Ships
- IJN Arashio Captain from 30 March 1938
Commander Yoshiyuki Yoshida of the Imperial Japanese Navy became captain of the destroyer Arashio on 30 March 1938. He held that command as a commander, the rank then customary for the captain of a fleet destroyer.
Arashio was an Asashio-class destroyer, one of the large fleet destroyers the navy brought into service in the late 1930s. She displaced about two thousand tons. Her main battery was six 12.7-centimeter guns in three twin mounts, and she carried eight tubes for the 61-centimeter torpedoes that stood at the center of Japanese destroyer tactics.
Ships of her class were built to run with the Combined Fleet. By day they were to screen battleships and cruisers. By night they were to close an enemy force and fire a heavy torpedo salvo. A captain was judged by the speed he could keep, the condition of the machinery, and the drill of the crew that handled those weapons.
When Yoshida took Arashio, the war in China had been open since the summer of 1937. Destroyers spent long stretches on the China coast, patrolling, escorting transports, and supporting the movement of troops, then returned to home waters for gunnery, torpedo practice, and squadron maneuvers. The captain answered for the ship through all of that work: the hull and the engines, the training of the men, and the way Arashio kept station with the rest of her division.
From 30 March 1938, Arashio went to sea under Commander Yoshiyuki Yoshida. His captaincy set him over a new and heavily armed destroyer while those ships were carrying on a long war along the China coast and still drilling for a fleet battle.