Imperial Japanese Navy Destroyers 1919–45 (2) Asashio to Tachibana Classes
Series & No.: New Vanguard 202
Author: Mark Stille
Illustrator: Paul Wright
Formats: Paperback; ePub; PDF eBook
Length: 48 pages
ISBN: 9781849089876

Introduction

This is the second history volume of Japanese destroyers of WWII. It covers the history and some weapons of the Japanese destroyers built just before and during the war, including the famous Kagero and Yugumo classes. The success (or lack of) of these designs are presented and are compared to comparable Allied destroyer designs. All major navies designed successive destroyers to counter these revolutionary powerful destroyers, which were, when completed just before WWII, the most powerful class of destroyers in the world.

The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) used their destroyers as offensive weapons and their primary weapon was the torpedo. Extensively trained in night fighting with superb optics that usually bested American radar, IJN destroyer night torpedo attacks almost always ravaged Allied surface forces of any composition everywhere they were encountered into mid-1943.

Content

Imperial Japanese Navy Destroyers 1919–45 (2), Asashio to Tachibana Classes is presented through 48 pages in 15 chapters and sections:

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

JAPANESE DESTROYER DESIGN PRINCIPLES

JAPANESE NAVAL STRATEGY AND THE ROLE OF THE DESTROYER

ASASHIO CLASS
• Design and Construction
• Armament and Service Modifications
• Wartime Service

KAGERO CLASS
• Design and Construction
• Armament and Service Modifications
• Wartime Service

YUGUMO CLASS
• Design and Construction
• Armament and Service Modifications
• Wartime Service

SHIMAKAZE
• Design and Construction
• Armament and Service Modifications
• Wartime Service

AKIZUKI CLASS
• Design and Construction
• Armament and Service Modifications
• Wartime Service

MATSU/TACHIBANA CLASS
• Design and Construction
• Armament and Service Modifications
• Wartime Service

ANALYSIS AND CONCLUSION

BIBLIOGRAPHY

INDEX

Note that Shimakaze was not a class but rather a single experimental high-speed destroyer, bristling with torpedo launchers.

Author Mark Stille has crammed a great deal of data and information into this concise book. No doubt he could fill a hundreds of pages with the war record of IJN destroyers. In this book he strikes a good balance between information and readability. Presented with detail in the first title were Japanese destroyer weapons and tactics:

• Torpedoes
• Guns
• Anti-aircraft Armament
• Japanese Destroyer Radar

Thus these topics are not discussed in this volume.

As in that first book, each class receives attention including build dates; shipyards; powerplant outputs; ships in class; class specifications. Armament and gun mount modifications are noted plus a brief account of each ship's wartime service. Some of the accounts are fascinating: what was the longest torpedo strike of the war; did an IJN destroyer really survive having its bow and stern blown off by torpedoes; what DD hit three enemy DDs with a single torpedo salvo?

Again the authors summarize the fortes and foibles of these classes of destroyers. Were they effective anti-submarine platforms? How well did they screen carriers with anti-aircraft fire? Were the torpedo batteries as effective as desired? When one considers the quality and functionality of their weapon systems as part of the overall war, the results are not surprising.

The final section demonstrates the fate of the ships in a table listing the number of each class sunk, and by what cause.

Art, photographs, graphics

Artist Paul Wright is one of my favorite naval artists and this book contains many of his excellent illustrations. These include two single-page battle paintings with descriptive sidebars:

1. Kagero at Pearl Harbor, December 1941: class namesake in heavy seas sneaking up to Pearl Harbor.

2. Suzutsuki During Operation Ten-Go: taking a bomb hit during the death ride of superbattleship Yamato, April 1945.

A three-quarter cutaway of HIJMS Yugumo fills two pages. Twenty-one components are keyed including her machinery room and both boiler rooms. Her configuration is depicted as she appeared during the Battle of Vella Lavella.

Six classes and Shimakaze are displayed with 12 profiles and planforms:

1. Asashio & Kagero
a. Asashio, 1941
b & c. Yukikaze, Kagero-class, April 1945, with radar and enhanced anti-submarine and anti-air weapons.

2. The Yugumo Class and Unique Shimakaze
a & b. Yugumo-class Kishinami at Leyte Gulf, October, 1944, with augmented AA, ASW and radar fit.
c. Shimakaze, October 1944. An experimental high-speed destroyer, bristling with torpedo launchers.

3. The Akizuki Class
a & b. Teruzuki in 1942 in early-war configuration.
c. Shimotsuki in 1944 with augmented AAA and radar.

4. The Matsu and Tachibana Classes
a & b. Hinoki in the late-war Matsu configuration.
c. Tachibana as completed in January 1945.

Photographic support is exceptional as well. Even though many of the photos were taken by Allied cameras during battle the majority of the photos are sharp and well developed. There are several "studio" photos of these ships at anchor and at speed. One particularly interesting view is a September 1945 shot of damaged Suzutsuki with a long timber footbridge crossing the bay to her. Another is the wreck of Okinami in Manila Harbor.

Several tables deliver statistics and data as discussed above.



conclusion

Imperial Japanese Navy Destroyers 1919–45 (2), Asashio to Tachibana Classes is full of excellent photographs, artwork, profiles and tables which support authoritative text and information. It perfectly compliments the first book.

I have been very impressed with Mr. Stille's New Vanguard series on Imperial Japanese ships. This title does not disappoint and I look forward to his next one.

No tactics and only a few Japanese destroyer weapons are reviewed in this volume. Without access to the first book the reader will lack the ability to fully understand these ships. That is a compromise for the format length of New Vanguard titles.

This is an excellent primer about Imperial Japanese destroyers. Historians, modelers and illustrators should appreciate the level of detail. I enthusiastically recommend it.

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