Wreck of HIJMS Tanikaze (谷風)

 Second World War 1939-1945, shipwreck

Laid down in November 1940 as the 14th member of the Kagero Class of Destroyers, HIJMS Tanikaze commissioned into Imperial Japanese Navy service in mid 1941 and was assigned to Destroyer Division 17, Squadron 1, IJN First Fleet. Tasked with screening the Fleet Carriers of the Imperial Japanese Navy, the Tanikaze put to sea on her first war mission on November 22nd, 1941, escorting the Carrier Strike Force which launched the surprise Attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7th, 1941.

With the outbreak of war with America and her Allies, the Tanikaze remained with the Fleet Carriers through mid-1942, screening them as they launched airstrikes at Wake Island, Rabaul, Kavieng, Darwin, Java, Colombo and finally Trincomalee before returning to Japan for voyage repairs and replenishment. Standing out once more with the Fleet Carriers in May 1942 the Tanikaze arrived off Midway Atoll and did her best to defend her charges during the disastrous Battle of Midway, but could not prevent the loss of all four flattops and the loss of seven of her crew from bomb damage in the melee.

Returning to Japan for damage repairs, the Tanikaze was reassigned to the IJN Third Fleet and began operations in the Solomon Islands in mid-August 1942, in concert with the American Invasion of Guadalcanal. Heavily involved with the famous 'Tokyo Express', the Tanikaze made several troop and supply runs between the Shortland Islands and Guadalcanal in support of Japanese ground forces, diverting only to screen the Vanguard Force of the Japanese Navy in the Battle of Santa Cruz Islands. Returning to the Guadalcanal supply missions through the end of the Japanese campaign there, the Tanikaze continued her transport work up the Solomon Islands chain well into 1943, clashing with the US Navy once again at the Battle of Kolombangara, where her torpedoes shared credit in sinking the Light Cruiser USS Helena (CL-50), the Tanikaze took a dud round of 6-inch shellfire in her hull which precipitated her return to Japan in July for a period of upkeep and modernization.

After several months of work in home waters the Tanikaze began escorting tanker convoys in January 1944 between Palau and the former Dutch East Indies, which were coming under increased Allied Submarine attack. Continuing this unsung but increasingly hazardous work through April and May, the Tanikaze arrived in Tawitawi anchorage along with the Mobile Fleet and awaited orders for her next mission. With the Mobile Fleet destined for combat with American forces off the Philippines, the Tanikaze seemed a likely choice to escort the main force of the Mobile Fleet but instead received orders to escort a tanker convoy from Tawitawi to Balikpapan.

Standing out of Tawitawi on June 6th, the convoy's transit had been at sea for less than a day before it came under submarine attack, and though none of the tankers were hit the Destroyer Minazuki was sunk with heavy loss of life. Remaining on station with the convoy as it made best speed to the North, the Tanikaze and her crew spent a nervous night at battle stations as the submarine was chased through the night by fellow destroyers. With dawn came confirmation that the convoy was well ahead of the enemy submarine, however the confirmation came from the loss of HIJMS Hayanami with almost all of her crew. Entering the Sibutu Passage and its relatively confined waters, the convoy reformed and picked up extra escorts which allowed the Tanikaze and a Subchaser to disengage and perform an anti-submarine sweep ahead of the formation on the Western side of the passage in the afternoon of June 9th, and were so engaged when they were spotted by the USS Harder (SS-257) at 2100hrs, the same submarine which had claimed both the Minazuki and Hayanami only days prior.

The American sub quickly submerged and clandestinely approached the two Japanese ships, getting to within 1000 yards before firing a spread of four torpedoes at 2124hrs. Given the proximity of their firing point and the low patrol speed of the Tanikaze and the SubChaser, there was little chance of either ship engaging in evasive maneuvers as they ran straight into the spread. While the first torpedo missed the Tanikaze's, the second shot hit her Port bow and the third impacted her directly beneath her bridge, both 6ft below the waterline. Ruptured fuel tanks in her bow unleashed a spray of burning oil onto the Tanikaze's forward deck and bridge as water poured into the gaping hole punched in her hull just forward of her fore fire room. The Tanikaze slowed from patrol speed and began heeling to Port as her crew raced through the ship to their damage control stations just as the Harder's fourth torpedo passed astern and exploded in her wake.

Now listing and heavily aflame forward, the Tanikaze was still moving at less than 5 knots when her fire room bulkhead gave way and allowed copious amounts of inrushing water to hit her boilers, causing a steam explosion which obliterated the entire forward section of the ship and most of the men stationed there. Spilling men off her decks as the Veteran Destroyer's battered hull went down sharply by the bow, the Tanikaze went vertical in the water before plunging to the bottom bow-first at this location at 2127hrs on June 9th, 1944 with 114 of her crew still onboard. Her 126 surviving crew were rescued the following morning by the HIJMS Urakaze and joined the survivors of the Hayanami, also aboard ship.

www.combinedfleet.com/tanika_t.htm