Kamikaze-class destroyer (1905)

For other ships with the same name, see Kamikaze-class destroyer.

300px Japanese destroyer Ushio at Vladivostok 1920
Class overview
Name:	Kamikaze class
Operators:	Imperial Japanese Navy
Preceded by:	Harusame class
Succeeded by:	Umikaze class
In commission:	16 August 1905 - 1 April 1928
Completed:	32
Lost:	2
Retired:	30
General characteristics
Type:	Destroyer
Displacement:	381 long tons (387 t) normal, 450 long tons (460 t)
Length:	69.2 m (227 ft) pp, 72 m (236 ft)
Beam:	6.57 m (21.6 ft)
Draught:	1.8 m (5.9 ft)
Propulsion:	2-shaft reciprocating, 4 coal-fired boilers, 6,000 ihp (4,500 kW)
Speed:	29 knots (54 km/h)
Range:	850 nmi (1,570 km) at 11 kn (20 km/h)
Complement:	70
Armament:	2 × QF 12 pounder 12 cwt naval guns 4 × 80 mm/28 cal guns 2 × 450 mm torpedoes

The Kamikaze-class destroyers (神風型駆逐艦, Kamikaze-gata kuchikukan)(""divine wind"") were a class of 32 torpedo boat destroyers (TBDs) of the Imperial Japanese Navy. The Kamikaze class of destroyers were the first destroyers to be mass-produced in Japan. The class is also sometimes referred to as the Asakaze class. This class of destroyer should not be confused with the later Kamikaze-class destroyers built in 1922, which participated in the Pacific War.

Background

The Kamikaze-class destroyers were part of the 1904 Imperial Japanese Navy Emergency Expansion Program created by the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War. Twenty-five vessels were ordered, and an additional four vessels were ordered in 1905, and three more in 1906, bringing the total to thirty-two ships. The Japanese governmental shipyards were overwhelmed with the volume of construction, and for the first time civilian shipyards were also assigned to produce warships.

Design

In terms of design, the Kamikaze-class ships were substantially identical to the previous Harusame class, in terms of hull design and external appearance, retaining the flush deck design with a distinctive "turtleback" forecastle inherited from the Ikazuchi class, as well as the four-smokestack profile. However, with operational experience gained in the Russo-Japanese War, the Kamikaze class employed shorter smokestacks with spark and glow arrestors to give the ships a more stealthy capability for night combat operations.

Internally, design and production issues still existed with the Japanese copies of the Yarrow water-tube boilers in the coal-fired triple expansion steam engines, which could produce only 6,000 shaft horsepower (4,500 kW); however, with the final three vessels (Uranami, Isonami, Ayanami), many problems had been resolved, and the engines modified to be run on heavy fuel oil as well as coal.

Armament was the similar in layout to the previous Harusame class, but with larger secondary guns; i.e. two QF 12 pounder mounted on bandstands on the forecastle and fantail, four additional short barrel 12 pounder guns (two sited abreast the conning tower, and two sited between the funnels, and two single tubes for 18-inch (460 mm) torpedoes).

Operational history

Only two Kamikaze-class vessels were completed in time to see combat service in the Russo-Japanese War.

Considered too small, unsuitable for heavy seas, and obsolete by the time of completion, the Kamikaze-class destroyers were quickly removed from front-line combat service after the end of the war, and were de-rated to third-class destroyers on 28 August 1912. Asatsuyu was wrecked off Nanao Bay on 9 November 1913.

However, despite the re-classification, all remaining vessels saw service in World War I. Shirotae was lost in combat on 3 September 1914 off Tsingtao (), while in combat against the German gunboat SMS Jaguar. This was the first significant warship loss by Japan during World War I.

The remaining surviving vessels were converted into minesweepers on 1 December 1924, however, most were retired and/or scrapped soon afterwards.

List of ships

Kanji	Name	Builder	Laid down	Launched	Completed	Fate	Name meaning
神風	Kamikaze	Yokosuka Naval Arsenal, Japan	1904-08-20	1905-07-15	1905-08-16	Minesweeper 1924-12-01 BU 1928-04-01	Divine wind
初霜	Hatsushimo	Yokosuka Naval Arsenal, Japan	1904-08-20	1905-05-13	1905-08-18	Minesweeper 1924-12-01 BU 1928-04-01	First frost (October)
弥生	Yayoi	Yokosuka Naval Arsenal, Japan	1904-08-20	1905-08-07	1905-09-23	Retired 1924-12-01 scuttled 1926-08-10	Month of born plants(March)
如月	Kisaragi	Yokosuka Naval Arsenal, Japan	1904-09-10	1905-09-06	1905-10-19	Minesweeper 1924-12-01 BU 1928-04-01	February
朝風	Asakaze	Mitsubishi shipyards, Nagasaki, Japan	1904-12-30	1905-10-28	1906-04-01	Minesweeper 1924-12-01 struck 1928-04-01, scuttled 1929-08-01	Morning wind
白露	Shiratsuyu	Mitsubishi shipyards, Nagasaki, Japan	1905-02-25	1906-02-12	1906-08-23	Reserves 1924-12-01 BU 1928-04-01	White dew
白雪	Shirayuki	Mitsubishi shipyards, Nagasaki, Japan	1905-03-24	1906-05-19	1906-10-12	Reserves 1924-12-01 BU 1928-04-01	White snow
松風	Matsukaze	Mitsubishi shipyards, Nagasaki, Japan	1905-09-25	1906-12-23	1907-03-15	Reserves 1924-12-01 BU 1928-04-01	Wind to pines in coast
春風	Harukaze	Kawasaki Dockyards, Kobe, Japan	1905-02-16	1905-12-25	1906-05-14	Reserves 1924-12-01 BU 1928-04-01	Spring wind
時雨	Shigure	Kawasaki Dockyards, Kobe, Japan	1905-06-03	1906-03-12	1906-07-11	Scrapped 1924-12-01	East Asian rainy season
朝露	Asatsuyu	Osaka Iron Works, Osaka, Japan	1905-04-28	1906-04-02	1906-11-16	Wrecked at Nanao Bay 1913-11-09 struck 1914-04-15	Morning dew
疾風	Hayate	Osaka Iron Works, Osaka, Japan	1905-09-25	1906-05-22	1907-06-13	BU 1924-12-01	Fresh breeze
追手	Oite	Maizuru Naval Arsenal, Japan	1905-08-01	1906-01-10	1906-08-21	BU 1924-12-01	Pursuer（an army of the front）
夕凪	Yūnagi	Maizuru Naval Arsenal, Japan	1906-01-20	1906-08-22	1906-12-25	BU 1924-12-01	An evening calm
夕暮	Yūgure	Sasebo Naval Arsenal, Japan	1905-03-01	1905-11-17	1906-05-26	Minesweeper 1924-12-01 struck 1928-04-01, scuttled 1930-01-23	Evening (sunset)
夕立	Yūdachi	Sasebo Naval Arsenal, Japan	1905-03-20	1906-03-26	1906-07-16	Minesweeper 1924-12-01 BU 1928-04-01	A shower
三日月	Mikazuki	Sasebo Naval Arsenal, Japan	1905-06-01	1906-05-26	1906-09-12	Minesweeper 1924-12-01 struck 1928-04-01, scuttled 1930-07-21	A sickle moon
野分	Nowaki	Sasebo Naval Arsenal, Japan	1905-08-01	1906-07-25	1906-11-01	BU 1924-12-01	A gale between grass (autumn typhoon)
潮	Ushio	Kure Naval Arsenal, Japan	1905-04-12	1905-08-30	1905-10-01	Minesweeper 1924-12-01 BU 1928-04-01	A tide
子日	Nenohi	Kure Naval Arsenal, Japan	1905-06-25	1905-08-30	1905-10-01	Minesweeper 1924-12-01 BU 1928-04-01	Pine of New Year's Day
響	Hibiki	Yokosuka Naval Arsenal, Japan	1905-09-28	1906-03-31	1906-09-06	Minesweeper 1924-12-01 BU 1928-04-01	An echo
白妙	Shirotae	Yokosuka Naval Arsenal, Japan	1905-03-24	1906-07-30	1907-01-21	Combat loss off Shantung Peninsula 1914-09-04 written off 1914-10-29	White cloth
初春	Hatsuharu	Kawasaki Dockyards, Kobe, Japan	1905-11-11	1906-05-21	1907-03-01	Retired 1924-12-01 scuttled 1928-04-01	Early spring (New Year)
若葉	Wakaba	Yokosuka Naval Arsenal, Japan	1905-05-20	1906-11-25	1906-02-28	Minesweeper 1924-12-01 BU 1928-04-01	Young leaves
初雪	Hatsuyuki	Yokosuka Naval Arsenal, Japan	1905-09-11	1906-03-08	1906-05-17	Minesweeper 1924-12-01 BU 1928-04-01	The first snow of the year
卯月	Uzuki	Kawasaki Dockyards, Kobe, Japan	1906-03-22	1906-09-20	1907-03-06	BU 1924-12-01	Month of Deutzia (April)
水無月	Minatsuki	Mitsubishi shipyards, Nagasaki, Japan	1906-02-25	1906-11-05	1907-02-14	Minesweeper 1924-12-01, renamed W-10 1928-08-01 retired 1930-06-01, scuttled 1931-05-28	Month of the submerged rice field (June)
長月	Nagatsuki	Uraga Dock Company, Japan	1905-10-28	1906-12-15	1907-07-31	Minesweeper 1924-12-01, renamed W-11 1928-08-01 retired 1930-06-01	Month of long night (September)
菊月	Kikutsuki	Uraga Dock Company, Japan	1906-03-02	1907-04-10	1907-09-20	Minesweeper 1924-12-01, renamed W-12 1928-08-01 retired 1930-06-01	Month of chrysanthemum (September)
浦波	Uranami	Maizuru Naval Arsenal, Japan	1907-05-01	1907-12-08	1908-10-02	Minesweeper 1924-12-01, renamed W-8 1928-08-01 utility vessel 1930-06-01	Wave in　an inlet
磯波	Isonami	Maizuru Naval Arsenal, Japan	1908-01-15	1908-11-21	1909-04-02	Minesweeper 1924-12-01, renamed W-7 1928-08-01 utility vessel 1930-06-01	Wave on a sea shore
綾波	Ayanami	Maizuru Naval Arsenal, Japan	1908-05-15	1909-03-20	1909-06-26	Minesweeper 1924-12-01, renamed W-9 1928-08-01 utility vessel 1930-06-01	Cross wave