Wreck of HIJMS Kikuzuki (菊月)

Solomon Islands / Central / Tulagi /
 Second World War 1939-1945, military, shipwreck, destroyer (ship)
Laid down at the Maizuru Naval Arsenal in June 1925 as the second member of the Mutsuki Class of Destroyers, HIJMS Kikuzuki commissioned into Imperial Japanese Navy service in November 1926 and was assigned to serve as Flagship of Destroyer Division 23 in the IJN First Air Fleet. In this role the Kikuzuki took an active role in the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937, where she covered the landings of Japanese troops in central and southern China and then the Invasion of French Indochina in 1940.

Serving as a convoy escort during the buildup of Japanese forces prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Kikuzuki sortied as escort with the Guam Invasion Force from Haha-jima on December 4th and began her first offensive operations of the Second World War off Guam on December 8th. Operating off Guam for over a month the Kikuzuki and her crew finally retired in early January for Truk, where they reprovisioned and joined with the invasion force bound for New Ireland. Departing on January 23rd the Kikuzuki and her crews would spend the next four months involved with the Japanese march across the Dutch East Indies and New Guinea, covering the invasions of Kavieng, Rabaul, Lae, Salamua, and several Northern Solomons and Admiralty Islands before returning to Rabaul in April for repairs and upkeep.

Reassigned to Destroyer Squadron 6 in the IJN Fourth Fleet based at Rabaul, the Kikuzuki and her crew again joined with the troopships of an invasion force as escort, this time bound for Tulagi. Standing out of Rabaul on May 3rd, she arrived off Tulagi and prepared for a fight, but instead received word the island had been abandoned by enemy forces. Entering the confined waters of Tulagi harbor, the Kikuzuki came nearly alongside the troopships and screened their unloading throughout the afternoon and evening of May 3rd as the island and it's harbor were secured. At dawn on May 4th and with all forces and supplies ashore, the Kikuzuki was preparing to depart Tulagi with the empty troopships when lookouts sighted inbound aircraft shortly before 0900hrs, which were quickly identified as American.

Taken almost totally by surprise and unable to move out of the inner harbor, the crews of the Kikuzuki raced to their battle stations and did their best to repel their attackers as 12 TBD Devastator torpedo bombers and 28 SBD Dauntless dive bombers began sweeping out of the skies onto the assembled force. In the ensuing melee, the troopship Okinoshima lying to Starboard of the Kikuzuki was raked with gunfire and struck with a bomb, starting fires which obscured the area with thick smoke and prevented the gunners aboard the Kikuzuki from sighting a group of inbound torpedo bombers closing on their ship until it was too late.

Of the three torpedoes dropped by the US Navy TBD Devastators two failed to find their mark, but the third struck the immobile Kikuzuki directly amidships and detonated in her engine room, killing 12 of her crew and injuring 22. Power was lost aboard ship and she quickly began settling by the Stern in Tulagi harbor, threatening to sink and block the channel for the troopships. Taken under two by the subchaser Toshi Maru No.3 as US planes cleared the area, the stricken Kikuzuki was run up on the beach on Gatuvu Island where she sank Stern-first. A second wave of American aircraft prompted the abandon ship to be ordered at 1500hrs and before any major salvage work could be performed on her battered hull the Kikuzuki was pulled off the shore by the evening high tide and sank at this location on May 4th, 1942.

Partially salvaged in 1943 by US forces for intelligence, the wreck of the Kikuzuki was raised back onto the beach and picked clean then left to rot. Much of her hull was scrapped postwar but much of the ships keel and smaller parts remain onsite today.

www.combinedfleet.com/kikuzu_t.htm
Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_destroyer_Kikuzuki_(1926)
Nearby cities:
Coordinates:   9°7'25"S   160°14'15"E

Comments

  • Added some photos that show the amount of decay since her demise. Apparently she is still a popular tourist destination. Obviously she is hard to find these days.
  • Just a comment on the photos...Keep in mind she was moved by the U.S Navy multiple times so not all photos line up with final resting place.
  • I am Japanese. I did not think the ship of the Japanese military are left.
This article was last modified 13 years ago