Kagerō class destroyer

The Kagerō class destroyers (陽炎型) were a class of ships in service with the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II. There were 19 ships total in the class. They were armed with six 5 in (127 mm)/50 cal. guns and eight 24 inch (610 mm) torpedo tubes for the "Long Lance" torpedo. At the time of completion, these destroyers were as good as or better than similar ships in other navies. Only the lack of radar would hinder their otherwise superb design. As with most pre-World War II ships, "Kagero"s were also deficient in anti-submarine and anti-aircraft weaponry. Over the course of the war these would be remedied, with depth charge capacity increased to 36 and the addition of four depth charge launchers; anti-aircraft weaponry also increased steadily from only four 25 mm machine guns at the start of the war to 28 by the end.

Wartime attrition was hard on the "Kagerō"s, with 18 out of 19 ships lost. In all, six were sunk by air attack, five by submarine attack, five in battle with other surface forces, one by mine, and the remaining two sunk by a combination of mines and air attack. The "Yukikaze" was the only "Kagerō"-class ship afloat at the end of the war.

hips in class

External links

* [http://www.combinedfleet.com/kagero_c.htm "Kagero class" at CombinedFleet.com]
* [http://www.combinedfleet.com/kagero_n.htm "KAGERO Class Notes by Allyn Nevitt"]

Books

*"cite web |url=http://rekigun.net/ |title=Rekishi Gunzō, History of Pacific War Vol.64 Mutsuki class destroyer", Gakken (Japan), May 2008, ISBN 4-05-605091-2
*"Collection of writings by Sizuo Fukui Vol.5, Stories of Japanese Destroyers", Kōjinsha (Japan) 1993, ISBN 4-7698-0611-6
*"Model Art Extra No.340, Drawings of Imperial Japanese Naval Vessels Part-1", Model Art Co. Ltd. (Japan), October 1989, Book code 08734-10
*Daiji Katagiri, "Ship Name Chronicles of the Imperial Japanese Navy Combined Fleet", Kōjinsha (Japan), June 1988, ISBN 4-7698-0386-9
*"The Maru Special, Japanese Naval Vessels No.41 Japanese Destroyers I", Ushio Shobō (Japan), July 1980, Book code 68343-42