Urakaze-class destroyer

The Urakaze-class destroyers (浦風型駆逐艦, Urakazegata kuchikukan) were a class of two destroyers built for the Imperial Japanese Navy by Yarrow Shipbuilders of Scotland. These were the last Japanese destroyers ordered from overseas shipyards. While still under construction, one ship was transferred to Italy in 1916.

Urakaze
Class overview
Name: Urakaze class
Builders: Yarrow Shipbuilders, Scotstoun, Scotland
Operators:
Preceded by: Sakura class
Succeeded by: Kaba class
Built: 1913–17
In commission: 1917–45
Completed: 2
Lost: 2
General characteristics
Type: Destroyer
Displacement:
  • 907 long tons (922 t) normal,
  • 1,085 long tons (1,102 t) full load
Length:
  • 83.9 m (275 ft) pp,
  • 87.2 m (286 ft) overall
Beam: 8.4 m (28 ft)
Draught: 2.4 m (7.9 ft)
Installed power:
Propulsion: 2 shafts; 2 steam turbines
Speed: 30 knots (56 km/h; 35 mph)
Range: 1,800 nmi (3,300 km; 2,100 mi) at 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph)
Complement: 120
Armament:

Background

The failure of Japanese shipbuilders with the Umikaze-class destroyers left the Japanese navy without a large destroyer capable of extended blue ocean operations. The Parsons steam turbines of the Umikaze class were plagued with maintenance issues, as well as tremendous fuel consumption. The navy then returned to its previous mainstay for new technology and equipment, Yarrow shipyards in the United Kingdom, ordering two vessels to a new design in the 1911 fiscal budget.[1]

However, Yarrow, along with other British shipyards, had a large backlog of orders, and it was not until 1915 that the new vessels could be completed, and due to the outbreak of World War I, not until 1919 before Urakaze was turned over to Japan.

Design

The Urakaze-class vessels made use of oil-fired Brown-Curtiss turbine engines, and had the distinction of being the first vessels built for Japan to be designed for use without coal. The initial design called for diesel engines, however, due to the outbreak of World War I, Yarrow could not obtain necessary gear components from Germany.

Armament was slightly less than that of the Umikaze class, with a single QF 4.7 inch Gun Mk I – IV mounted on a small shelter forward and four QF 3 inch 12 pounder guns, two amidships, one of the stern, and one mounted on a tall pedestal just aft of the smokestacks.[2] The Urakaze class was also the first Japanese class of destroyers to use the 533-mm diameter torpedoes.[3]

Operational history

Urakaze was turned over to the Imperial Japanese Navy too late to see combat service in World War I. It was used for many years in patrols on the Yangzi River. It was retired in 1936, and used as a training vessel for the Yokosuka Special Naval Landing Forces. It was sunk in an air attack by United States Navy aircraft on 18 July 1945.

Due to a strong request from the British government, Kawakaze was sold by Japan prior to completion to the Regia Marina of Italy. Italy was one of the Allies of World War I, and faced a severe shortage of modern warships. Kawakaze was completed as Audace, and later modified into the controller of the radio-controlled target ship Italian cruiser San Marco, and saw considerable combat service in the Mediterranean. During World War II, the ship was captured by the German Kriegsmarine, and renamed TA20. The vessel was sunk during the Action of 1 November 1944 near Pag Island in the Adriatic Sea.[4]

List of Ships
Kanji Name Builder Laid down Launched Completed Fate
浦風 Urakaze
"Bay Wind"		 Yarrow Shipbuilders, Scotland 1 October 1913 16 February 1915 14 October 1915 Retired 1 April 1936, re-designated "Escort vessel No.18", sunk 18 July 1945
江風 Kawakaze
"Inlet Wind"		 Yarrow Shipbuilders, Scotland 1 October 1913 27 September 1915 23 December 1916 Sold to Italy 7 October 1915, renamed Audace. Captured by Germany 20 September 1943, renamed TA20, sunk 1 November 1944

Notes
  1. Howarth, The Fighting Ships of the Rising Sun
  2. Nishida, Imperial Japanese Navy
  3. Globalsecurity.org
  4. O'Hara, Vincent P. (2004). The German fleet at war, 1939–1945. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. pp. 179–81. ISBN 9781591146513.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)

References
  • Evans, David (1979). Kaigun: Strategy, Tactics, and Technology in the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1887–1941. US Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-192-7.
  • Howarth, Stephen (1983). The Fighting Ships of the Rising Sun: The Drama of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1895–1945. Atheneum. ISBN 0-689-11402-8.
  • Jentsura, Hansgeorg (1976). Warships of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1869–1945. US Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-893-X.
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