Ships
- IJN Shiratsuyu Captain from 14 September 1943
Lieutenant Commander Kuro Matsuda of the Imperial Japanese Navy took command of the destroyer Shiratsuyu on 14 September 1943, relieving Kanematsu Hashimoto at Yokosuka. Shiratsuyu, the name ship of her class, had lately finished a long repair after bomb damage and was again serving with the Second Fleet. Earlier in the war the same destroyer had been commanded by Nagahide Sugitani.
His first trip was an escort for the supply ship Mamiya to Truk and back to Japan, the return reaching port on 22 September. From 4 to 17 October Shiratsuyu covered convoys bound from Yokosuka toward Rabaul by way of Truk. On 23 October she landed troops at Garove, and on 26 and 29 October she carried reinforcements to Qavuvu.
On the night of 2 November 1943 Shiratsuyu sailed with the heavy cruisers Haguro and Myoko, the light cruisers Sendai and Agano, and other destroyers into the Battle of Empress Augusta Bay, off Bougainville. The Japanese force was driven off. In the maneuvering, Shiratsuyu collided with the destroyer Samidare. Four of her men were killed and two wounded, and the ship needed repair before she could resume ordinary duty.
By late April 1944 Shiratsuyu was escorting troop movements from China toward the Philippines and other points in Southeast Asia, work that included the Take Ichi convoy. On 8 June, off Biak, United States Navy aircraft strafed and bombed her. Four sailors were killed and five injured. The destroyer remained afloat and went on.
On the night of 14 June 1944, about ninety nautical miles southeast of Surigao Strait, Shiratsuyu was in company with the tanker Seiyo Maru. Lookouts reported what they believed to be torpedo wakes, and Matsuda ordered a sharp turn. Word of that turn reached the tanker too late. Seiyo Maru struck the destroyer and cut into her stern. Depth charges from the shattered ship exploded among the men in the water. Shiratsuyu sank with 104 of her crew, Matsuda among them. She was removed from the Navy list on 10 August 1944.