Wreck of HIJMS CD-24

 Second World War 1939-1945, military, navy, shipwreck

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Laid down on November 1st, 1943 at the Mitsubishi Nagasaki Shipyard as the 12th member of the Type D Class of Coastal Defence Ships, HIJMS CD-24 commissioned into Imperial Japanese Navy service in March 1944.

Assigned to the Fleet Escort Command following her shakedown and training cruise, CD-24 immediately began escorting merchant ship convoys between Japan and the Marianas Islands. Returning safely to Tokyo Harbor in late May 1944 following her first deployment, CD-24 and her crew reprovisioned and stood out of Japanese home waters heading South in mid-June, conducting on-call escort duty and patrolling the waters around the Volcano Islands for enemy Submarines known to be operating in the area.

Detached to the waters off Iwo Jima on June 28th, 1944, CD-24 arrived at a location roughly 30 miles Southwest of Iwo and began screening duty for a force of several transport ships as they unloaded Japanese Army troops onto waiting landing craft. Taking a position to the East of the transports, CD-24's crew maintained a careful watch for any signs of enemy submarines, but neither her lookouts or her sonar operators picked up the approach of the USS Archer-Fish (SS-311), which by 1100hrs had closed to within firing distance. After lining up her shot the Archer-Fish sent two torpedoes churning towards CD-24 and the transports beyond, and by the time lookouts aboard CD-24 had sighted the inbound torpedoes it was too late for evasive maneuvers.

Struck directly amidships on her Starboard side by both shots, CD-24 rolled heavily to Port as the combined detonations detonated first on and then inside her hull. As tons of seawater poured into her engine and firerooms, CD-24 rolled back to an even keel but the combined weight of the inrushing water and the stress of the blast proved too much for her keel to withstand. Breaking in two only minutes after the initial torpedo impact, CD-24 rapidly began to flounder, spilling her surviving crew into the sea before sinking at this location on June 28th, 1944.

www.combinedfleet.com/CD-24_t.htm