Shiratsuyu-Class, Shigure (1944)
白露型 時雨 (1944)
佐世保の時雨
Shigure was initially ordered as one of the 12 new Destroyers under the First Replenishment Plan in 1930 following the conclusion of the London Naval treaty. However, following the initial trials of Hatsuharu in 1933, which showed issues with the design being top heavy, improvements were ordered. Shortly after these orders, on the 12th of March 1934 the Tomozuru incident made the issues even more apparent. As the last 6 new Destroyers were still in early stages of construction it was decided to complete them with an overhauled design. This design would result in plan F45D, the Shiratsuyu class (with Hatsuharu being plan F45, Ariake being F45B and Yūgure being F45C).
As Shigure was still in the early stages of construction following these, she was completed following the new design as the 2nd ship of the Shiratsuyu class. Following her launch on the 18th of May 1935, outfitting and trials lasted until the 7th of September 1936 after which she was officially commissioned.
Her first assignment took place from the 24th of September 1936 until the 12th of October of the same year; It was to escort the battleship Hiei, which was transporting Emperor Hirohito to Hokkaido from Yokosuka, alongside her sister and 1st of the new class, Shiratsuyu. Following this trip, the two sisters stayed with Hiei to take part in the 1936 Fleet Review on October 29, 1936.
Fun fact: Shigure was a Sasebo naval prefecture Deity as per 雑誌「丸」編集部 『ハンディ判日本海軍艦艇写真集 17 駆逐艦 春雨型・白露型・朝潮型・陽炎型・夕雲型・島風』光人社、1997年10月。
After Shigure and Shiratsuyu returned to Yokosuka, on the 1st of November they were transferred to their first Destroyer Division, Kuchikutai 9 (9th Destroyer Division), which became part of Suirai Sentai 1 (1st Torpedo Division) on the 1st of December. Shigure’s first taste of action happened on the 10th of August 1937 when the entire Suirai Sentai 1 were mobilized as part of the 3rd fleet under Izumo due to the Oyame/Hongqiao airport Incident earlier that day. Shigure spent the following days supporting ground forces with naval fire as well as conducting anti-aircraft duties, including sailing up the Huangpu river on the 18th to provide close range supporting fire. From the 22nd to the 27th she supported landing operations alongside the rest of Kuchikutai 9. On the 5th of August while anchored at Guichi, following the Yangtze river run, Shigure took her first damage from Field Artillery, forcing her to sit out the cleanup operation that the rest of the Kuchikutai 9 were doing from August 15th to September 15th.
Following these operations, Kuchikutai 9 was assigned to the yokosuka Naval Base on the 1st of December 1938. Following a short stay, the entire division was reassigned to Sasebo and redesignated to Kuchikutai 27. Following a couple years of downtime, Shigure and the rest of Kuchikutai 27 were assigned as convoy escorts to Operation IC (the Japanese invasion of French Indochina) from September 15th to September 26 1940. Following a reshuffle of Suirai Sentai 1 (that didn’t affect the flagship Abukuma or Kuchikutai 27) on the 15th of November 1940, Shigure’s next call for action happened on the 21st of January 1941 with Operation S (the Thai-French Indochina war) to mediate a peace between the two nations.
At the start of the Pacific war, Shigure still belonged to the 1st Fleet, 1st Torpedo Squadron, 27th Destroyer Division, and 1st Platoon with her sister Shiratsuyu. After sailing out to meet the returning Pearl Harbor Strike Force from the 18th to the 23rd of December, she was escorting convoys from the 16th of January 1941 to the 30th. Kuchikutai 27 were then assigned as escorts for Zuihō who was delivering replacement A6M’s to the Philippines from the 17th of February until the 2nd of March. After the exemplary duty of following an aircraft carrier around, Kuchikutai 27 was assigned to be part of Kōkū Sentai 5 (5th Carrier Division).
Shigure’s first battle took place on the 8th of May 1942 during the Pacific War. It was the Battle of the Coral Sea, where she mainly was engaged in supporting the two carriers as well as rescuing pilots who were forced to ditch their aircraft. Afterwards, Shigure was assigned to further escort Kōkū Sentai 5 until the 17th of May when she was assigned to escort Myōkō & Haguro (where shortly after leaving Trunk, Shigure reportedly engaged and sank a Submarine) to Kure harbour until the 22nd. During the Battle of Midway, she was part of the Main force as an escort. Following the reorganization on the 25th of June, Kuchikutai 27 became part of Suirai Sentai 4 under flagship Yura.
Following this Shigure departed Kure to operate around the Marshall Islands where she spent most of her time escorting transport vessels or on shore bombardment. While Shigure did not participate in the night battle action that resulted in the loss of Yūdachi she was dispatched to escort the damaged battleship Hiei. While escorting Hiei the fleet came under attack which resulted in her captain being wounded, a gun officer being killed and one more crew being wounded. Because of additional bomb and torpedo hits Hiei had to be abandoned with Shigure and the rest of her escort fleet taking on survivors. Following this she underwent emergency repairs at Truk.
After these repairs she spent till the 25th of June 1943 escorting various vessels to their destinations. During the Battle of the Solomon seas she transported even more vessels till the 1st of October. On the 28th of September she was dispatched on operation Se-Go where her fleet was engaged by USN aircraft and a fleet that caused a standoff with no damage done to Shigure.
At the following battle of Vella Lavella Shigure’s fleet lost Yūgumo while sinking the USS Chevalier, Selfridge and heavily damaging O’Bannon as well as a PT boat later. A few days later Shigure was lightly damaged by an aerial attack. On the 1st of November the US landed forces on Bougainville Island prompting the deployment of Shigure and others, after spotting 4 ships at 00:45 she fired 8 torpedoes before retreating with the loss of Sendai and Hatsukaze for 2 USN DD’s. During the subsequent Rabaul air raid Shigure reported the downing of 7 aircraft from USN task force 38. On the 8th of November she left Rabaul to escort transports after which she got some proper repairs on the 13th of December 1943. After these repairs she escorted troops and supplies back to Truk, on one of these escort runs she collided with a fishing boat in the night which caused some damage that was repaired in one day.
Starting 1944 in fashion she spent January escorting various logistical vessels around while reporting the sinking of a single Submarine. On the February 17 the USN’s task force 50 launched an air raid on Truk, while Shigure and Harusame got an early warning and had an emergency department they still came under attack of 45 aircraft causing damage to her torpedo tubes, main guns and machinery while also causing 66 casualties onboard. After evacuating to Palau on the 24th she received emergency repairs from Myōkō after which she returned to Sasebo for proper repairs till the 12th of April. While being assigned to transport operations to Biak island where she was engaged by B-25’s and P-38’s. On the 8th she encountered a USN fleet which caused multiple hits to her nr.1 turret and hull with 22 casualties. Following more escort duties on the 10th of October 1944 the 27th DesDiv was disbanded and Shigure was assigned to 1YB 3H for what would be known as the Battle of Leyte Gulf. On the 24th of October following an air attack 1YB 3H was engaged by USN PT boats which were repelled. The following day she avoided a torpedo strike launched by USN DD’s but was hit by a 8inch round that failed to explode. Due to the damage sustained she started leaving the battlefield before losing control at 04:25. After some repairs by her crew she regained steering at 05:30 and continued the retreat. At 10:18 she telegraphed to the commander of 1YB that 3H had turned into a single ship. While returning to Coron Bay she was attacked by B-24’s which caused her to change heading to Brunei, where she arrived on the 27th. During the battle of Leyte Gulf and the retreat Shigure fired 117 Type 0 Common Timed Fuze rounds, 88 Type 1 Common HE rounds and 36 Type 3 Incendiary rounds as well as 7930 MG rounds while sustaining 2 KIA and 18 WIA.
Fun fact: Due to being laid down before Shiratsuyu the USN’s ONI believed that it was the Shigure-class rather than the Shiratsuyu-class.
On the 31st of October she departed Brunei to escort logistical vessels to Miri, Borneo from where on the 6th of November she left for Manilla, Philippines during which the fleet she was part of got spotted by 3 USN Submarines. During the engagement the tanker Manei Maru and the USN submarine Growler were sunk after which Shigure continued on to Manilla. On the 12th Shigure got orders to return to the mainland for full scale repairs, the next day Manilla Bay was attacked by US aircraft but Shigure survived relatively undamaged. During her move to Sasebo her fleet came under attack by the USN submarine Barb but neither side scored any hits. After this journey Shigure spent from the 16th of November till the 12th of December in dock for repairs. Following these repairs she was assigned to escort Unryū back to Manilla during which the USN Submarine Redfish sank Unryū. During this encounter her rudder once more malfunctioned and she returned to Sasebo for additional repairs that were completed on the 27th.
Shigure is one of the few confirmed cases of a Japanese ship using radar guided blindfire during the Battle of Surigao Strait after the late 1944 “22 GO” upgrade as per Interrogation Nav No.79 USSBS No.390
After these repairs Shigure got assigned to convoy Hi87 bound for Singapore. Leaving port on the 31st of December 1944 alongside the Destroyers Hamakaze, Isokaze and Aircraft Carrier Ryūhō the fleet first escorted Ryūhō to Keelung, Taiwan where they arrived on the 7th of January 1945. The following day Hamakaze collided with a tanker and Isokaze got orders to return to Japan with another convoy, leaving Shigure as the only destroyer in her fleet. After leaving port on the 10 the transport fleet arrived at Hong Kong where they spent the 15th and 16 under air raids, prompting the fleet to be split into two to avoid annihilation. Shigure was assigned to Fleet A to escort the tank Sarawaku Maru alongside 3 Kaibōkan’s, this fleet left Hong Kong on the 17th for Hainan where the fleet unloaded on the 19th. During the return trip Fleet A was spotted on the 22nd by USN patrol aircraft and intercepted by USN Submarine Blackfin and Besugo, After spotting Besugo with Sonar she spotted Blackfin with her lookouts but confused the two, 4 minutes later a torpedo was spotted but it was already too late and her rudder was hit. 1 minute later another torpedo hit her aft which caused sharp listing and the crew to abandon ship within 10 minutes, 1 minute later at 07:15 she split in half and sank. There were 55 casualties during her sinking, it was later also found that the army knew of submarine activity in the area and actively avoided it but didn’t disclose this information to the navy. Shigure’s crew was picked up by Kaibōkan No.13 and Miyake. According to Shigure’s battle report the escorting vessels are always ready with rescue equipment incase of sinking of their own vessel or escorting ones to avoid any unnecessary loss of sailors which most likely caused the relatively low casualty count.
On March 10th 1945 Shigure was removed from the Imperial Destroyer Registry, being the last Shatsuyu sister to get sunk.
Specifications:
General characteristics:
- Crew: 226 (as per 1935, possible increase in 1944)
- 7 Officers
- 2 Commissioned Officers
- 3 Warrant Officers
- 63 Non-Commissioned Officers
- 151 Enlisted Personnel
- Length: 111 Meter
- Width: 9.9 Meter
- Draft: 3.5 Meter
- Full weight: 1825 Long Tonnes
- Powerplant: 3 × Kampon Boilers: 42,000 HP
- Propulsion: 2 × Kampon steam turbines
Performance:
- Maximum speed: 34 knots
- Range: 4000 Nautical Miles at 18 knots
- Reverse: 14.5 knots
Standard Armament:
- 2x 2 3rd Year Type 12.7cm/50 Cannon (Type C turret) [600 Shells]
- 26x Type 96 25mm Anti-Aircraft Guns [±39000 Rounds]
- 3x Triple Mount
- 1x Double Mount
- 15x Single Mount
- 4x Type 93 13.2mm Heavy Machine Guns [±7200 Rounds]
- 4x Single Mount
- 14x Type 93 Model 1 Modification 2 Torpedoes
- 2x Type 92 Kai Quad Torpedo Launcher
- 6x Spare Torpedoes
- 18x Type 95 Depth Charges
- 10 Spare Depth Charges
Other:
- Type 22 Kai 4S Surface Radar
- Type 13 Aircraft Radar
- Type 93 Passive Sonar
- Type 93 Active Sonar
Sources
Primary:
旧海軍艦艇 『一般計画要領書』（付戦後書写版） [一等駆逐艦]
http://navgunschl2.sakura.ne.jp/tenji/15-zoukou.html
帝国海軍艦隊戦時編制表
http://navgunschl2.sakura.ne.jp/tenji/38-senjihensei.html
Japanese Destroyer Captain - Tameichi Hara
USSBS: Interrogations of Japanese Officials No.79
https://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/AAF/USSBS/IJO/IJO-79.html
Secondary:
http://japanese-warship.com/destroyer/shigure/
http://www.combinedfleet.com/shigur_t.htm
http://hush.gooside.com/name/s/Shi/sigure.html#anchor27366
http://kougata.blog66.fc2.com/blog-entry-639.html
https://archive.hnsa.org/doc/id/fm30-50-naval/index.htm
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%99%82%E9%9B%A8_%28%E7%99%BD%E9%9C%B2%E5%9E%8B%E9%A7%86%E9%80%90%E8%89%A6%29
https://wiki.warthunder.com/IJN_Yuudachi
A painting depicting Shigure and Yamashiro at Surigao Strait