Momo-class Destroyer

The consisted of four destroyers built for the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War I. As with the previous , all were named after trees.

Background

The ''Momo''-class destroyers were designed as part of the first phase of the '' Hachi-Hachi Kantai'' program of the Imperial Japanese Navy, at the same time as the large ''Isokaze'' class. With the commissioning of the new high speed battleships and , escort vessels with equally high speed and blue ocean capabilities were required. However, the Japanese Navy could not afford to build many large destroyers, so it was decided to split production between large "1st-class destroyers" (i.e. the ''Isokaze'' class) and new medium-sized "2nd class destroyers" (i.e. the ''Momo'' class).

Four vessels were built under the fiscal 1915 budget, with the order split between Maizuru Naval Arsenal and Sasebo Naval Arsenal.

Design

The ''Momo''-class ships were a scaled-down version of the ''Isokaze'' class and retained many of the innovations introduced by that class: curved, rather than straight bow, torpedo tubes, geared turbines, and a single-caliber main battery.

Internally, the engines were heavy fuel oil-fired steam turbine engines. Two vessels (''Hinoki'' and ''Yanagi'') used Brown-Curtis turbine engines, and the other two (''Momo'' and ''Kashi'') used Japanese-designed geared turbine engines. The smaller engines gave a smaller rated power of 16,700 shp, which allowed only for a speed of , and limited range due to high fuel consumption.

Armament was slightly less than the ''Isokaze'' class, with three instead of four 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 number of torpedoes was the same as the ''Isokaze'' (i.e. two triple launchers).

Operational history

The ''Momo''-class destroyers were completed in time to serve in the very final stages of World War I. As the Japanese 15th Destroyer Flotilla under the cruiser , they were based at Malta from August 1917. The Japanese fleet was nominally independent, but carried out operations under the direction of the Royal Navy command on Malta, primarily in escort operations for transport and troopship convoys and in anti-submarine warfare operations against German U-boats in the Mediterranean.

''Kashi'' was transferred to the Manchukuo Imperial Navy on 1 May 1937 and was renamed ''Hai Wei''. However, on 6 June 1942, ''Hai Wei'' was transferred back to the Imperial Japanese Navy, and reclassified as the auxiliary escort ''Kari''. The ship fought in World War II, and was sunk by United States Navy aircraft from TF38 off of Okinawa on 10 October 1944.

The remaining three vessels were retired on 1 April 1940 and broken up, except for ''Yanagi'', which was retained as a training hulk until 1947. ''Yanagis hull was eventually used as part of the breakwater at Kitakyushu alongside the Suzutsuki. The remains are still visible at .

Ships

In film

In the 1958 World War II film ''Run Silent, Run Deep'', Clark Gable's character is obsessed with sinking what he refers to as an "Akikaze"-class destroyer. To test his radically aggressive head-on "down the throat" attack plan, he first engages one of the smaller "Momo"-class destroyers. His completely unconventional attack works and he sinks the destroyer. Having proven the viability of his tactic, he then attacks a larger and far more dangerous destroyer that he calls an "Akikaze"-class destroyer. He believes it is the ship that claimed his previous submarine and four others. In reality, the destroyer "Akikaze" was one of 16 "Minekaze"-class destroyers. There was no "Akikaze" class, although it is referred to as if "Akikaze" were the name of the class throughout the movie. The actual "Minekaze" class, of which the real "Akikaze" was a member is never mentioned.

References

Notes

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{{WWII Japanese ships

Destroyer classes