Japanese gunboat Hashidate

Hashidate was authorized under the Maru-3 Naval Expansion Budget of 1937. She was laid down at Osaka Iron Works on February 20, 1939 and launched on December 23, 1939, and was commissioned into the Imperial Japanese Navy as on June 30, 1940.[1]

She was intended initially for support of combat operations by the Imperial Japanese Army in the Second Sino-Japanese War off the coast of China. At the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor, Hashidate was assigned to the China Area Fleet as part of the 2nd China Expeditionary Fleet's 15th Escort Group. With the start of the Pacific War, she was assigned to ”Operation C” – the invasion of Hong Kong.[1] She remained based from Hong Kong for most of the war. At some point in 1943, five additional Type 96 25 mm AT/AA Guns were added, along with depth charges in 1944.

On May 22, 1944, she was torpedoed by USS Picuda (SS-382) in the South China Sea off Pratas Island while towing the crippled merchant passenger/cargo ship Tsukuba Maru at position 21°08′N 117°20′E.[1][2]

• Brown, David (1990). Warship Losses of World War Two. Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-55750-914-X.
• Jentsura, Hansgeorg (1976). Warships of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1869-1945. Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-893-X.
• Watts, Anthony J (1967). Japanese Warships of World War II. Doubleday. ISBN 978-0-3850-9189-3.
• Chesneau, Roger (1979). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships. London: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-133-5.

• Nevitt, Allyn D. (1997). "IJN Hashidate: Tabular Record of Movement". Combinedfleet.com.