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. She was used to repatriate Japanese personnel after the war until 1947. Mid-year the destroyer was turned over to Great Britain and subsequently
scrapped.
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
overall, with a
beam 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. The ships 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
''Kusunoki'' (Camphor)[Nevitt] was ordered in Fiscal Year 1943 under the Modified 5th Naval Armaments Supplement Program
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 ...
as part of the ''Matsu'' class, but the design was simplified to facilitate production and the ship was one of those built to the modified design.[ She was laid down on 9 November 1944 by Yokosuka Naval Arsenal, launched on 18 January 1945 and completed on 28 April.][Stille, p. 40] ''Kusunoki'' was assigned that day to Destroyer Squadron 11 under the Combined Fleet for working up and was transferred to the Maizuru Naval District on 15 July. The ship 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 ...
and was stricken from the navy list on 5 October.[ The destroyer was disarmed and used to repatriate Japanese personnel in 1945–1947. ''Kusunoki'' was turned over to Great Britain on 16 July of the latter year and subsequently broken up.][
]
Notes
Bibliography
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Kusunoki (1945), Japanese destroyer
Tachibana-class destroyers
Ships built by Yokosuka Naval Arsenal
1945 ships
World War II destroyers of Japan