finally sank Yūdachi, getting a measure of revenge for the torpedo hit she had taken earlier that night – the only damage, in spite of all that had happened that night, that Yūdachi had managed to inflict.

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  Yūdachi underway on 30 November 1936