The name means summer cloud. Natsugumo was an Asashio-class destroyer. Sasebo Naval Arsenal laid her down on 1 July 1936, launched her on 26 May 1937 and commissioned her on 10 February 1938.
At Pearl Harbor she was in Destroyer Division 9 of Destroyer Squadron 4, escorting the Philippine invasion forces to Vigan and Lingayen. She then helped cover the landings at Tarakan, Balikpapan, Makassar and Java. On 27 February 1942, during the Battle of the Java Sea, she was detached to escort the troop convoy and did not fight. From 31 March to 10 April she escorted the damaged cruiser Naka to Singapore.
At Midway on 4 to 6 June 1942 she was in Kondo's Midway Invasion Force. She patrolled the Kurils in July, escorted the cruiser Chokai to Truk, and made a transport run to Kwajalein. On 24 August 1942 she was escorting the carrier Chitose at the Battle of the Eastern Solomons. In October 1942 she made four Tokyo Express runs to Guadalcanal.
On the fourth, while escorting Nisshin and Chitose, she went to help Murakumo, which had been bombed while helping survivors of the cruiser Furutaka after the Battle of Cape Esperance. Navy dive bombers hit her on 12 October 1942 with near misses that ruptured her hull, and she sank in 39 minutes. Sixteen men died, including her captain. Asagumo took off 176 survivors. She was removed from the Navy List on 15 November 1942.
Sources: Allyn Nevitt's combinedfleet.com Tabular Record of Movement for IJN Natsugumo; Wikipedia, Japanese destroyer Natsugumo, rewritten here.