Japanese destroyer Yukikaze (1939)
1939 Kagerō-class destroyer
Yukikaze (雪風; "Snowy Wind") was a Kagerō-class destroyer 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 (丹陽 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 Asashio class of destroyers. Their crew numbered 240 officers and enlisted men. The ships measured 118.5 meters (388 ft 9 in) overall, with a beam of 10.8 meters (35 ft 5 in) and a draft of 3.76 meters (12 ft 4 in). They displaced 2,065 metric tons (2,032 long tons) at standard load and 2,529 metric tons (2,489 long tons) at deep load.
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