Ships
- IJN Arashio Captain from 20 September 1941 · In command when she was lost, 3 March 1943
Lieutenant Commander Hideo Kuboki of the Imperial Japanese Navy took command of the destroyer Arashio on 20 September 1941 and was still her captain when she was lost on 3 March 1943. Arashio was the fourth ship of the Asashio class, laid down under the Circle Two program, built by Kawasaki at Kobe, launched in May 1937, and completed at the end of that year. Before Arashio, Kuboki had commanded the torpedo boat Chidori from 30 January 1938 and, immediately beforehand, the destroyer Minazuki. An earlier captain of Arashio was Yoshiyuki Yoshida.
At the opening of the Pacific War, Arashio served in Destroyer Division 8 with Oshio, Asashio, and Michishio, under Destroyer Squadron 2 of the Second Fleet. In late November 1941 the division left the Terashima Strait for Mako in the Pescadores. From Mako, Kuboki’s ship sailed with Vice Admiral Nobutake Kondo’s Southern Force main body, providing distant cover for the landings in Malaya and the Philippines through December.
Arashio then escorted a troop convoy from Mako toward Singora and was at Hong Kong on 5 January 1942. She covered another convoy to Davao, the Ambon invasion force at the end of January, the Makassar invasion force on 8 February, and the Bali and Lombok invasion force on 18 February.
On the night of 19–20 February 1942, in the Battle of Badung Strait, Arashio entered the action late because she was guarding the damaged transport Sagami Maru, and she had little share in the fighting. After the battle she towed the damaged Michishio into Makassar. In March she steamed north by way of Palau and reached Yokosuka on 25 March.
On 10 April 1942 Destroyer Division 8 transferred to Destroyer Squadron 4, still in the Second Fleet. From 24 April to 18 May Arashio joined the operations against Corregidor, called at Manila on 13 May, and returned to Kure. Between 22 and 26 May she escorted Cruiser Division 7 from Kure to Guam. During the Battle of Midway, on 4–6 June, she screened Vice Admiral Takeo Kurita’s Support Group, the force covering the troop convoy bound for the island.
The division later shifted to the South Pacific. In February 1943, while returning from transport duty toward Wewak, Arashio picked up survivors of her sister ship Oshio, which had been torpedoed, and then went on to Rabaul. On 25 February Destroyer Division 8 joined Destroyer Squadron 3 of the Eighth Fleet.
In the Battle of the Bismarck Sea, Arashio escorted a troop convoy from Rabaul toward Lae. On 3 March 1943 Allied aircraft struck her early in the attacks. Bombs wrecked her steering, and she collided with the transport Nojima Maru. The destroyer Yukikaze took off 176 survivors. Kuboki was killed aboard Arashio, one of 72 men lost with her, and he was still in command. Aircraft sank the abandoned hull about 55 nautical miles southeast of Finschhafen, New Guinea. Arashio was removed from the Navy list on 1 April 1943.