The Japanese destroyer was one of 21 s built for the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) in the late 1910s. She was converted into a patrol boat in 1940 and spent 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 ...

on escort duties, mostly in Japanese waters. The ship was sunk by American carrier aircraft in early 1944.

Design and description

The ''Momi'' class was designed with higher speed and better seakeeping than the preceding second-class destroyers. The ships had an overall length of and were between perpendiculars. They had 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 mean draft of . The ''Momi''-class ships displaced at standard load and at deep load.Jentschura, Jung & Mickel, p. 137 ''Kiku'' was powered by two Brown-Curtis 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 three Kampon water-tube boilers. The turbines were designed to produce to give the ships a speed of . The ships carried a maximum of of

fuel oil Fuel oil is any of various fractions obtained from the distillation of petroleum (crude oil). Such oils include distillates (the lighter fractions) and residues (the heavier fractions). Fuel oils include heavy fuel oil, marine fuel oil (MFO), bun ...

which gave them a range of at . Their crew consisted of 110 officers and crewmen.Watts & Gordon, p. 260 The main armament of the ''Momi''-class ships consisted of three Type 3 guns in single mounts; one gun forward of the well deck, one between the two funnels, and the last gun atop the aft

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 guns were numbered '1' to '3' from front to rear. The ships carried two above-water twin sets of torpedo tubes; one mount was in the well deck between the forward superstructure and the bow gun and the other between the aft funnel and aft superstructure. In 1939–1940, ''Kiku'' was converted into a patrol boat. Her torpedo tubes, minesweeping gear, and aft 12 cm gun were removed in exchange for two triple mounts for license-built Type 96 light AA guns and 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. In addition one boiler was removed, which reduced her speed to from . These changes made her top heavy and ballast had to be added which increased her displacement to .Hackett, Kingsepp & Cundall

Construction and career

''Kiku'', built at the Kawasaki Dockyard Co.

shipyard A shipyard, also called a dockyard or boatyard, is a place where ships are built and repaired. These can be yachts, military vessels, cruise liners or other cargo or passenger ships. Dockyards are sometimes more associated with maintenance a ...

Kobe Kobe ( , ; officially , ) is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture Japan. With a population around 1.5 million, Kobe is Japan's seventh-largest city and the third-largest port city after Tokyo and Yokohama. It is located in Kansai region, whic ...

, was launched on 13 October 1920 and completed on 10 December 1920.Gardiner & Gray, p. 244 From December 1939 to April 1940, she was converted into a patrol boat and was renamed ''Patrol Boat No. 31'' on 1 April 1940. The ship was sunk by American carrier aircraft from Task Force 58 on 31 March 1944 near Palau at coordinates . ''Patrol Boat No. 31'' was struck from the Navy List on 10 May 1944.

Notes

References

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kiku (1920) 1920 ships Ships built by Kawasaki Heavy Industries Momi-class destroyers Ships sunk by US aircraft Maritime incidents in March 1944 World War II shipwrecks in the Philippine Sea