The Japanese Destroyer Urakaze-- Part 2

The Urakaze was laid down  11 April 1939 and launched 19 April 1940.  Commissioning came 15 December 1940.

On 9 June 1944, she rescued 126 survivors of the destroyer  Tanikaze which had been sunk by the USS Harder (SS-257).  During the Battle of Philippine Sea, she assisted survivors of the aircraft carrier Shokaku (which had been in the Pearl Harbor attack) which had been sunk by the submarine USS Cavalla (SS-244).  Depth charges from the Urakaze slightly damaged the Cavalla.

On 21 November 1944. the Urakaze was torpedoed on sink with all hands by the submarine USS Sealion (SS-315) 65 miles  north-northwest of  Keelung, Formosa.  The torpedo that sank the Urakaze was one of three  the Sealion had launched at the battleship Nagato.  One of which inadvertently hit the Urakaze and the other two missing.

However, other torpedoes hit the battleship Kongo and sank her a few hours later.

--GreGen

The Japanese Destroyer Urakaze-- Part 1

From Wikipedia.

The Japanese destroyer Urakaze (meaning Wind of the Sea) was one of 19 Kagero-class destroyers built during the 1930s.

The USS Sealion (SS-315) sank this ship on the same day it sank the battleship Kongo.

GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS

LENGTH:  388.8 feet

BEAM:  35.5 feet

SPEED:  35 knots

COMPLEMENT:  240

ARMAMENT:  

six 5-inch guns

up to 28 AA guns

eight  24-inch torpedo tubes

36 depth charges

--GreGen

Just One Japanese Battleship Survived to Japan's Surrender: The Nagato-- Part 1

Japan's surface fleet was decimated during World War II.  Of her battleships, only one was still afloat at the conclusion of the war.

It was the IJN Nagato.  This was one of the ships the submarine USS Sealion fired torpedoes at that day it sank the battleship Kongo and the destroyer Urakaze.  The famed battleship Yamato was also in the convoy that day.

From the August 14, 2015, Diplomat "Imperial Japan's last floating battleship" by Robert Farley.

It entered service in November 1920, displaced 33,000 tons, carried eight 16-inch guns and could make 26.6 knots, a combination that made her one of the most powerful warships in the world at the time.

The Nagato and her sister ship, the Mutsu were  the first two ships of Japan's "eight and eight" program designed to provide the country with eight modern battleships and battlecruisers (the Kongo and her sisters which I have been writing about were four of the battlecruisers).

This fleet would insure Japan's dominance in her region, but the Washington Naval Treaty put a serious hold on battleship construction.

After a pair of interwar  reconstructions, the Nagato served as the  flagship of the combined fleet until the battleship Yamato was commissioned.  Admiral Yammomoto (Yamamoto) gave the final word for the attack on Pearl Harbor from the bridge of this ship.

--GreGen

Japanese Battleship Kongo-- Part 3: Torpedoed By USS Sealion

On 16 November 1944, following a U.S. air raid on Brunei, the Kongo along with the battleships Yamato and Nagato and the rest of the First Fleet, departed from Brunei bound for the Kure Naval base in preparation for a major  reorganization of what remained of the once-mighty Japanese fleet.

On 20 November, they entered the Formosa Strait.  Shortly after midnight on 21 November, the American submarine Sealion made radar contact with the fleet at 44,000 yards.  Maneuvering into position at 02:45, the Sealion  fired six torpedoes at the Kongo, followed by three stern torpedoes at the Nagato fifteen minutes later.

One minute after the first salvo  was launched, two torpedoes were seen to hit the Kongo on the port side, while a third sank the destroyer Urakaze with all hands.  The two torpedoes that hit the Kongo flooded  two of the ship's boiler rooms, but she was still able to make 16 knots.

But, by 05:00, she had slowed to  11 knots and was given permission to break off from the fleet and to head for port in  Keelung in Formosa along with the destroyers Hamakaze and Isokaze as escort.

--GreGen

USS Sealion (SS-315)-- Part 7: Third War Patrol and Sinking the Kongo and Urakaze

From Saipan, the Sealion returned to Pearl Harbor on 30 September 1944.  After resupplying, she left on  31 October with the USS Kete (SS-369) and headed east.  In November the Sealion encountered two problems. First her Number 8 tube was accidentally fired with both doors closed and then there was a hydrogen explosion in the battery space of the torpedo in the  Number 5 tube.

At 00:20 November 21, she made contact with an enemy formation going through the Taiwan Strait at about 16 knots and not zig-zagging.  By 00:48, they were made out to be two battleships and two cruisers.  At 1:46, three additional  ships, escorts, were  spotted.

The Sealion had intercepted a very powerful surface fleet consisting of the battleships Yamato, Nagato, Kongo, cruiser Yahagi and destroyers Hamakaze,  Isokaze,  Yurakaze, Yukikaze, Kiri and Ume.

At 2:45, the Sealion, which was ahead of the fleet, turned and fired six torpedoes at the second ship on line, the Kongo.  At  2:59, she fired three at the  Nagato.  At 3:00 the crew heard three hits from the first salvo.  They had hit the Kongo and flooded two of the ship's boiler rooms and gave her a list to port.  

The Nagato, alerted to the presence of an enemy submarine turned hard and the second salvo missed her but ran on to hit the destroyer  Urakaze which was struck her magazines.  She blew up and sank quickly, taking with her all hands.

--GreGen

USS Sealion (SS-315)-- Part 4: Sinking the Japanese Battleship Kongo and Destroyer Urakaze

But, the Sealion's 3rd patrol was something else.

After the Japanese battleship group had been detected,  the submarine's commander, Eli Reich ordered his crew to battle stations, and one submariner set up a film recorder that a CBS war correspondent had left aboard and placed a microphone up near the ship's intercom speaker in the conning tower.

The audio of the event offers  rare insight into what a World War II submarine attack sounded like.

Believing the lead and rear ships of the column were cruisers and the second and third vessels were battleships, , the Sealion decided to attack the battleships.  Two of the three destroyers were also near the middle of the group, increasing the likelihood that if a torpedo missed the battleships, it might strike one of them.

At 2:56 a.m., the Sealion fired six torpedoes from its forward torpedo tubes at the first target.  Three minutes later, it fired three more torpedoes from its aft torpedoes at the second target.

The Sealion's crew reported three of the first torpedoes hitting the first target, which turned out to be the Japanese battleship Kongo.  One sailor can be heard to say "three hits to the Japanese 'B'  That will put them in drydock at least."

The second salvo of torpedoes missed the Battleship Nagato, but one of them struck the destroyer Urakaze, which then exploded and sank with all hands.  A Sealion crew member can be heard heard shouting "Woo" in celebration.

--GreGen