IJN · DD

Kagero-class destroyer. Tameichi Hara was her captain. On the night of 1 March 1942, with Hatsukaze, she depth-charged the submarine Perch in the Java Sea and left her crippled. She did not sink her. Perch was scuttled two mornings later. On the night of 3 March Hara saw a man light a cigarette on a surfaced submarine, about 4,000 meters off. Amatsukaze closed. The submarine fired two torpedoes, which missed, and gunfire hit her. Hara believed she went down. That boat was not Perch. No Allied submarine is known to have been lost that night. The submarine has not been identified. On 13 November 1942 Helena's 6-inch guns hit Amatsukaze off Guadalcanal and disabled her guns. The steering was out. Hara steered her by hand for hundreds of miles, and she made Truk. She was not sunk that night.