Wreck of HIJMS Hagikaze (萩風)

 Second World War 1939-1945, military, navy, shipwreck, destroyer (ship)

Laid down in May 1939 at the Uraga Dock Company as the 17th member of the Kagero Class of Destroyers, HIJMS Hagikaze commissioned into service with the Imperial Japanese Navy in March 1941 as a member of Destroyer Division 4, Squadron 4, IJN Second Fleet.

With her crew training completing shortly before the attack on the US Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor, the Hagikaze and her crew steamed to Mako where she began her role in the Second World War as a rear guard escort for naval and merchant convoys taking part in the Philippines Campaign through January 1942. Moving further South into the Dutch East Indies, the Hagikaze continued her escort role for ships taking part in both the conquest of the former Dutch territory and the Carrier raids taking place in the Indian Ocean through April, when she returned to Japan for a period of upkeep and overhaul. Returning to fleet operations for her first frontline duty assignment, the Hagikaze and her crew departed Northern Japan under strict radio silence as an escort for Admiral Nagumo’s powerful carrier strike force bound for Midway Atoll. Getting her first taste of combat in the disastrous Battle of Midway on June 4th & 5th, the Hagikaze’s crew did their best to screen their Carriers from air attack but after all four of flattops were decimated and left aflame, the Hagikaze and her crew were left to the task of rescuing survivors and finally sending the battered HIJMS Kaga to the bottom before returning to Japan.

Spending the next two months operating in the Ominato Guard District and Aleutian waters, Hagikaze was reassigned to the IJN Third Fleet and promptly shaped her course for Truk Atoll escorting transports before beginning her role in the Guadalcanal Campaign. Screening troopships from Truk on August 16th to their destination off Cape Esperance, the Hagikaze and her crew kept watch over the transports as they discharged ground forces into the morning hours of August 19th. Caught out in the open by the rising sun, the entire convoy came under high-altitude attack by American B-17 Bombers as they attempted to get into New Georgia Sound, and though the merchantmen managed to evade damage a single bomb struck Hagikaze’s #3 turret, causing major damage to the ship and 33 deaths among her crew. Limping back to Truk on one screw for emergency repairs, the Hagikaze eventually returned to Japan but would spend a total of six months out of action and under extensive repair.

Returning to the fray in February 1943, Hagikaze began extensive convoy escort work between Truk, Rabaul and the Shortland Islands as Japanese forces moved to repulse new Allied offensives on New Georgia Island and also fortify positions on Bougainville. Assuming the role of Flagship for Destroyer Group 4, Hagikaze’s missions began to include duty as a fast transport conducting nighttime supply runs to New Georgia Island, and she was so engaged on the night of August 6th, when she departed Rabaul fully loaded with troops and supplies and steamed for Kolombangara with the ships of Group 4. Entering the mouth of Vella Gulf following an uneventful transit, Hagikaze’s crew prepared to offload their cargo of men and material as their ship formed into a single-file line astern formation. Lacking the radar system installed on two other Destroyers, Hagikaze’s crew was forced to rely on the lead two ships in the formation and her own lookouts to alert them in case of danger, but with no radar or visual contacts in the area the mission continued.

By this time, all four Japanese Destroyers had been identified and were being targeted by the ships of U.S. Navy Task Group 31.2, consisting of the Destroyers USS Dunlap (DD-384), USS Craven (DD-382), USS Maury (DD-401), USS Lang (DD-399), USS Sterett (DD-407) and USS Stack (DD-406). Using the mountainous shore of Kolombangara Island to hide their ships from Japanese Radar systems, the six US Destroyers sent 36 torpedoes directly into the Japanese formation then trained their combined 25 deck guns and waited for the order to fire. Aboard Hagikaze, the first indication she was involved in the Battle of Vella Gulf came with the plainly audible sound of a dud torpedo slamming into the Stern of HIJMS Shigure steaming ahead of her, followed seconds later by three torpedoes slamming into Hagikaze’s Port side starting at her fore stack and walking aft. Set brightly aflame by the explosions and subsequent fires, Hagikaze’s engine rooms quickly flooded and left her all but powerless and listing to Port with increasing speed. Dazed crew and soldiers topside were still regaining their footing when the entire American Destroyer line commenced firing, their radar-directed rounds finding Hagikaze’s hull with lethal accuracy and causing extensive damage and casualties both above and below decks.

Spared a lengthy shelling only by the extensive damage to her hull, HIJMS Hagikaze quickly flooded and sank Stern-first wreathed in a pool of burning fuel at this location at approximately 2140hrs, taking 178 of her crew with her to the bottom.

www.combinedfleet.com/hagika_t.htm