was one of twelve 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 ...

(IJN) during the 1920s. During 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 ...

, she participated in the

Battle of Wake Island The Battle of Wake Island was a battle of the Pacific campaign of World War II, fought on Wake Island. The assault began simultaneously with the attack on Pearl Harbor naval and air bases in Hawaii on the morning of 8 December 1941 (7 December ...

in December 1941 and the occupations of

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu Hiri Motu, also known as Police Motu, Pidgin Motu, or just Hiri, is a language of Papua New Guinea, which is spoken in surrounding areas of Port Moresby (Capital of Papua New Guinea). It is a simplified version of ...

and the Solomon Islands in early 1942.

History

Construction of the ''Mutsuki''-class destroyers was authorized as part of the Imperial Japanese Navy's build up from fiscal 1923 of ships not covered by the

Washington Naval Treaty The Washington Naval Treaty, also known as the Five-Power Treaty, was a treaty signed during 1922 among the major Allies of World War I, which agreed to prevent an arms race by limiting naval construction. It was negotiated at the Washington Nav ...

. The class was a follow-on to the earlier and destroyers, with which they shared many common design characteristics. ''Uzuki'', built at the Ishikawajima Shipyards in Tokyo, was

laid down Laying the keel or laying down is the formal recognition of the start of a ship's construction. It is often marked with a ceremony attended by dignitaries from the shipbuilding company and the ultimate owners of the ship. Keel laying is one o ...

on 11 January 1924, launched on 15 October 1925 and commissioned on 14 September 1926. Originally commissioned simply as ''Destroyer No. 25'', the ship was assigned the name ''Uzuki'' on 1 August 1928. In the late 1930s, ''Uzuki'' participated in combat actions in the

Second Sino-Japanese War The Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) or War of Resistance (Chinese term) was a military conflict that was primarily waged between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. The war made up the Chinese theater of the wider Pacific Th ...

, covering the landings of Japanese troops in central and southern China, and the

Invasion of French Indochina The was a short undeclared military confrontation between Empire of Japan, Japan and Vichy France, France in northern French Indochina. Fighting lasted from 22 to 26 September 1940; the same time as the Battle of South Guangxi in the Second ...

World War II history

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 ...

, ''Uzuki'' was part of Desron 23 under Carrier Division 2 in the IJN 1st Air Fleet, and deployed from

Hahajima , native_name_link = , image_caption = Map of the Hahajima Rettō (Imōtojima is mislabeled as Tori-shima) , image_size = , pushpin_map = Japan complete , pushpin_label = Hahajima , pushpin_label_position = , pushp ...

in the

Ogasawara Islands The Bonin Islands, also known as the , are an archipelago of over 30 subtropical and tropical islands, some directly south of Tokyo, Japan and northwest of Guam. The name "Bonin Islands" comes from the Japanese word ''bunin'' (an archaic readi ...

as part of the Japanese invasion force for the Invasion of Guam. She returned to Truk in early January 1942 to covering the landings of Japanese forces during "Operation R" at

Kavieng Kavieng is the capital of the Papua New Guinean province of New Ireland and the largest town on the island of the same name. The town is located at Balgai Bay, on the northern tip of the island. As of 2009, it had a population of 17,248. Kavi ...

, New Ireland on 23 January, returning to Truk one month later. In March, ''Uzuki'' assisted in covering landings of Japanese forces during "Operation SR" in the northern Solomon Islands,

Lae Lae () is the capital of Morobe Province and is the second-largest city in Papua New Guinea. It is located near the delta of the Markham River and at the start of the Highlands Highway, which is the main land transport corridor between the Highl ...

and

Admiralty Islands The Admiralty Islands are an archipelago group of 18 islands in the Bismarck Archipelago, to the north of New Guinea in the South Pacific Ocean. These are also sometimes called the Manus Islands, after the largest island. These rainforest-co ...

. The destroyer was reassigned to the IJN 4th Fleet on 10 April. During the

Battle of the Coral Sea The Battle of the Coral Sea, from 4 to 8 May 1942, was a major naval battle between the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) and naval and air forces of the United States and Australia. Taking place in the Pacific Theatre of World War II, the batt ...

from 7–8 May 1942, ''Uzuki'' was assigned to escort the tanker ''Hoyo Maru'' in the

Shortlands Shortlands is a suburb of South East London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley. It has been part of Greater London since 1965, and was previously part of the historic county of Kent. It is located between Beckenham and Bromley, to t ...

area, and returned 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 ...

for refitting on 28 May. By the end of June, ''Uzuki'' was based at Truk, and assigned to escort convoys carrying airfield construction crews from Truk to Bougainville 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 patrols around

Rabaul Rabaul () is a township in the East New Britain province of Papua New Guinea, on the island of New Britain. It lies about 600 kilometres to the east of the island of New Guinea. Rabaul was the provincial capital and most important settlement in ...

. During the invasion of Buka (21–22 July), ''Uzuki'' was strafed by

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 ...

aircraft, with loss of 16 crewmen. On 11 August, ''Uzuki'' sortied from Rabaul to rescue the survivors of the cruiser . At the end of August, while on 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 ...

" transport run to Guadalcanal, ''Uzuki'' suffered damage from a near miss in an attack by

USAAF The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

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, and returned via Rabaul, Truk and

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 ...

back to Sasebo for repairs on 14 September. ''Uzuki'' was assigned to the IJN 8th Fleet on 1 December 1942, and escorted 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 ...

from Yokosuka to Truk, and a troop convoy from Truk to Rabaul at the end of the year. However, at Rabaul on 25 December 1942, ''Uzuki'' suffered heavy damage in a collision with the torpedoed transport ''

Nankai Maru The MV ''Nankai Maru'' was an freighter built by Mitsubishi Shipbuilding & Engineering Company Ltd, Nagasaki, Japan, in 1933 for Osaka Shosen Kaisha. She was requisitioned by the Imperial Japanese Navy as a transport in late 1941. She particip ...

'' and was taken in tow by the destroyers and back to Rabaul for emergency repairs. While at Rabaul, the ship was further damaged in an air raid on 5 January 1943. The destroyer towed ''Uzuki'' to Truk for further repairs, and then ''Uzuki'' returned to Sasebo under her own power by 3 July. Once repairs were completed in mid-October, ''Uzuki'' returned to Truk and escorted the cruisers and , both loaded with troops, back to Rabaul. On 23–24 October, ''Uzuki'' sortied to

Jacquinot Bay Jacquinot Bay is a bay in East New Britain Province, south-eastern New Britain, Papua New Guinea, at . It is near the mountain where twenty-eight people died when a Royal Australian Air Force plane crashed in November 1945. To its west is the Gas ...

New Britain New Britain ( tpi, Niu Briten) is the largest island in the Bismarck Archipelago, part of the Islands Region of Papua New Guinea. It is separated from New Guinea by a northwest corner of the Solomon Sea (or with an island hop of Umboi the Dam ...

to rescue the survivors of 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 ...

. ''Uzuki'' continued to make "Tokyo Express" transport runs throughout the Solomon Islands to the end of November. On 24–25 November, ''Uzuki'' engaged

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 ...

destroyers at the

Battle of Cape St. George The Battle of Cape St. George was a naval battle of the Pacific campaign of World War II fought on 25 November 1943, between Cape St. George, New Ireland, and Buka Island (now part of the North Solomons Province in Papua New Guinea). It was ...

, during the Japanese evacuation of Buka, but without damage. In December, ''Uzuki'' was assigned to escort tankers from Rabaul to Truk and Palau and back. In January 1944, ''Uzuki'' escorted the cruiser back to Japan. After refit at Sasebo Naval Arsenal, ''Uzuki'' escorted troop convoys from Yokosuka to Palau, Yap, Saipan and Truk through the end of June. During the

Battle of the Philippine Sea The Battle of the Philippine Sea (June 19–20, 1944) was a major naval battle of World War II that eliminated the Imperial Japanese Navy's ability to conduct large-scale carrier actions. It took place during the United States' amphibious invas ...

(19–20 June), ''Uzuki'' was part of the Second Supply Force. On 20 June, she rescued the crew of the transport ''Genyo Maru'', and sank the crippled transport with gunfire. ''Uzuki'' continued to escort convoys from

Kure is a port and major shipbuilding city situated on the Seto Inland Sea in Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan. With a strong industrial and naval heritage, Kure hosts the second-oldest naval dockyard in Japan and remains an important base for the Japan M ...

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 ...

and Singapore to the middle of November. On 18 July, she was assigned to the

Combined Fleet The was the main sea-going component of the Imperial Japanese Navy. Until 1933, the Combined Fleet was not a permanent organization, but a temporary force formed for the duration of a conflict or major naval maneuvers from various units norm ...

, and on 20 November, was reassigned to the

IJN 5th Fleet The was a fleet of the Imperial Japanese Navy, active during the early portions of the Second Sino-Japanese War, and again in World War II, primarily in the Aleutian campaign, during which it was augmented and designated the Northern Area Force. ...

. On 12 December, while escorting a troop convoy from Manila to

Ormoc Ormoc (IPA: �oɾˈmok, officially the City of Ormoc ( ceb, Dakbayan sa Ormoc; war, Syudad han Ormoc; fil, Lungsod ng Ormoc), is a 1st class independent component city in the Eastern Visayas region of the Philippines. According to the 2020 ce ...

, ''Uzuki'' was torpedoed by the

PT boat A PT boat (short for patrol torpedo boat) was a motor torpedo boat used by the United States Navy in World War II. It was small, fast, and inexpensive to build, valued for its maneuverability and speed but hampered at the beginning of the wa ...

s '' PT-490'' and '' PT-492'', northeast of

Cebu Cebu (; ceb, Sugbo), officially the Province of Cebu ( ceb, Lalawigan sa Sugbo; tl, Lalawigan ng Cebu; hil, Kapuroan sang Sugbo), is a province of the Philippines located in the Central Visayas region, and consists of a main island and 167 ...

at , exploding and sinking with the loss of 170 crew including Lieutenant Commander Watanabe, 59 survivors. ''Uzuki'' was struck 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 autho ...

on 10 January 1945.*

Notes

References

* * * * * * *

External links

Mutsuki-class destroyers on Materials of the Imperial Japanese Navy
{{DEFAULTSORT:Uzuki (1925) Mutsuki-class destroyers Ships built by IHI Corporation 1925 ships Second Sino-Japanese War naval ships of Japan World War II destroyers of Japan Shipwrecks in the Visayan Sea World War II shipwrecks in the Pacific Ocean Maritime incidents in December 1942 Maritime incidents in December 1944 Naval magazine explosions