was one of 23 escort destroyers of the ''Tachibana'' sub-class of the built for the Imperial Japanese Navy during the final stages of World War II. Damaged by a naval mine shortly after her completion in June 1945, the ship was surrendered to the

Allies An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...

at the end of the war and used to repatriate Japanese troops until 1947. Mid-year the destroyer was turned over to the

Republic of China Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northeast ...

; renamed ''Xin Yang'' she played a minor role in the Chinese Civil War and remained in service until the 1960s when she was

scrapped Scrap consists of recyclable materials, usually metals, left over from product manufacturing and consumption, such as parts of vehicles, building supplies, and surplus materials. Unlike waste, scrap has monetary value, especially recovered me ...

Design and description

The ''Tachibana'' sub-class was a simplified version of the preceding to make them even more suited for mass production. The ships measured long overall, with a

beam Beam may refer to: Streams of particles or energy *Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy **Laser beam *Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles **Charged particle beam, a spatially localized grou ...

of and a draft of .Sturton, p. 196 They displaced at standard load and at deep load. The ships had two Kampon geared

steam turbine A steam turbine is a machine that extracts thermal energy from pressurized steam and uses it to do mechanical work on a rotating output shaft. Its modern manifestation was invented by Charles Parsons in 1884. Fabrication of a modern steam turbin ...

s, each driving one propeller shaft, using steam provided by two Kampon water-tube boilers. The turbines were rated at a total of for a speed of . The ''Tachibana''s had a range of at .Jentschura, Jung & Mickel, p. 153 The main armament of the ''Tachibana'' sub-class consisted of three Type 89 dual-purpose guns in one twin-gun mount aft and one single mount forward of the

superstructure A superstructure is an upward extension of an existing structure above a baseline. This term is applied to various kinds of physical structures such as buildings, bridges, or ships. Aboard ships and large boats On water craft, the superstruct ...

. The single mount was partially protected against

spray Spray or spraying commonly refer to: * Spray (liquid drop) ** Aerosol spray ** Blood spray ** Hair spray ** Nasal spray ** Pepper spray ** PAVA spray ** Road spray or tire spray, road debris kicked up from a vehicle tire ** Sea spray, refers to ...

by a

gun shield A U.S. Marine manning an M240 machine gun equipped with a gun shield A gun shield is a flat (or sometimes curved) piece of armor designed to be mounted on a crew-served weapon such as a machine gun, automatic grenade launcher, or artillery piece ...

. The accuracy of the Type 89 guns was severely reduced against aircraft because no high-angle gunnery director was fitted. They carried a total of 25 Type 96

anti-aircraft gun Anti-aircraft warfare, counter-air or air defence forces is the battlespace response to aerial warfare, defined by NATO as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It includes surface based, ...

s in 4 triple and 13 single mounts. The ''Tachibana''s were equipped with Type 13 early-warning and Type 22 surface- search radars.Stille, p. 41 The ships were also armed with a single rotating quadruple mount amidships for torpedoes. They could deliver their 60

depth charge A depth charge is an anti-submarine warfare (ASW) weapon. It is intended to destroy a submarine by being dropped into the water nearby and detonating, subjecting the target to a powerful and destructive Shock factor, hydraulic shock. Most depth ...

s via two stern rails and two throwers.

Construction and service

''Hatsuume'' (early-blooming plum)Nevitt was ordered in Fiscal Year 1944 under the Wartime Naval Armaments Supplement Program and she was laid down at Maizuru Naval Arsenal on 8 December 1944. The ship was launched on 25 April 1945 and completed on 18 June. The destroyer was assigned to the 11th Destroyer Squadron of the Combined Fleet that same day for working up. ''Hatsuume'' was damaged when she struck a naval mine near Maizuru eight days later that killed four crewmen. The unrepaired ship was transferred to the Maizuru Naval District on 15 July. She was turned over to Allied forces at Maizuru at the time of the

surrender of Japan The surrender of the Empire of Japan in World War II was announced by Emperor Hirohito on 15 August and formally signed on 2 September 1945, bringing the war's hostilities to a close. By the end of July 1945, the Imperial Japanese Navy ...

on 2 September and was stricken from the navy list on 5 October. The destroyer was disarmed and used to repatriate Japanese personnel in 1945–1947 after repairs. ''Hatsuume'' was turned over to the

on 6 July of the latter year and was renamed ''Xin Yang''. She was rearmed with two , three , a pair of and four guns in March 1948 and participated in combat against Chinese Communist forces. Six years later the ship was refitted using components from her sister and rearmed with American weapons: two single mounts for dual-purpose guns and an anti-aircraft suite of seven 40 mm Bofors and six 20 mm Oerlikon guns. ''Xin Yang'' was stricken from the navy list in December 1961 and subsequently scrapped.Dodson & Cant, pp. 237, 296

Notes

Bibliography

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hatsuume, Japanese destroyer Tachibana-class destroyers Ships built by Maizuru Naval Arsenal 1945 ships World War II destroyers of Japan Destroyers of the Republic of China Navy