was an
destroyer
In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, manoeuvrable, long-endurance warship intended to escort
larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against powerful short range attackers. They were originally developed in ...
of the
Imperial Japanese Navy. Her name means "Clear Moon (in Autumn)". ''Suzutsuki'' is best known for her participation in
Operation Ten-Go as one of the battleship ''Yamatos eight escort ships, where her bow was blown off by an American torpedo. ''Suzutsuki'' survived the battle, and escaped American forces by reversing all the way back to port. She was used as a breakwater until 20 November 1945, when her name was struck from the naval register and she was sold for scrap soon after.
Design and description
The ''Akizuki''-class ships were originally designed as anti-aircraft escorts for carrier battle groups, but were modified with
torpedo tubes and
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 to meet the need for more general-purpose destroyer. Her crew numbered 300 officers and enlisted men. The ships measured
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 . 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 three Kampon
water-tube boilers. The turbines were rated at a total of for a designed speed of . The ships carried up to 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 a speed of .
The main armament of the ''Akizuki'' class consisted of eight
Type 98 dual purpose guns in four twin-
gun turrets, two
superfiring
Superfiring armament is a naval military building technique in which two (or more) turrets are located in a line, one behind the other, with the second turret located above ("super") the one in front so that the second turret can fire over the ...
pairs fore and aft 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 ...
. They carried four
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 two twin-gun mounts. The ships were also armed with four
torpedo tubes in a single quadruple traversing mount; one reload was carried for each tube. Their anti-submarine weapons comprised six
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 ...
throwers for which 72 depth charges were carried.
[Whitley, pp. 204–05]
Construction and career
On 6–7 April 1945, ''Suzutsuki'' escorted the battleship from the
Inland Sea
An inland sea (also known as an epeiric sea or an epicontinental sea) is a continental body of water which is very large and is either completely surrounded by dry land or connected to an ocean by a river, strait, or "arm of the sea". An inland se ...
on
her attack mission against the
Allied
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 ...
forces fighting on
Okinawa. Her bow was torn off by a torpedo from aircraft of
Task Force 58, but survived and returned to
Sasebo, by steaming in reverse the whole way.
She, her
sister ship
A sister ship is a ship of the same class or of virtually identical design to another ship. Such vessels share a nearly identical hull and superstructure layout, similar size, and roughly comparable features and equipment. They often share a ...
s , , and (sunk in late July by a mine off the Inland Sea), survived the ordeal, despite suffering heavy damage, but ''Yamato'', and five escorts, , , , and were all sunk with heavy losses of life. Some of the survivors were picked up by ''Suzutsuki''.
Following the end of the war, ''Suzutsuki'' was initially used as a
breakwater
Breakwater may refer to:
* Breakwater (structure), a structure for protecting a beach or harbour
Places
* Breakwater, Victoria, a suburb of Geelong, Victoria, Australia
* Breakwater Island
Breakwater Island () is a small island in the Palme ...
at
Takamatsu in November 1945, then was sold for scrap that same month after her name was delisted from the Navy List on 20 November.
Notes
References
*
*
*
External links
CombinedFleet.com: ''Akizuki''-class destroyers
{{DEFAULTSORT:Suzutsuki
Akizuki-class destroyers (1942)
World War II destroyers of Japan
1942 ships
Ships sunk as breakwaters