- Yes! any and all loadouts!
- Yes! both the 1954 retrofit and 1959 refits!
- Yes! both the 1952 and 1959 refits!
- Yes! only the by 1959 American refit!
- Yes! only the 1952 Japanese refit!
- Yes! only the by 1954 Japanese AA retrofit!
- No!
This is a suggestion for the post-WWII flagship of the Republic of China Navy, the Kagerō-class destroyer originally named Yukikaze, renamed as 丹陽 (Tan Yang) after being transferred to ROC/Nationalist China control as war reparations.
specifically this is for Tan Yang in its active duty refit states from 1952-1956, when it was outfitted with leftover Japanese armament; and following its 1956-59 total overhaul with American equipment, its 1959-1966 service life.
In its last days as Yukikaze, fully disarmed after returning IJA troops back to Japan
bow view of Tan Yang at Manila, Philippines, August 1953, visiting 50,000 Chinese expats in the Philippines.
detailed 1:350 scale model of Tan Yang as it was in 1954- note that the gun turret do not match any other pattern of gun turret, they were entirely locally fabricated
detailed illustration of the differences between the disarmed Yukikaze, and the two iterations of Tan Yang
HISTORY:
On July 6th, 1947, Yukikaze was officially transferred to the Republic of China as a war reparation after being won by the ROC in of all things, a lot drawing.
Yes, that is how that actually happened- this is Colonel Ma Dejian pulling the winning lot
Yukikaze was then renamed Tan Yang (DD-12), and would serve as the flagship ROC navy… entirely unarmed, so more like a yacht.
Yukikaze/Tan Yang upon handover in mid-1947. bow, transom stern, bridge and bridge side shots
The Tan Yang was initially used as a training vessel at its harbor as like with all the other Japanese warships, the Yukikaze had been demilitarised prior to the lottery and being handed over to the Chinese authorities. this would set the stage for both iterations of the Tan Yang’s armament during its service.
In late 1948 and 1949 after becoming clear that defeat of the ROC/Nationalist China in the Chinese Civil War was inevitable, and that the US had refused to provide any more aid due to it’s post-WWII draw down that mothballed almost the entire US Navy, Tan Yang and the rest of the Kuomintang government evacuated from Shanghai to Keelung, Taiwan. With Chiang Kai-Shek himself aboard the Tan Yang at this time. This marked the second time in only 2 years that the Yukikaze/Tan Yang had been exiled from its home waters.
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a couple years later, still very much on their own, the ROC decided to rearm the Tan Yang with… whatever the hell they could find laying around. no joke.
All of the Japanese equipment was leftover from Taiwan’s time as the Japanese colony of Formosa, and being as it was mostly scrounged from coastal fortifications, it wasn’t the very best equipment either… but you know, never a good time to be a choosy beggar.
The main armament would be a mix of 127mm Type 89 and 100mm Type 98 cannons- older guns no longer suitable for what would turn out to be the final generation of WWII-era IJN Destroyers, placed in pairs inside ROC Navy-custom made fabricated turrets with manual fire control, as well as a smattering of the 25mm Type 96 guns that were exposed to be borderline useless almost a decade prior…
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So now you have a pre-WWII Destroyer refitted with obsolete AND mixed armament; while lacking torpedoes; in a region marked by Cold War flashpoints.
Outcome:
…all things considered? actually remarkably good. somehow.
Starting in 1953, the first true naval unit of the now-Taiwan-based Republic of China Navy, the Dunmu Fleet would be formed, and would perform diplomatic voyages to a few countries, most notably the Philippines.
But the Dunmu Fleet would not just be showboats. As the Korean War to the north drew to a close, the now-People’s Republic of China would refocus its efforts on conquering the last Nationalist holdout of the Chinese Civil War, Taiwan.
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during 1953, Tan Yang would intercept a pair of Polish oil tankers owned by the China-Polish Shipping Company. One of these, the SS Praca would be captured, and shown to be loaded with guns and ammo bound for either the PRC or North Korea.
During 1954, another Polish tanker, the Prezydent Gottwald would be intercepted and captured as well, seen to have vast quantities of jet fuel in its tanks, doubtlessly bound for Chinese and North Korean MiG-15s.
But most notably would be the 1954 interception and capture of the Tuapse.
you see, while the Praca and Gottwald were mostly Polish crewmen with Chinese crew chiefs, and would often seek asylum, the Tuapse was a Soviet oil tanker… again filled with jet fuel.
Between the 3 captured ships, some of these crewmen would be released; likely Poles on asylum; some would be executed; the Chinese crewmen, as traitors; and some would just be detained for decades. only by 1988 would all remaining be released.
Tuapse, taken from the deck of Tan Yang
after this string of interceptions, it would be noted that the lingering supply of Japanese armament and ammunition was very much finite and wouldn’t last forever.
“wouldn’t last forever” as it turns out, was 1956, in the First Taiwan Strait Crisis. The Americans had finally realized that there was a willing ally NOT barred from having a standing military lying somewhere in the void between South Vietnam and South Korea, and were now finally willing to aid the ROC.
Now armed with this knowledge, and most of the remainder of old Japanese ammo left, Tan Yang would travel to the partially occupied Kinmen Islands, a small cluster of islands only about 10 kilometers off the coast of mainland China- so literally as close as the ROC could remain holding territory without PRC soldiers just boating across in canoes.
and it used up all the ammo it had left. Tan Yang just kind of parked itself at long range, and let loose by flattening any building it could see in occupied territory; largely barracks; which i think was chiefly the Yijiangshan Islands.
after this, Tan Yang would return to Kaohsiung for a massive overhaul of American equipment across 1956-1959.
ROCS Tan Yang, partially refit, 1956, note the open mount single main guns.
Even while Tan Yang was in the late of its period of overhauling it was already being sent out to action (hopefully the SC-2 radar was active by this point). In September 1958 Tan Yang would rescue the PC-461/Jiang-class Submarine Chaser Tuojiang (PC-104) from Liaoluo Bay, Kinmen Islands, during the 823rd artillery battle of Kinmen.
…how the hell they managed to track that number of engagements?
(fun little note, the PC-461-class is actually represented ingame, with the premium Carmi, in case someone wants to do a PC-461/Jaing-class suggestion for China)
On August 3, 1959, a now-fully upgraded Tan Yang would get into a close range gunfight with PLAN patrol craft in the vicinity of Matsu, one of Kinmen Islands. being as these were small gunboats against an old Destroyer with full size Destroyer armament, it resulted in one PLAN gunboat sunk, and another badly damaged.
Near the end of its service life, On May 1, 1964, Tan Yang would get to do some sneaky spy stuff in supporting a covert infiltration onto the Situ Islands… which i’m guessing is part of the Kinmen Island chain? because I don’t see a reason why the ROCN would be anywhere near the Situ Islands of Mozambique.
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Tan Yang’s fate would be sealed on December 16, 1965, as its 25-year old refurbished engines suffered a severe enough breakdown that the ship was effectively retired on the spot, officially being decommissioned on November 16, 1966. After decommissioning, it was used as a static training ship for the ROCN in port.
In Japan in the late 1960s there was a campaign to get the former Yukikaze returned to Japan after Tan Yang’s decommissioning, but resistance from the ROC government and a typhoon in 1969 led to the failure of this campaign. Both Chinas and Japan have a relationship that’s only sort of recovered in the 21st century, let alone by 1970. and the ROC didn’t want to hand over what could be seen as a memorial to Japanese militarism.
Nature via this typhoon would also give the Japanese a firm Hell No in 1969 by sending a typhoon that dragged Tan Yang aground, shredding the bottom of the hull, causing irreparable damage for a 30-year old ship.
A small concession was made however- on December 8th, 1971, one anchor and the helm were returned to Japan, where they are now on display at the Technical School of the Maritime Self Defence Forces (formerly the Japanese Naval Academy), Etajima.
Additionally the left screw is on display at the ROC Naval Academy, Kaohsiung City.
scrapping would begin in 1970 and the former Japnese Yukikaze turned Chinese Tan Yang, was fully dismantled on December 31, 1971.
GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS:
Tonnage:
2033 tons Standard
2600 tons maximum
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Length:
118.5 meters overall,
111 meters between perpendiculars (waterline to waterline)
Beam:
10.8 meters
Draft:
3.76 meters
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Powerplant:
3 kampon boilers feeding into 2 sets of kampon geared steam turbines, driving 2 prop shafts, producing 52000 ihp (probably lower after refurbishment), producing speeds of
max speed: 35 knots (65 km/h; 40 mph) originally as Yukikaze
max speed: 29 knots
Tan Yang on trials in February 1953 made only 27.5 knots when its Kampon machinery at this time had just been refurbished, but in 1958 Tan Yang was observed to speed at 29 knots.
Fuel:
500 tons of fuel oil
Crew:
240
ARMAMENT:
detailed illustration of the differences between the disarmed Yukikaze, and the iterations of Tan Yang
(1952)
1x2 127mm/40 Type 89 naval guns in the bow turret position (turret A) (same guns as seen ingame on IJN Isuzu)
2x2 100mm/65 Type 98 naval guns in the aft turret positions (turret X and Y) (same guns as seen ingame on IJN Akizuki)
these were the main guns, previously just lying around Taiwan in coastal fortifications.
and well… it was subpar to say the least. these weren’t the best guns either, hence why they wound up at a coastal fort on Taiwan rather than Iron Bottom Sound. fortunately the Tan Yang never saw action vs a more modern comparable ships.
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(1952)
8x1 25mm Type 96 AA guns
initially in 1952 there were just 8x1 single 25mm AA guns. it’s possible this was still the case in the 1953 interception and capture of the ammo-laden cargo ship SS Praca, and that the outcome was that there needed to be more armament…
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(1954)
28 25mm Type 96 AA guns in single, double, and triple mounts.
4x3
1x2
14x1
so some sources state that there were additional 25mm Type 96 cannons, with what little details are given claim a maximum total of 28 Type 96 cannons in: 4 triples, 1 double, and 14 single configurations, largely placed amidships in the wide open areas where the Type 93 torpedo launchers once were.
now these claims and details are sparse, but there is a rare piece of irrefutable evidence that shows these claims absolutely came from somewhere legit-
Tuapse, 1954, taken from the amidships deck of Tan Yang… right next to a triple-25mm installation, a short distance behind where a ship’s boat was held as seen by that recently detached boarding party
so it’s certain that more 25mms and their mountings were scrounged up once Tan Yang started seeing action, and was absolutely the case by the time of the 1st Taiwan Strait Crisis and all the wartime action at the Kinmen Islands.
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(1959–1966)
3x1 5-inch/38 Mk.12 Mod 0 guns on Mk.37 Mod 0 open mounts
replacing the Japanese 100mm and 127mm guns was a post-WWII pattern of 5-inch/38 rarely seen on anything prominent, as the Mk.37 Mod 0 single open mount made in the cold war environment was made for auxiliaries and Destroyer Escorts- which being a pre-WWII large Destroyer lacking it original top end speeds, Tan Yang is what WWII and post-WWII Destroyer Escorts are just downscales of.
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2x1 3-inch/50 Mk.22 guns on the Mk.26 mount
placed on the former torpedo turret platforms amidships replacing any and all 25mm AA guns on the amidships deck level.
going into the cold war, the 3-inch gun was fully revamped for the new era with the Mark 22, coincidentally also introduced on the Mark 22 platform. by the time Tan Yang got refitted, the Mark 26 platform had been introduced, which was still mostly just the Mark 22, but now outfitted with a powered drive… you know, like the Bofors guns the Mk.22 was replacing.
now there’s only 2 of these guns, but lets be honest, it doesn’t matter how many Type 96 AA guns were carpeting the amidships weather deck of Tan Yang, the 25s were kinda **** no matter what, let alone in 1956.
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10x1 (initially 8) 40mm/60 Mark 3 Bofors guns, spread around presumably in the former mounting places of 25mm guns on the stern, amidships funnel platform, and bow superstructure.
same as seen ingame on… half the US coastal fleet
And here we have what replaced the rest of the 25s. Everlasting Bofors Appreciation Day was still going strong in the 50s, and the ROCN got to experience it as well, carpeting the ship with the best of the L/60 Bofors guns.
4 depth charge launch rails for Mark 6 Depth charges.
considering how large Tan Yang is compared to most other ROCN warships, and its active role, it probably carried near the upper end of reasonable amounts of DCs- likely around 48 if US Destroyers are anything to go by.
SC-2 Air and Surface Search Radar
at long last Tan Yang joined the modern ships club with the inclusion of a proper radar.
SOURCES:
Online:
good rundown of Tan Yang, from an archived WoW forum
very good archived pages on Tan Yang from god knows where. also has photos i can’t find anywhere else.
https://www.navypedia.org/ships/taiwan/tai_dd_tanyang.htm
Literary:
Conway’s All the World’s Fighting Ships 1947-1995. - very basic info, rather unreliable except when corroborating with other sources (PDF/DjVu page 464)
Whitley, M. J. (1988). Destroyers of World War 2 . Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-326-1.