Pacific ships

Photos and the story

Arashi

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ClassKagero class
TypeDestroyer (DD)
BuilderMaizuru Naval Arsenal
Launched1940-04-22
Commissioned1941-01-27
FateSunk. At Midway she stayed behind to depth-charge the submarine Nautilus, then hurried back toward the carriers. Enterprise's dive bombers followed her wake. The same day she picked up Ensign Wesley Osmus of Yorktown's Torpedo Squadron 3. He was thrown overboard, caught a railing, and was struck in the head with a fire axe. Not sunk at Midway. Sunk 6-7 August 1943 at Vella Gulf.
Armament (class)Three twin 5-inch mounts, two funnels, and two quadruple banks of tubes.
Command

Laid down, displacement, length, beam, draft, speed, and complement are not stored for each hull, so this table leaves them out.

The armament line is the class drawing, not a measurement of this hull.

Arashi
Public-domain photograph via Wikimedia Commons.

Arashi was a Kagero-class destroyer. Maizuru Naval Arsenal launched her on 22 April 1940, and she was commissioned on 27 January 1941. The photograph shows her underway in December 1940, before she was commissioned.

At Midway she was the trailing destroyer with the carriers. The submarine Nautilus got in among the Japanese ships. Arashi stopped to depth-charge her, then hurried back toward the carriers. Enterprise's dive bombers followed that wake to the fleet. Arashi was not sunk at Midway.

The same day her crew took Ensign Wesley Frank Osmus out of the water. He was a pilot from Yorktown's Torpedo Squadron 3. After he was questioned, he was put over the side. He caught a railing, and a crewman struck him in the head with a fire axe. He was killed. Two other captured flyers that day, O'Flaherty and Gaido from Enterprise, were taken by Makigumo, not by Arashi.

On the night of 6-7 August 1943 she was sunk at Vella Gulf. Six American destroyers ambushed four Japanese destroyers running troops to Kolombangara. Arashi, Hagikaze, and Kawakaze were sunk. The American destroyer group is credited, not one ship. Shigure got away after a dud torpedo went through her rudder.

The pictures on this page are the originals.