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. Completed in March 1945, she saw no combat during the war and was used to repatriate Japanese personnel after the war until 1947. Mid-year the destroyer was turned over to Great Britain and subsequently sunk as a target.

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

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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

''Sumire'' (Violet)Nevitt was ordered in Fiscal Year 1943 under the Modified 5th Naval Armaments Supplement Program 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 21 October 1944 by Yokosuka Naval Arsenal, launched on 27 December and completed on 26 March 1945.Stille, p. 40 ''Sumire'' was assigned that day to Destroyer Squadron 11 under the Combined Fleet for working up, and was briefly attached to the

Second Fleet The United States Second Fleet is a numbered fleet in the United States Navy responsible for the East Coast and North Atlantic Ocean. The Fleet was established following World War II. In September 2011, Second Fleet was deactivated in view of ...

on 1–20 April. She was training in the

Seto Inland Sea The , sometimes shortened to the Inland Sea, is the body of water separating Honshū, Shikoku, and Kyūshū, three of the four main islands of Japan. It serves as a waterway connecting the Pacific Ocean to the Sea of Japan. It connects to Osaka ...

from 1 June to 23 July and was transferred to the Maizuru Naval District on the 15th. 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 ...

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. ''Sumire'' was turned over to Great Britain on 20 August of the latter year and subsequently sunk as a target ship.

Notes

Bibliography

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sumire (1944), Japanese destroyer Tachibana-class destroyers Ships built by Yokosuka Naval Arsenal 1944 ships World War II destroyers of Japan