The was a sub-class of the s of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN), serving during and after World War II.

Background

In the

Rapid Naval Armaments Supplement Programme The was one of the armaments expansion plan of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN). Background In August 1941, the IJN started building warships for war. It extended to 293 vessels, 300,000 tons. Table of vessels See also * 1st Naval Armaments Sup ...

of 1941, the Imperial Japanese Navy ordered the construction of thirty escort vessels (''kaibōkan'') – designated as #310 to #339 of that Programme, to provide escort ships for the Navy. Fourteen of these were planned as (''Escort ship Type-A'') of 860 tons standard displacement and sixteen as (''Escort ship Type-B'') of 940 tons, although in the Budget (for which 153,360,000 yen was provided for the ships, or 5,112,000 per ship) they were all stated to be of 1,200 tons. However, three of the ''Mikura'' class (ships #328, #333 and #339) were subsequently designated as to be built to the ''Hiburi'' design. In the next year's

Modified 5th Naval Armaments Supplement Programme The was one of the wartime armaments expansion plans of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN). Background In September 1942, after being defeated in the Battle of Midway, the IJN drew up a new armaments expansion plan. This plan was combined by the ...

, the IJN ordered the construction of another thirty-four ships to a modified version () of the Type-B design; these were designated as #5251 to #5284 of that Programme. However, eight of these ship (ships #5252, #5254, #5257, ##5259 and #5263 to #5266) were subsequently designated to be built to the ''Hiburi'' design. Only six of the eight were so completed, with #5265 and #5266 being incomplete at the end of the

Pacific War The Pacific War, sometimes called the Asia–Pacific War, was the theater of World War II that was fought in Asia, the Pacific Ocean, the Indian Ocean, and Oceania. It was geographically the largest theater of the war, including the vast ...

and broken up. The eleven ships were all ordered from the Hitachi Zōsen shipbuilding concern at Sakurajima, which had also received other orders for ships completed to the ''Etorofu'', ''Mikura'' and ''Ukuru'' designs. The ''Hiburi'' design used the same hull as the ''Ukuru'' class, but with different fittings. In 1943, the Japanese Navy General Staff (Gunreibu) promoted the building of ''Escort ship Type-A'', the and ''Escort ship Type-B'', the and . However, the Navy General Staff also noted that too many man-hours of work were needed for their building.

Design

* The Navy Technical Department (Kampon) used the ''Ukurus basic designs for the new drawings. It was a chimera of ''Mikura'' and ''Ukuru'' classes. * The new drawings had the following characteristic. ** Armaments and under waterline designs were same as ''Mikura''. ** Everything else was same as in the ''Ukuru''. * The Kampon estimated man-hours for building will be between 42,000 to 40,000. * The new drawing was sent to the Hitachi Zōsen Corporation, Sakurajima Shipyard. Those ships of the ''Mikura'' class and the ''Ukuru'' class that had not been started were converted to the ''Hiburi'' class. The Hitachi Zōsen built all of the ''Hiburi'' class vessels.Therefore Hitachi Zōsen did not participate in building of the ''Ukuru'' class.

Ships in class

Of the nine ships completed, three were sunk by US submarines and two by naval mines.

Appendix

*Classification of the Kaibōkan classes in IJN official documents **The ''Shimushu'', ''Etorofu'', ''Mikura'', ''Hiburi'' and ''Ukuru'' were classed in the ''Shimushu'' class. **The IJN changed their classification on 5 June 1944, because the shipyards and commanders were confused. **The Escort ship Type-B and Modified Type-B were combined to the Escort ship Type-A, and Type-Bs became extinct thereby.

Photos

(changes of the equipments, and under waterline designs) File:Japanese escort ship Ikuna 1944.jpg, ''Ikuna'' in October 1944. File:Japanese escort ship Shisaka 1944.jpg, ''Shisaka'' in December 1944. File:Japanese escort ship Habuto 1945.jpg, ''Habuto'' in April 1945. File:Japanese escort ship Ōtsu in 1945.jpg, ''Ōtsu'' in 1945.

Footnotes

Bibliography

*'', History of Pacific War Vol.51, The truth histories of the Imperial Japanese Vessels Part.2'',

Gakken is a Japanese publishing company founded in 1947 by Hideto Furuoka, which also produces educational toys. Their annual sales is reported at ¥ 90 billion ($789 million US). Gakken publishes educational books and magazines and produces other ...

(Japan), June 2002, *''Ships of the World special issue Vol.45, Escort Vessels of the Imperial Japanese Navy'', , (Japan), February 1996 *''Model Art Extra No.340, Drawings of Imperial Japanese Naval Vessels Part-1'', (Japan), October 1989 *''The Maru Special, Japanese Naval Vessels No.28, Japanese escort ships'', (Japan), June 1979 {{DEFAULTSORT:Hiburi Escort ship classes World War II naval ships of Japan Ships built by Hitachi Zosen Corporation Ships of the Republic of China Navy Ships of the People's Liberation Army Navy