was the third vessel to be commissioned in the 19-vessel

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 ...

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 ...

in the late-1930s under the Circle Three Supplementary Naval Expansion Program (''Maru San Keikaku'').

Background

The ''Kagerō''-class destroyers were outwardly almost identical to the preceding light cruiser-sized , with improvements made by Japanese naval architects to improve stability and to take advantage of Japan’s lead in

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 ...

technology. They were designed to accompany the Japanese main striking force and in both day and night attacks against the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

as it advanced across the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

, according to Japanese naval strategic projections. Despite being one of the most powerful classes of destroyers in the world at the time of their completion, only one survived the

Pacific War The Pacific War, sometimes called the Asia–Pacific War, was the theater of World War II that was fought in Asia, the Pacific Ocean, the Indian Ocean, and Oceania. It was geographically the largest theater of the war, including the vast ...

. '' Kuroshio'', built at the

Fujinagata Shipyards was a shipyard and railroad car manufacturer in Osaka, Japan. History Fujinagata claimed to have been founded in 1689, making it one of the oldest shipbuilders in Japan. Originally called ''Hyōgo-ya'', and located in central Osaka, it was cont ...

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of 2. ...

, was laid down on 31 August 1937, launched on 25 October 1938 and commissioned on 27 January 1940.

Operational history

Shortly after commissioning, ''Kuroshio'' was assigned to participate in the 16th Annual Maneuvers of the Combined Fleet. On her return, at 1800 hours on 23 June 1941, she collided with the destroyers and in

Bungo Channel The is a strait separating the Japanese islands of Kyushu and Shikoku. It connects the Pacific Ocean and the Seto Inland Sea on the western end of Shikoku. The narrowest part of this channel is the Hōyo Strait. In the English-speaking world, t ...

resulting in a month of repairs at

Kure Naval Arsenal was one of four principal naval shipyards owned and operated by the Imperial Japanese Navy. History The Kure Naval District was established at Kure, Hiroshima in 1889, as the second of the naval districts responsible for the defense of the J ...

. At the time of the

attack on Pearl Harbor The attack on Pearl HarborAlso known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service upon the United States against the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii, j ...

, ''Kuroshio'', was assigned to Destroyer Division 15 (Desdiv 15), and a member of Destroyer Squadron 2 (Desron 2) of the IJN 2nd Fleet, and had deployed from

Palau Palau,, officially the Republic of Palau and historically ''Belau'', ''Palaos'' or ''Pelew'', is an island country and microstate in the western Pacific. The nation has approximately 340 islands and connects the western chain of the Caro ...

, as part of the escort for the

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 ...

in the invasion of the southern Philippines and minelayer . She suffered minor damage on 23 December due to a strafing attack by USAAF

B-17 Flying Fortress The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress is a four-engined heavy bomber developed in the 1930s for the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC). Relatively fast and high-flying for a bomber of its era, the B-17 was used primarily in the European Theater ...

bombers. In early 1942, ''Kuroshio'' participated in the invasion of the Netherlands East Indies, escorting the invasion forces for

Menado Manado () is the capital city of the Indonesian province of North Sulawesi. It is the second largest city in Sulawesi after Makassar, with the 2020 Census giving a population of 451,916 distributed over a land area of 162.53 km2.Badan Pusa ...

Kendari Kendari is the capital city of the Indonesian province of Southeast Sulawesi. With a population of 345,107 according to the 2020 census, it is the most populous city in the province, and the fourth most on Sulawesi. The city covers an area of , o ...

and Ambon in January, and the invasion forces for

Makassar Makassar (, mak, ᨆᨀᨔᨑ, Mangkasara’, ) is the capital of the Indonesian province of South Sulawesi. It is the largest city in the region of Eastern Indonesia and the country's fifth-largest urban center after Jakarta, Surabaya, Med ...

Timor Timor is an island at the southern end of Maritime Southeast Asia, in the north of the Timor Sea. The island is East Timor–Indonesia border, divided between the sovereign states of East Timor on the eastern part and Indonesia on the western p ...

and

Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's List ...

in February. On 8 February, she rescued survivors from ''Natsushio'' and on 5 March assisted the destroyer in sinking a

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

minelayer. At the end of March, she returned with from

Staring-baai Staring-baai (Dutch for Staring Bay) is a bay off the southeast peninsula of Sulawesi in Indonesia. It lies slightly southeast of Kendari, the provincial capital of South East Sulawesi, where it opens to the east onto the Banda Sea. During World ...

Sulawesi Sulawesi (), also known as Celebes (), is an island in Indonesia. One of the four Greater Sunda Islands, and the world's eleventh-largest island, it is situated east of Borneo, west of the Maluku Islands, and south of Mindanao and the Sulu Ar ...

Sasebo is a core city located in Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan. It is also the second largest city in Nagasaki Prefecture, after its capital, Nagasaki. On 1 June 2019, the city had an estimated population of 247,739 and a population density of 581 persons p ...

. At the end of April, ''Kuroshio'' deployed from Kure to assist in the occupation of the Cagayan Islands near

Palawan Palawan (), officially the Province of Palawan ( cyo, Probinsya i'ang Palawan; tl, Lalawigan ng Palawan), is an archipelagic province of the Philippines that is located in the region of Mimaropa. It is the largest province in the country in ...

in early May, and then returned with the damaged aircraft carrier from

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 ...

to Kure on 17 May. In early June, ''Kuroshio'' deployed from

Saipan Saipan ( ch, Sa’ipan, cal, Seipél, formerly in es, Saipán, and in ja, 彩帆島, Saipan-tō) is the largest island of the Northern Mariana Islands, a Commonwealth (U.S. insular area), commonwealth of the United States in the western Pa ...

as part of the troopship escort for the

Battle of Midway The Battle of Midway was a major naval battle in the Pacific Theater of World War II that took place on 4–7 June 1942, six months after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor and one month after the Battle of the Coral Sea. The U.S. Navy under Adm ...

. In mid-June, ''Kuroshio'' was assigned as escort for cruisers in projected further Indian Ocean raids, but the operation was cancelled by the time she reached

Mergui Myeik (, or ; mnw, ဗိက်, ; th, มะริด, , ; formerly Mergui, ) is a rural city in Tanintharyi Region in Myanmar (Burma), located in the extreme south of the country on the coast off an island on the Andaman Sea. , the estimate ...

Burma Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

, and she was reassigned as escort for the cruisers and to Balikpapan and the

Solomon Islands Solomon Islands is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 900 smaller islands in Oceania, to the east of Papua New Guinea and north-west of Vanuatu. It has a land area of , and a population of approx. 700,000. Its capita ...

. During the Battle of the Eastern Solomons of 24 August she was part of Admiral Kondō’s Advance Force, but was not in combat. During September, ''Kuroshio'' was used for patrols between Truk and

Guadalcanal Guadalcanal (; indigenous name: ''Isatabu'') is the principal island in Guadalcanal Province of Solomon Islands, located in the south-western Pacific, northeast of Australia. It is the largest island in the Solomon Islands by area, and the seco ...

, and in October began operations as a “

Tokyo Express The Tokyo Express was the name given by Allied forces to the use of Imperial Japanese Navy ships at night to deliver personnel, supplies, and equipment to Japanese forces operating in and around New Guinea and the Solomon Islands during the P ...

" high speed troop transport to Guadalcanal. These operations continued to mid-February 1943. During the Battle of Santa Cruz on 26 October, she was assigned to escort the aircraft carrier . ''Kuroshio'' was also at the Battle of Tassafaronga on 30 November, during which one of her torpedoes may have hit the American cruiser . On 21 February, ''Kuroshio'' returned to Kure for repairs, together with ''Jun'yō'', and returned on 10 April to Truk together with the aircraft carriers and . At the end of April, she was at Shortland Island, and reassigned to troop transport runs. On the night of 7–8 May 1943, while on a troop transport run to

Kolombangara Kolombangara (sometimes spelled ''Kulambangara'') is an island in the New Georgia Islands group of the nation state of Solomon Islands in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. The name is from a local language, a rough translation of its meaning is ...

, she struck mines when leaving Vila (Kolombangara), and exploded and sank at coordinates (), with loss of 83 lives. She was removed 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 20 June 1943.

Notes

Books

* * * * * * * *

External links

CombinedFleet.com: ''Kagero''-class destroyers
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kuroshio

Kuroshio The , also known as the Black or or the is a north-flowing, warm ocean current on the west side of the North Pacific Ocean basin. It was named for the deep blue appearance of its waters. Similar to the Gulf Stream in the North Atlantic, the Ku ...

Shipwrecks in the Solomon Sea World War II shipwrecks in the Pacific Ocean 1938 ships Maritime incidents in June 1941 Maritime incidents in May 1943 Ships sunk by mines Ships built by Fujinagata Shipyards Naval magazine explosions

Background

Operational history

See also

Notes

Books

External links