 Murasame at Yangtze River, China, 1937 | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 Empire of Japan | |
| Name | Murasame |
| Ordered | 1931 FY |
| Builder | Fujinagata Shipyards |
| Laid down | 1 February 1934 |
| Launched | 20 June 1935 |
| Commissioned | 7 January 1937 |
| Stricken | 1 April 1943 |
| Fate | Sunk by American cruisers, 5 March 1943 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class & type | Shiratsuyu-classdestroyer |
| Displacement | 1,685long tons (1,712 t) |
| Length |
|
| Beam | 9.9 m (32 ft 6 in) |
| Draft | 3.5 m (11 ft 6 in) |
| Propulsion | |
| Speed | 34knots (39 mph; 63 km/h) |
| Range | 4,000 nmi (7,400 km) at 18 kn (33 km/h) |
| Complement | 226 |
| Armament |
|
| Service record | |
| Operations: | |
| Victories: |
|
Murasame (村雨,"Passing Shower")[1] was the third of tenShiratsuyu-classdestroyers, and was built for theImperial Japanese Navy under the"Circle One" Program (Maru Ichi Keikaku).[2] This vessel should not be confused with the earlierRusso-Japanese War-periodHarusame-classtorpedo boat destroyer with the same name.
TheShiratsuyu-class destroyers were modified versions of theHatsuharu class, and were designed to accompany the Japanese main striking force and to conduct both day and nighttorpedo attacks against theUnited States Navy as it advanced across the Pacific Ocean, according to Japanese naval strategic projections.[3] Despite being one of the most powerful classes of destroyers in the world at the time of their completion, none survived thePacific War.[4]Murasame, built at theFujinagata Shipyards inOsaka waslaid down on 1 February 1934,launched on 20 June 1935 andcommissioned on 7 January 1937.[5]
At the time of theattack on Pearl Harbor,Murasame was the flagship of destroyer division 2 (Murasame,Harusame,Yūdachi,Samidare) under Captain Tachibana Masao, and was assigned to theIJN 2nd Fleet, and had sortied fromMako Guard District as part of the"Operation M" (the invasion of thePhilippines, covering landings atVigan andLingayen Gulf). On 26 December, she collided withminesweeperW-20 off ofKaohsiung,Taiwan, suffering minor damage.[6]
From January 1942,Murasame participated in operations in theNetherlands East Indies, including the invasions ofTarakan Island,Balikpapan and easternJava. During theBattle of the Java Sea,Murasame engaged a group ofAllied cruisers and destroyers with her torpedo battery, but missed all of them. However, in the aftermath of the battle,Murasame was sweeping for enemy ships when she, along with other ships noticed the hospital shipSSOp Ten Noort rescuing survivors from several sunken allied warships. Murasame's guns helped to stopOp Ten Noort in her tracks, and she then escortedOp Ten Noort to Singapore, where she was converted into a Japanese prisoner of war ship.[6]
In March and April,Murasame was based atSubic Bay, from which she assisted in the invasion ofCebu and the blockade ofManila Bay in the Philippines. In May, she returned toYokosuka Naval Arsenal for repairs.
During theBattle of Midway on 4–6 June,Murasame was part of the aborted Midway Occupation Force under AdmiralNobutake Kondō. In late July,Murasame damaged the Dutch submarineO-21 with a depth charge attack, before she transferred toMergui via Singapore to join theIndian Ocean raiding force, but the operation was cancelled due to developments atGuadalcanal, and she returned toTruk on 21 August. During theBattle of the Eastern Solomons on 24 August, she was part of the escort for thebattleshipMutsu, and during most of September, she was an escort for theseaplane tenderKunikawa Maru, exploring theSolomon Islands andSanta Cruz Islands for potential base locations.[7]
In early October,Murasame participated in two "Tokyo Express" high speed transport runs to Guadalcanal orLae, suffering from minor damage on 5 October in an air attack nearShortland Islands, which necessitated a return to Truk for repairs. In late October through the end of November,Murasame made an additional nine "Tokyo Express" runs. On 25 October 1942 she assisted in rescuing the crew of the cruiserJapanese cruiser Yura, heavily damaged by aircraft attacks, and the next day took part in theBattle of the Santa Cruz Islands as an aircraft carrier escort under AdmiralTakeo Kurita.
On 9 November,Murasame departed alongside a large Japanese task force. With a goal of conducting another major bombardment onHenderson Field, a former Japanese air base which was captured by US forces and being used against Japanese shipping to great effect, the main ships of the force consisted of the battleshipsHiei andKirishima, each armed with eight 356 mm (14 in) guns and a variety of smaller guns.Hiei served asAdmiral Abe's flagship. Escorting the force came the light cruiserNagara, and a total of eleven destroyers, includingMurasame. While the destroyers initially operated in a standard formation, heavy rain squalls had managed to break up the formation and leave the destroyers operating in small clusters, which leftMurasame in the back left of the formation alongside the destroyersAsagumo andSamidare. This proved crucial in the night of the early morning of the 13th, when the force was attacked by a US task force of two heavy cruisers, three light cruisers and eight destroyers.Murasame was in the back of the formation and was required to close the range to accurately engage the enemy, missing out on the initial action of the battle.[8]
At 2:04,Murasame, along withAsagumo andSamidare finally joined the battle, and noticed the destroyerAmatsukaze under fire from the light cruiserUSSHelena, prompting the group to engageHelena and distract her, allowingAmatsukaze to hide behind a smokescreen and withdraw. Firing her torpedoes,Murasame claimed to torpedo and sinkHelena, who would in fact survive the battle with relatively little damage.[Notes 1] In the process,Murasame was hit by a 6-inch (152 mm) shell that knocked out her forward boiler. After allegedly sinkingHelena, she illuminated another opponent with star shells, the destroyerUSSMonssen.Asagumo,Murasame, andSamidare opened fire and blastedMonssen at point blank range to the starboard side, whileHiei flankedMonssen to port. Within two minutes,Monssen took at least 39 shell hits, including three 14-inch (356 mm) shells fromHiei, and sank 20 minutes later.[8][6]
Due to the shell hit to her boiler,Murasame was forced to withdraw from the battle after the main surface action was over, forced to cruise at 21 knots, and was docked in Truk for repairs by the 18th. These repairs were completed by November 29, andMurasame took part in patrol duty around Truk for the rest of the year.In February 1943,Murasame returned to Truk escorting theaircraft carrierChūyō, and continued on toRabaul to resume transport operations toKolombangara.[6][7]
Main Article:Battle of the Blackett Strait
On 4 March,Murasame and the destroyerMinegumo departed Rabaul on a troop transport run to Kolombangara. While this was being undertaken later that night, the pair ran into an enemy submarine, promptingMurasame andMinegumo to blast the submarine with 5-inch (127 mm) gunfire and send it to the bottom. A heavy oil slick was spotted soon afterwards, and the submarine was listed as sunk; the identify of this submarine is almost certainly theUSSGrampus.Grampus was last seen near the area ofMurasame's andMinegumo's attack less than 24 hours beforehand, and no allied submarines report surviving an attack by Japanese warships.[9][10][11]
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On the morning of the 5th,Murasame andMinegumo stopped at Buin for refueling, before resuming their journey to Kolombangara. Later that night, the pair successfully unloaded their ground troops and supplies before turning around and departing for Rabaul, but they were not alone. The destroyers suffered the misfortune of encountering an American naval task force underway to conduct shore bombardment on Vila, consisting of the light cruisersUSSCleveland,Denver, andMontpellier and their escorting destroyers. The Americans had the fortune of detectingMurasame andMinegumo on their radar guided fire controls, the Japanese did not and were completely ignorant to the presence of the allied ships. After closing to 11,000 yards,Denver andMontpelier opened fire, their target wasMurasame, which on the 6th salvo was hit by a 6-inch (152 mm) shell.Murasame and Minegumo responded with gunfire, but this failed to dissuade their opponents as gunfire blasted awayMurasame's guns, smokestacks, communications, and steering, and flooded seawater into the ships hull. The destroyerUSSWaller closed to point blank range and unleashed a spread of ten torpedoes, two of which nearly hitMurasame but managed to pass underneath the ship. However, one ofWaller's torpedoes continued on and tore intoMinegumo, the destroyer immediately burst into flames and sank by the stern with the loss of 46 men. Simultaneously,Denver andMontpelier's gunfire reached the engines and boilers, cripplingMurasame as she stopped dead in the water. The abandon ship order was issued asDenver andMontpelier continued to drown the driftingMurasame in 6-inch (152 mm) and 5-inch (127 mm) rounds, and some 15 minutes afterMinegumo's loss,Murasame herself sank with the loss of 128 men, including Commander Fukamura Zenzabruo. 53 survivors, including Captain Tachibana Masao swam to Kolombangara and were later rescued.[6][7][12][13][Notes 2]
It is often repeated in Western based accounts of the battle thatDenver andMontpelier sankMinegumo, whileWaller sankMurasame. This was due to an error by historianSamuel Morison who transposed the sinkings of the two Japanese destroyers, claimingMurasame sank at 2:15 andMinegumo sank at 2:30, when it was in fact the opposite. Japanese sources almost unanimously stateMinegumo was torpedoed whileMurasame was sunk by cruiser gunfire.[7][12][14]
A memorial monument to the crew ofMurasame exists atKannonzaki, inYokosuka, Japan.
{{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)Shipwrecks and maritime incidents in March 1943 | |
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