Wreck of HIJMS Murakumo (叢雲)

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

HIJMS Murakumo was the fifth member of the Fubuki Class of Destroyers built for the Imperial Japanese Navy, laid down at the Fujinagata Shipyards in April 1927 and commissioned into service in May 1929 as a member of Destroyer Division 12, Squadron 3, IJN First Fleet. Following the outbreak of hostilities with China, the Murakumo and her crew began offensive patrols along the Chinese coast conducting fire support missions, screening transports and operating with Japanese Carrier Forces through the 1939 outbreak of war in Europe.

After covering invasion forces landing in the former French Indochina in 1940, Murakumo and her crew were assigned to the Malaya Invasion Force as Japan prepared for its own conflict with the United States and her allies, and on the eve of the Attack on Pearl Harbor the Destroyer was at sea screening transports to their landing sites at Khota Bharu and Camranh Bay. Meeting largely ineffective and sparse resistance, Murakumo and her invasion force continued onwards towards British Borneo and points South into early 1942, landing troops at the Anambas Islands, Bangka-Palembang, Western Java, Northern Sumatra and the Andaman Islands, while lending her torpedoes and guns to the sound defeat of the combined American-British-Dutch-Australian (ABDA) fleet at the Battle of the Sunda Strait. Returning to Japan in March 1942 for a period of overhaul and voyage repairs, the Murakumo and her crew returned to the fray in time to escort the Main Strike Force of the Midway Invasion Force, only to turn back in defeat following the Battle of Midway. Returning to Malaysian waters following fleetwide reorganization, the Murakumo was preparing to take part in a series of commerce raiding operations in the Indian Ocean when news of the American Invasion of Guadalcanal in brought the Destroyer and her crew to Truk, where she joined in the Japanese effort to repulse the Allied advance.

Forming an integral part of the so-called “Tokyo Express” resupply and offensive missions from rear-area Japanese bases at Rabaul, Truk and the Shortland Islands to the frontlines of Guadalcanal, Murakumo and her crew made nine runs to the front lines between August and October, frequently clashing with US Navy forces and sharing credit for the sinking of two American WWI-era Destroyers-turned transports in one surface action. While executing her tenth run to Guadalcanal escorting transports, the Murakumo was dispatched along with fellow Destroyer HIJMS Shirayuki to assist the badly-damaged Heavy Cruiser HIJMS Furutaka in the early morning hours of October 12th following the Battle of Cape Esperance. Unaware that the Cruiser had already sunk, the two Destroyers carried out a fruitless search until dawn, when they found a large body of survivors from the sunken Cruiser and began a rescue effort. After taking aboard as many survivors as they could find, both Murakumo and Shirayuki quickly began to withdraw Northward to outrange aircraft flying from Henderson Field, but were only 30 miles North of Savo Island when a flight of 11 SBD-3 Dauntless dive bombers appeared overhead and began an attack.

Evasive maneuvering and accurate anti-aircraft fire from both Destroyers kept the first strike of American aircraft from scoring any direct hits on either ship, but one pilot succeeded in planting a trio of bombs close enough to the Murakumo’s Starboard hull to open up several seams, allowing a trail of fuel oil to escape from the ship. Now leaving a telltale slick in her wake to guide any subsequent strikes to her location, Murakumo’s Captain sent his ship to flank speed up the slot, likely aggravating the damage to his ship’s hull and increasing both fuel leakage and flooding below decks. Less than an hour had passed after the first air attack when a second flight of American aircraft were sighted closing in on the two ships, this time consisting over twenty aircraft. Resuming her evasive maneuvering and defensive fire, the Murakumo’s crew were easily overwhelmed by the combined multi-directional attacks mounted by the dive bombers, torpedo bombers and strafing fighter aircraft and within minutes she had taken a torpedo amidships which flooded both her engineering spaces and left the ship dead in the water. With her gunners losing their ability to effectively operate their mounts, the Murakumo was all but defenseless against several dive-bomber attacks which further damaged the ship and started several large fires aboard. Ordered abandoned as the American aircraft began to withdraw, Murakumo’s colors were struck and all but 22 of her crew were taken aboard Shirayuki, which sent a pair of “Long Lance” torpedoes into the Murakumo’s hull and sank her at this location at approximately 1700hrs on October 12th, 1942.

www.combinedfleet.com/muraku_t.htm