was a in service with the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II. She was the only member of her class to survive the war, and did so without suffering any major damage. She participated in the battles of the Java Sea, Midway, and Santa Cruz, and saw her first major surface action at the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal, sinking the destroyer USS Laffey and helping to sink the destroyer USS Cushing, alongside crippling the destroyer USS Sterett and lightly damaging the destroyer USS O'Bannon. She survived the devastating naval defeat that was the Battle of the Bismarck Sea undamaged, and led a Japanese counterattack at the Battle of Kolombangara, where she likely directly torpedoed the light cruiser HMNZS Leander and took part in a mass torpedo spread that sank the destroyer USS Gwin and torpedoed the light cruisers USS Honolulu and USS Saint Louis.
Yukikaze undertook escort missions during the Battle of the Philippine Sea, and later took part in the Battle of Leyte Gulf, surviving the allied attacks that sank dozens of Japanese ships and engaging the escort carriers and destroyers of Taffy 3, firing torpedoes at US escort carriers without obtaining a hit before helping to sink the destroyer USS Johnston. Yukikaze saw her last major action escorting and witnessing the sinking of the battleship Yamato during the Battle of Okinawa, before surviving the war, being the only ship of her class to do so.
Following the war, the ship was transferred to the Republic of China Navy, where she was renamed Dan Yang ( DD-12) and served until 1966, taking part in two shore bombardment missions and capturing two oil tankers and a cargo ship, before being scrapped in 1970.
Design and description The Kagerō class was an enlarged and improved version of the preceding of destroyers. Their crew numbered 240 officers and enlisted men. The ships measured overall, with a beam of and a draft of .Chesneau, p. 194 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 . However, the class proved capable of exceeding 35.5 knots on sea trials. The ships were designed with a range of at a speed of . However, the class more accurately proved to have a range of on trials.Chihaya/Abe (1972) p 8
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 originally consisted of 16 depth charges, but this was upgraded to 36 depth charges by June 1942. As the war went on, any remaining Kagerō class destroyers by 1944 had their X turret removed and replaced by up to 28 25-mm guns.Jentschura, Jung & Mickel, p. 148
Career in Imperial Japanese Navy Yukikaze was laid down on 2 August 1938, launched on 24 March 1939, and completed on 20 January 1940, and upon commissioning she was appointed as the third ship of destroyer division 16 (Kuroshio, Hatsukaze, Yukikaze) and immediately saw a series of peacetime patrol duties and visits to foreign harbors. On 11 October 1940, Yukikaze took part in the 2,600 year anniversary Japanese navy fleet review, the last major fleet review before the start of the Pacific Theater. Then, at the end of 1940, the 16th destroyer division was reorganized; Kuroshio was reappointed to destroyer division 15, while the newly completed destroyers Amatsukaze and Tokitsukaze joined the group, and Yukikaze was appointed as flagship of Captain Shibuyu Shiro, while commander Tobida Kenjirō took personal leadership of the destroyer.Walker (2024) p 52
Beginning of the Pacific War During the start of World War 2 for Japan, 7 December 1941, Yukikaze led destroyer division 16 in escorting the light carrier Ryūjō during an air raid on Davao. Throughout the rest of December and into January 1942, Yukikaze would escort invasion convoys heading to Legaspi, Lamon Bay, Menado, Kendari, and Ambon. On 20 February, Yukikaze would escort the invasion force destined for Timor. Then, on the 27th, Yukikaze would see her first active combat role taking part in the battle of the Java Sea, the destruction of the allied surface ships attempting to defend the Dutch East Indies against Japanese invasion. However, Yukikaze only led a torpedo attack that failed to land a single hit. In the aftermath of the battle, Yukikaze rescued some 40 survivors from several sunken allied warships. Commander Tobida interrogated Captain Thomas Spencer, the highest-ranking member of the survivors who had served as a gunnery chief on the destroyer HMS Electra, which was sunk in a gunfight with the destroyer Asagumo. No relevant information was found, but Spencer reportedly conversed about his birthplace in Scotland and graduation from the Britannia Royal Naval College. The next day, Yukikaze and Tokitsukaze located the submarine USS S-37 and together dropped 10 depth charges, completely destroying her starboard engine, breaking her coolers, and causing major flooding and an oil leak, forcing S-37 to retreat to Australia for immense repairs.Walker (2024) p 66-67
Continuing on to Bandjarmasin, in the early morning on 2 March, Yukikaze and Tokitsukaze located another submarine and dropped 10 more depth charges to unknown effect. Later that night, Yukikaze spotted another (possibly the same) submarine - which promptly crash dived - and dropped another 2 depth charges to unknown effect yet again.Chihaya\Abe (1972) p 10The identity of this submarine remains elusive. Some Japanese sources credit it as an assist kill on USS Perch, but this is extremely unlikely. Right at the break of dawn on the fourth, Yukikaze sailed into Bandjarmasin and transferred all prisoners to the recently captured prison ship Tenno Maru (formerly the Dutch hospital ship SS Op Ten Noort), and after reloading her fuel and depth charges continued submarine patrols, but had no further encounters, then escorted the invasion force for New Guinea before returning to Davao. From 26 April to 2 May, Yukikaze was drydocked for maintenance, then steamed from Kure to Saipan.
In preparation for the Battle of Midway, Yukikaze would escort a number of troop transports for the phase of the battle which involved the invasion of Midway Island. However, through 3–6 June, the battle turned into one of the most devastating naval defeats of the entire war. Four Japanese aircraft carriers and a heavy cruiser were sunk by American aircraft carrier raids, prompting the invasion forces to retreat."Enterprise versus Japan". Battle 360°. Episode 2 "Vengeance at Midway". 2008, History Channel. After the battle, Yukikaze joined the main body force, and assisted the crippled heavy cruiser Mogami.Walker (2024) p 110
With such a blunder out of the way, it was off to the Guadalcanal campaign. Around this time, Yukikaze would receive a new captain, Ryokichi Kanma, and after a series a training missions, Yukikaze would see some action again as an aircraft carrier escort at the battle of Santa Cruz, 26 October. American aircraft carrier attacks damaged a number of Japanese vessels (but failed to sink any), but the attacks were mostly focused on the carriers as Yukikaze remained undamaged. The Japanese planes in turn sank the aircraft carrier USS Hornet and the destroyer USS Porter, and damaged or crippled several other vessels. With the battle concluded in a victory, the Japanese ships returned to Truk on the 30th.
Naval Battle of Guadalcanal
Yukikaze saw her first notable action in what would combinate into the first naval battle of Guadalcanal. With a goal of conducting another major bombardment on Henderson Field, a former Japanese air base which was captured by US forces and being used against Japanese shipping to great effect, the main ships of the force consisted of the battleships Hiei and Kirishima, each armed with eight 14-inch (356 mm) guns and a variety of smaller guns. Hiei served as Admiral Abe's flagship. Escorting the force came the light cruiser Nagara, and a total of eleven destroyers, including Yukikaze. The force departed on 9 November. While the destroyers initially operated in a standard formation, heavy rain squalls had managed to break up the formation and leave the destroyers operating in small clusters, in turn leaving Yukikaze operating alongside the destroyers Amastukaze and Teruzuki.Hara (1961) p 137-140
In the early morning of the 13th, the force was en route when by 1:25, signs of enemy ships began to appear. A force of two heavy cruisers, three light cruisers, and eight destroyers had intercepted the force. By 1:48, Hiei and the destroyer Akatsuki illuminated the light cruiser USS Atlanta, starting the battle in a point blank range skirmish which resulted in both Akatsuki and Atlanta's sinking.Hara (1961) p 140-145 Yukikaze quickly rushed into the action. With the US formation left a scattered mess due to poor command decisions by Admiral Callaghan, Yukikaze along with Nagara and the destroyer Harusame engaged the lead American destroyer, USS Cushing. Cushing fired back at Yukikaze, and though no hits were scored machine gunfire killed a sailor on the deck, Yukikaze's first casualty.Walker (2024) p 132 However, Yukikaze helped to inflict far more damage than she received, a barrage of Japanese shell hits disabled Cushing's electrical power and guns, leaving her dead in the water and set aflame. With Cushing rendered a defenseless floating wreck she was eventually abandoned at 2:30 and left to sink several hours later, losing 70 men in the process.Yukikaze was not joined by Amatsukaze or Teruzuki which were blocked from joining her by the destroyers Ikazuchi and Inazuma, and both operated independently for most of the battle. Teruzuki later further shelled USS Cushing as her crew were starting to put out a few fires, contributing to her sinking
With an enemy destroyer on her kill sheet, Yukikaze just before 2:00 spotted the destroyer USS Laffey, which had just escaped a point blank range duel with Hiei where she raked her with gunfire, wounding admiral Abe and killing his chief of staff. Yukikaze opened fire and hit Laffey with three 5-inch (127 mm) shells, one of which hit and destroyed her number 2 5-inch (127 mm) gun turret, while simultaneously two 14-inch (356 mm) shells from Hiei hit the bridge and amidships superstructure. Yukikaze fired a spread of torpedoes, one of which hit Laffey aft, blowing her stern and propellers clean off, breaking her keel, disabling all electrical power, and starting a massive fire.Accounts of the battle overly reliant on American records sometimes differ on which destroyers engaged USS Laffey and the scorer of the fatal torpedo hit, but Japanese records make it clear Yukikaze and Nagara engaged Laffey, with Yukikaze scoring the torpedo hit. The abandon ship order was issued as the massive fire caused by Yukikaze's torpedo hit suddenly blew up Laffey's turret 4 magazines and sank her instantly with the loss of 59 men.Chihaya/Abe (1972) p 11