Ships
- IJN Shiranui Captain from 15 November 1942
- IJN Fuyutsuki Captain from 1 March 1945
Hiroo Yamana was an officer of the Imperial Japanese Navy who commanded destroyers late in the Pacific War. He was a lieutenant commander when he was appointed to Shiranui in November 1942, and a commander when he became captain of Fuyutsuki on 1 March 1945.
Shiranui was a Kagero-class destroyer. Shizuo Akazawa had been her captain from October 1940, through the opening carrier raids and the later move into northern waters. On 5 July 1942, off Kiska, the American submarine Growler torpedoed her and blew off the bow. She was brought back to a home yard, dropped from the operating organization in August, and on 15 October 1942 placed in fourth reserve.
On 15 November 1942 Yamana was appointed captain of Shiranui, following Koshichi Sugioka, who had held the ship on the same concurrent basis since 10 September. Yamana's appointment was likewise concurrent. Throughout his tour the destroyer remained in fourth reserve under repair in Japan. Toyoji Hitomi relieved him on 20 May 1943. While the refit continued, the concurrent captaincy passed to Hinoe Tomoshige and then to Masatoshi Yasumane. Teisaburo Ara took command on 1 November 1943 and led her back to sea. On the morning of 27 October 1944, as Shiranui was heading back from a search for missing ships after the Battle of Leyte Gulf, American carrier aircraft sank her about eighty miles north of Iloilo, off Panay. Ara and the crew were lost with the ship.
On 1 March 1945 Yamana became captain of Fuyutsuki, an Akizuki-class destroyer completed at Maizuru Naval Arsenal on 25 May 1944 and assigned on commissioning to the 11th Destroyer Squadron of the Combined Fleet. In April he took her out with the battleship Yamato on the last surface sortie toward Okinawa. On 7 April carrier aircraft struck the force through the day. Yamato and the light cruiser Yahagi were sunk, and several destroyers were left unable to steam. Rockets and bombs hit Fuyutsuki, and the damage stayed light enough for her to keep way. She lowered boats and took off about a hundred survivors from Yamato, among them the Second Fleet chief of staff and Ensign Mitsuru Yoshida. She then closed Kasumi, the destroyer Yamana himself had commanded until about three months earlier. After the crew had been brought aboard, Fuyutsuki sank the crippled ship with two torpedoes late that afternoon, helped recover men from Yahagi, and turned for home with the few ships still able to make port.
Yamana remained captain of Fuyutsuki through Japan's surrender and left her on 21 September 1945. That month the ship was reduced to fourth-class reserve. On 20 November 1945 she was reassigned as a repair ship and minesweeper tender and struck from the navy list. In May 1948 the hull was set in place as a breakwater.