was a of the

Imperial Japanese Navy The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN; Kyūjitai: Shinjitai: ' 'Navy of the Greater Japanese Empire', or ''Nippon Kaigun'', 'Japanese Navy') was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945, when it was dissolved following Japan's surrender ...

. Her name means "Purple Wave" or "Waves of Wisterias".Destroyers
The word ''nami'' means "wave" (e.g.

Tsunami A tsunami ( ; from ja, 津波, lit=harbour wave, ) is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and other underwater explo ...

); the word ''fuji'' means " wisteria", and can allude to the color purple, the color of wisteria flowers.

Service

She was damaged by a dud aerial torpedo during an air raid at Rabaul on 5 November 1943, with one dead and nine wounded. The ship participated in the Battle of Philippine Sea. In the

Battle of Leyte Gulf The Battle of Leyte Gulf ( fil, Labanan sa golpo ng Leyte, lit=Battle of Leyte gulf; ) was the largest naval battle of World War II and by some criteria the largest naval battle in history, with over 200,000 naval personnel involved. It was fou ...

, ''Fujinami'' escorted the 1st Diversion Attack Force, commanded by Admiral Kurita Takeo. She sustained minor damage from the air attacks on 24–25 October due to near-misses and strafing. In the Battle off Samar on 25 October ''Fujinami'' was detached to assist , then she removed survivors and scuttled the cruiser with a

torpedo A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, and with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, su ...

. Some US survivors of the escort carrier have stated that the commanding officer Cmdr. Tatsuji Matsuzaki restrained his men from firing on them as they floated by ''Fujinami'' and was allegedly seen to salute the American sailors. On 27 October, while steaming to assist the destroyer , ''Fujinami'' was sunk by aircraft from the

aircraft carrier An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and facilities for carrying, arming, deploying, and recovering aircraft. Typically, it is the capital ship of a fleet, as it allows a ...

, north of

Iloilo Iloilo (), officially the Province of Iloilo ( hil, Kapuoran sang Iloilo; krj, Kapuoran kang Iloilo; tl, Lalawigan ng Iloilo), is a province in the Philippines located in the Western Visayas region. Its capital is the City of Iloilo, the ...

(). She was lost with all hands, including the ''Chōkai'' survivors. The

commanding officer The commanding officer (CO) or sometimes, if the incumbent is a general officer, commanding general (CG), is the officer in command of a military unit. The commanding officer has ultimate authority over the unit, and is usually given wide latitu ...

was Cmdr. Tatsuji Matsuzaki from 31 July 1943 – 27 October 1944 (KIA).

References

Bibliography

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External links

CombinedFleet.com: ''Yūgumo''-class destroyers

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fujinami Yūgumo-class destroyers World War II destroyers of Japan Destroyers sunk by aircraft Shipwrecks in the Sulu Sea World War II shipwrecks in the Pacific Ocean 1943 ships Warships lost with all hands Maritime incidents in October 1944 Ships sunk by US aircraft Ships built by Fujinagata Shipyards