The were a

class Class or The Class may refer to: Common uses not otherwise categorized * Class (biology), a taxonomic rank * Class (knowledge representation), a collection of individuals or objects * Class (philosophy), an analytical concept used differently ...

of six

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 ...

s of 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 ...

. As with the previous , all were named after trees. As ''Enoki'' and ''Nara'' were both commissioned on the same day, the class is also referred to as the .

Background

With most of Japan’s destroyers deployed to the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on ...

as part of Japan’s contribution to the war effort against

Imperial Germany The German Empire (),Herbert Tuttle wrote in September 1881 that the term "Reich" does not literally connote an empire as has been commonly assumed by English-speaking people. The term literally denotes an empire – particularly a hereditary ...

under the

Anglo-Japanese Alliance The first was an alliance between Britain and Japan, signed in January 1902. The alliance was signed in London at Lansdowne House on 30 January 1902 by Lord Lansdowne, British Foreign Secretary, and Hayashi Tadasu, Japanese diplomat. A d ...

, the Imperial Japanese Navy approached the

Diet of Japan The is the national legislature of Japan. It is composed of a lower house, called the House of Representatives (, ''Shūgiin''), and an upper house, the House of Councillors (, '' Sangiin''). Both houses are directly elected under a paral ...

for an emergency procurement budget, similar to that awarded during the

Russo-Japanese War The Russo-Japanese War ( ja, 日露戦争, Nichiro sensō, Japanese-Russian War; russian: Ру́сско-япóнская войнá, Rússko-yapónskaya voyná) was fought between the Empire of Japan and the Russian Empire during 1904 and 1 ...

for the production of the destroyers. The funding was awarded from the fiscal 1917 budget, but mindful of the fact that the ''Kamikaze''-class destroyers had not actually been completed until after the end of the previous war, the government stipulated that the emergency budget be used up within a six-month period. The order for six vessels was split between the four major naval shipyards: one to Yokosuka Naval Arsenal, two to Kure Naval Arsenal, two to

Sasebo Naval Arsenal was one of four principal naval shipyards owned and operated by the Imperial Japanese Navy. History The Sasebo Naval District was established at Sasebo, Nagasaki in 1886, as the third of the naval districts responsible for the defense of the ...

and one to

Maizuru Naval Arsenal was one of four principal naval shipyards owned and operated by the Imperial Japanese Navy. History The Maizuru Naval District was established at Maizuru, Kyoto Prefecture in 1889, as the fourth of the naval districts responsible for the defens ...

Design

With such a limited time frame to use its budget, the Japanese Navy could not afford the time to design a new ship. Therefore, the

blueprint A blueprint is a reproduction of a technical drawing or engineering drawing using a contact print process on light-sensitive sheets. Introduced by Sir John Herschel in 1842, the process allowed rapid and accurate production of an unlimited number ...

s for the previous ''Momo''-class destroyers were distributed to each shipyard, with the instructions that identical ships be produced, except with sturdier armor and bow construction. Experience with extended overseas deployment in World War I had taught the Japanese Navy that the construction of its destroyers needed to be reinforced to handle heavy seas. The result was a ship which looked physically almost exactly like the ''Momo'' class, but was roughly 15 tons heavier in displacement. Internally, all six vessels used 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 tu ...

engines, which could use either

heavy fuel oil Heavy Fuel Oil (HFO) is a category of fuel oils of a tar-like consistency. Also known as bunker fuel, or residual fuel oil, HFO is the result or remnant from the distillation and cracking process of petroleum. For this reason, HFO is contaminate ...

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when ...

for propulsion. Armament was identical to the ''Momo'' class, with three QF 4.7 inch Gun Mk I – IV guns, pedestal mounted along the centerline of the vessel, front, mid-ship and to the

stern The stern is the back or aft-most part of a ship or boat, technically defined as the area built up over the sternpost, extending upwards from the counter rail to the taffrail. The stern lies opposite the bow, the foremost part of a ship. Or ...

and two triple

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, ...

launchers.

Operational history

The ''Enoki''-class destroyers served in the very final stages of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

, where they were deployed mostly in local waters near the Japanese home islands. ''Enoki'' and ''Nara'' were converted to minesweepers on 1 June 1930. The remaining four vessels were retired on 1 April 1934.Nishida, Imperial Japanese Navy

List of Ships

Notes

References

* * * * * {{WWI Japanese ships Destroyer classes