Japanese destroyer Murakumo (1928)
1928 Fubuki-class destroyer
Murakumo (叢雲, ”Massed Clouds”) was the fifth of twenty-four Fubuki-class destroyers, built for the Imperial Japanese Navy following World War I.
History
Construction of the advanced Fubuki-class destroyers was authorized as part of the Imperial Japanese Navy's expansion program from fiscal 1923, intended to give Japan a qualitative edge with the world's most modern ships. The Fubuki class had performance that was a quantum leap over previous destroyer designs, so much so that they were designated Special Type destroyers (特型, Tokugata). The large size, powerful engines, high speed, large radius of action and unprecedented armament gave these destroyers the firepower similar to many light cruisers in other navies. Murakumo, built at the Fujinagata Shipyards in Osaka was laid down on 25 April 1927, launched on 27 September 1928 and commissioned on 10 May 1929. Originally assigned hull designation “Destroyer No. 39”, she was completed as Murakumo.
Operational history
On completion, Murakumo was assigned to Destroyer Division 12 under the IJN 2nd Fleet. During the Second Sino-Japanese War, Murakumo was assigned to patrols of the central China coast, and participated in the Invasion of French Indochina in 1940.
World War II
At the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor, Murakumo was assigned to Destroyer Division 12 of Desron 3 of the IJN 1st Fleet, and had deployed from Kure Naval District to the port of Samah on Hainan Island. From 4 December to 12 December, she covered Japanese landings at Kota Bharu in Malaya.
The public source identifies “Japanese destroyer Murakumo (1928)” as 1928 Fubuki-class destroyer. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Japanese, destroyer and Murakumo.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Dec 12, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q6130833. Authority coordinates are -8.667, 159.333. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1923, 1927, 1928 and 1929.
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This entry incorporates text from “Japanese destroyer Murakumo (1928)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.