was one of 18

escort destroyer An escort destroyer with United States Navy hull classification symbol DDE was a destroyer (DD) modified for and assigned to a fleet escort role after World War II. These destroyers retained their original hull numbers. Later, in March 1950, th ...

s built for 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 ...

(IJN) during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. Completed in mid-1944, the ship played a minor role in the Battle off Cape Engaño in October and began escorting convoys the following month. She was moderately damaged by American aircraft while escorting a troop convoy in December. ''Kiri'' returned to Japan in January 1945 for repairs and escorted a convoy to

Japanese Formosa The Geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, together with the Penghu, Penghu Islands, became a Dependent territory, dependency of Empire of Japan, Japan in 1895, when the Qing dynasty ceded Taiwan Province, Fujian-Taiwan Province in the Treaty ...

later that month. Her activities for the rest of the war are unknown. 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

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

and was commissioned into the Soviet Navy. She was renamed ''Vozrozhdionny'' ( (Resurrected)). When the ship was converted into a

target ship A target ship is a vessel — typically an obsolete or captured warship — used as a seaborne target for naval gunnery practice or for weapons testing. Targets may be used with the intention of testing effectiveness of specific types of ammuniti ...

in 1949, she was renamed ''TsL-25''. The vessel was

hulked A hulk is a ship that is afloat, but incapable of going to sea. Hulk may be used to describe a ship that has been launched but not completed, an abandoned wreck or shell, or to refer to an old ship that has had its rigging or internal equipment ...

and renamed ''PM-65'' in 1957 and ordered to be

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 ...

in 1969.

Design and description

Designed for ease of production, the ''Matsu'' class was smaller, slower and more lightly armed than previous destroyers as the IJN intended them for second-line duties like escorting convoys, releasing the larger ships for missions with the fleet. 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 Their crew numbered 210 officers and enlisted men. 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 boiler A high pressure watertube boiler (also spelled water-tube and water tube) is a type of boiler in which water circulates in tubes heated externally by the fire. Fuel is burned inside the furnace, creating hot gas which boils water in the steam-gene ...

s. The turbines were rated at a total of for a speed of . The ''Matsu''s had a range of at .Jentschura, Jung & Mickel, p. 151 The main armament of the ''Matsu''-class ships consisted of three Type 89

dual-purpose gun A dual-purpose gun is a naval artillery mounting designed to engage both surface and air targets. Description Second World War-era capital ships had four classes of artillery: the heavy main battery, intended to engage opposing battleships and ...

s 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 Director may refer to: Literature * ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine * ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker * ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty Music * Director (band), an Irish rock band * ''Di ...

was fitted. The ships carried a total of twenty-five 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 ''Matsu''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 This glossary of nautical terms is an alphabetical listing of terms and expressions connected with ships, shipping, seamanship and navigation on water (mostly though not necessarily on the sea). Some remain current, while many date from the 17th t ...

for

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 ...

es. They could deliver their 36

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 career

Authorized in the late 1942 Modified 5th Naval Armaments Supplement Program,Jentschura, Jung & Mickel, p. 152 ''Kiri'' (Paulownia) was

laid down Laying the keel or laying down is the formal recognition of the start of a ship's construction. It is often marked with a ceremony attended by dignitaries from the shipbuilding company and the ultimate owners of the ship. Keel laying is one o ...

on 1 February 1944 at the Yokosuka Naval Arsenal and launched on 27 May. Upon her completion on 14 August, the ship was assigned to Destroyer Squadron 11 of the Combined Fleet for training. The ship was assigned to Destroyer Division 43, Escort Squadron 31 of the Combined Fleet on 30 September and participated in the Battle off Cape Engaño on 25 October as part of Vice-Admiral

Jisaburō Ozawa was an admiral in the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II. He was the last Commander-in-Chief of the Combined Fleet. Ozawa has been noted for his unusual height, measuring in at over tall, although his exact height has not been reliabl ...

's Northern Force. ''Kiri'' was part of the escort force for the hybrid

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 ...

battleship A battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of large caliber guns. It dominated naval warfare in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The term ''battleship'' came into use in the late 1880s to describe a type of ...

s and from Kure to

Manila Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populate ...

, the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

in early November, but she was diverted to the Spratly Islands instead. From 16 to 20 November, the ship escorted the 2nd Fleet from occupied

Brunei Brunei ( , ), formally Brunei Darussalam ( ms, Negara Brunei Darussalam, Jawi alphabet, Jawi: , ), is a country located on the north coast of the island of Borneo in Southeast Asia. Apart from its South China Sea coast, it is completely sur ...

to Mako (now Magong) in the

Pescadore Islands The Penghu (, Hokkien POJ: ''Phîⁿ-ô͘'' or ''Phêⁿ-ô͘'' ) or Pescadores Islands are an archipelago of 90 islands and islets in the Taiwan Strait, located approximately west from the main island of Taiwan, covering an area ...

.Nevitt Escort Squadron 31 was transferred to the

5th Fleet The Fifth Fleet is a numbered fleet of the United States Navy. It has been responsible for naval forces in the Persian Gulf, Red Sea, Arabian Sea, and parts of the Indian Ocean since 1995 after a 48-year hiatus. It shares a commander and headq ...

on 20 November and the destroyer was slightly damaged the following day. ''Kiri'' helped to escort a convoy from Japanese Formosa to Manila, where she arrived on 8 December. She escorted a troop convoy from Manila to Ormoc and back on 9–13 December. The ship was moderately damaged by strafing American aircraft on 12 December and she rescued 214 survivors from the destroyer . ''Kiri'' escorted convoys from Manila to Moji,

Kyūshū is the third-largest island of Japan's five main islands and the most southerly of the four largest islands ( i.e. excluding Okinawa). In the past, it has been known as , and . The historical regional name referred to Kyushu and its surround ...

, via Formosa from 14 December to 8 January 1945. The ship arrived at Kure for repairs two days later. She escorted Convoy MOTA-33 from Moji to

Keelung Keelung () or Jilong () (; Hokkien POJ: '), officially known as Keelung City, is a major port city situated in the northeastern part of Taiwan. The city is a part of the Taipei–Keelung metropolitan area, along with its neighbors, New Taipe ...

, Formosa, beginning on 22 January and later ended up in

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...

, China. The squadron was assigned to the 2nd Fleet from 15 March to 20 April and then rejoined the Combined Fleet. The ship was turned over to Allied forces at Kure 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 A Navy Directory, formerly the Navy List or Naval Register is an official list of naval officers, their ranks and seniority, the ships which they command or to which they are appointed, etc., that is published by the government or naval author ...

on 5 October. The destroyer was disarmed and used to repatriate Japanese personnel in 1945–1947. ''Kiri'' was turned over to the Soviet Union on 29 July of the latter year at

Nakhodka Nakhodka ( rus, Нахо́дка, p=nɐˈxotkə) is a port city in Primorsky Krai, Russia, located on the Trudny Peninsula jutting into the Nakhodka Bay of the Sea of Japan, about east of Vladivostok, the administrative center of the krai. Po ...

.Dodson & Cant, p. 297 The ship was commissioned into the Soviet Navy's Fifth Fleet and renamed ''Vozrozhdionny''. She was disarmed, converted into a target ship and renamed ''TsL-25'' on 17 June 1949. The ship was transferred to the Pacific Fleet on 23 April 1953. ''TsL-25'' was hulked and converted into a floating

workshop Beginning with the Industrial Revolution era, a workshop may be a room, rooms or building which provides both the area and tools (or machinery) that may be required for the manufacture or repair of manufactured goods. Workshops were the only ...

on 16 September 1957. The ship was renamed ''PM-65'' on 3 October, stricken from the

on 20 December 1969, and ordered to be scrapped.Berezhnoy, p. 22

Notes

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kiri (Type D) Matsu-class destroyers Ships built by Yokosuka Naval Arsenal World War II destroyers of Japan 1944 ships Destroyers of the Soviet Navy