Kisaragi was a Japanesedestroyer during World War II in the Pacific, which had the distinction of being the second major Japanese warship sunk in the Pacific on December 11, 1941 during the Japanese attempted invasion of Wake Island. Official language Japanese Capital Tokyo Largest City Tokyo Emperor Akihito Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi Area - Total - % water Ranked 60th 377,835 km² 0. ... This article is about the warship. ... The Pacific Ocean (from the Latin name Mare Pacificum, peaceful sea, bestowed upon it by the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan) is the worlds largest body of water. ... December 11 is the 345th day (346th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Wake Island - NASA NLT Landsat 7 (Visible Color) Satellite Image Wake Island (also known as Wake Atoll) is an atoll (having a coastline of 19. ...
The Kisaragi was one of 12 Mutsuki-class destroyers built between 1924 and 1927 for the Imperial Japanese Navy. They were in fact modified versions of a earlier Minekaze-class destroyer built bewtween 1918 and 1922. The Mutsuki class destroyers had a displacement of 1,314 tons, and were armed with two 4.7 inch guns and 10 25mm AA guns along with six 24 inch torpedo tubes with a crew of about 150 officers and men. The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) (大日本帝國海軍 Dai-Nippon Teikoku Kaigun or 日本海軍 Nippon Kaigun) was the navy of Japan before 1945. ...
The Kisaragi, damaged earlier during the invasion fleet's battle with the U.S. Marine coastal defense guns on shore, sailed away with the battered invasion fleet from the battle where the damaged ships came under air attack by four Wildcat fighter planes from Wake armed with 100-pound bombs. One attack by a Wildcat, which dropped its payload of bombs on the Kisaragi's stern which was packed with depth charges, caused the ship to blow up and sink with all hands about 30 miles southwest of Wake Island, which was a finishing blow to the Japanese invasion fleet for its attempted invasion of Wake Island.
Destroyers at first could only attempt to ram submarines or destroy them with gunfire, but since the early submarine made its attacks while surfaced there was a good chance of success with these methods.
While the destroyer remained the chief defense of the battle fleet against submarines, naval planners realized that the destroyer's high speed and slender shape did not lend themselves to the anti-submarine struggle.
Destroyer combat did not always prove that deadly, but the intense involvement of destroyers in all types of naval action caused severe losses.
The island was held by the Japanese until September 4, 1945, when the remaining Japanese garrison surrendered to a detachment of the United States Marine Corps.
The Japanese losses were recorded at between 700 to 900 killed with at least 1,000 more wounded, in addition to the two destroyers lost in the first invasion attempt, as well as at least 20 land-based and carrier aircraft.
Shigematsu Sakaibara is the Japanese officer in the right-foreground.
Feeds |
Contact