Photos and the story

Hagikaze

Class	Kagero class
Type	Destroyer (DD)
Builder	Uraga Dock Company
Launched	1940-06-18
Commissioned	1941-03-31
Fate	Sunk. 6-7 August 1943, Battle of Vella Gulf.
Armament (class)	Three twin 5-inch mounts, two funnels, and two quadruple banks of tubes.
Command	Inoue, Yoshio Captain from 31 March 1941 Iwagami, Jiichi Captain from 5 May 1942 Hatano, Kenji Captain from 8 September 1942 Magoshi, Masahiro Captain from 16 June 1943

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.

Hagikaze was a destroyer of the Kagero class in the Imperial Japanese Navy. The Uraga Dock Company built her. She was launched on 18 June 1940 and commissioned on 31 March 1941.

Yoshio Inoue became her captain on the day she was commissioned. He stayed in command until 5 May 1942, when Jiichi Iwagami succeeded him.

On 4 June 1942 Hagikaze was in the screen at the Battle of Midway. Iwagami was still her captain for that battle.

Kenji Hatano took command on 8 September 1942. Masahiro Magoshi became captain on 16 June 1943 and was in command for her final action.

That action was the Battle of Vella Gulf. Hagikaze was sunk on 6-7 August 1943 in the opening ambush, by torpedo and gunfire. The sinking is credited to the United States destroyer group that carried out the ambush.

The pictures on this page are the originals.