Yakaze in July 1922.
History
Empire of Japan
Name	Yakaze
Ordered	1917 fiscal year
Builder	Mitsubishi,Nagasaki
Laid down	24 January 1918
Launched	10 April 1920
Completed	19 July 1920
Commissioned	19 July 1920
Reclassified	As radio-controlledtarget ship, 20 July 1942
Fate	Scrapped, 1948
General characteristics (As built)
Class and type	Minekaze-classdestroyer
Displacement	1,366 t (1,344 long tons) (normal) 1,676 t (1,650 long tons) (deep load)
Length	97.5 m (319 ft 11 in) (pp) 102.5 m (336 ft 3 in) (o/a)
Beam	9.04 m (29 ft 8 in)
Draft	2.9 m (9 ft 6 in)
Installed power	38,500 shp (28,700 kW) 4 × Kamponwater-tube boilers
Propulsion	2 shafts; 2 × Kampon gearedsteam turbines
Speed	39knots (72 km/h; 45 mph)
Range	3,600 nmi (6,700 km; 4,100 mi) at 14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph)
Complement	148
Armament	4 × single12 cm (4.7 in) Type 3 guns 3 × twin 53.3 cm (21.0 in)torpedo tubes 20 ×mines
General characteristics (As target vessel)
Displacement	1,531 long tons (1,556 t) (full load)
Installed power	11,260 shp (8,400 kW)
Speed	24 knots (44 km/h; 28 mph)
Armament	1 × 5 cm (2.0 in) gun 4 ×25 mm (0.98 in) Type 96AA guns
Service record
Operations:	Second Sino-Japanese War

TheJapanese destroyerYakaze (矢風,Arrow Wind) was one of 15Minekaze-classdestroyers built for theImperial Japanese Navy (IJN) during the late 1910s. A decade later, the ship served as aplane guard. During thePacific War, she was initially as themother ship for a remotely controlledtarget ship and then became a radio-controlled target ship herself in 1942. Although she was badly damaged in mid-1945,Yakaze survived the war and wasscrapped in 1948.

TheMinekaze class was designed with higher speed and betterseakeeping than the precedingKawakaze-class destroyers.^[1] The ships had anoverall length of 102.5 meters (336 ft 3 in) and were 94.5 meters (310 ft 0 in)between perpendiculars. They had abeam of 9.04 meters (29 ft 8 in), and a meandraft of 2.9 meters (9 ft 6 in). TheMinekaze-class ships displaced 1,366 metric tons (1,344 long tons) atstandard load and 1,676 metric tons (1,650 long tons) atdeep load.^[2] They were powered by twoParsons gearedsteam turbines, each driving onepropeller shaft, using steam provided by fourKamponwater-tube boilers. The turbines were designed to produce 38,500shaft horsepower (28,700 kW), which would propel the ships at 39knots (72 km/h; 45 mph). The ships carried 401 metric tons (395 long tons) offuel oil which gave them a range of 3,600nautical miles (6,700 km; 4,100 mi) at 14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph). Their crew consisted of 148 officers and crewmen.^[3]

The main armament of theMinekaze-class ships consisted of four12-centimeter (4.7 in) Type 3 guns in single mounts; one gun forward of thesuperstructure, one between the twofunnels, one aft of the rear funnel, and the last gun atop the aft superstructure. The guns were numbered '1' to '4' from front to rear. The ships carried three above-water twin sets of 53.3-centimeter (21.0 in)torpedo tubes; one mount was in thewell deck between the forward superstructure and the forward gun and the other two were between the aft funnel and aft superstructure. They could also carry 20mines^[3] as well asminesweeping gear.^[4]

In 1937,Yakaze was converted into a radio control ship for the ex-battleshipSatsuma that was serving as a target ship. As part of the conversion, her torpedo tubes were removed and her main armament was reduced to one or two 12 cm guns.^[2] On 20 July 1942, she was reclassified as a target ship for aircraft^[5] and her armament was reduced to a single 5-centimeter (2.0 in) gun and four license-built25 mm (0.98 in) Type 96 lightAA guns.^[2] Her power was reduced to 11,260 shp (8,400 kW) which cut her speed to 24 knots (44 km/h; 28 mph).^[1]

Yakaze, built at theMitsubishishipyard inNagasaki, waslaid down on 15 August 1918,launched on 20 April 1920 and completed on 19 July 1920. On commissioning,Yakaze was assigned to theKure Naval District under theIJN 2nd Fleet.

In 1931,Yakaze was teamed withsister shipsMinekaze,Okikaze, andSawakaze atSasebo Naval District to form Destroyer Division 2 under the1st Air Fleet as part of the escort of theaircraft carriersAkagi andHōshō to assist insearch and rescue operations for downed aircraft. At the time of theFirst Shanghai incident of 1932,Yakaze was engaged in river patrol duties along theYangzi River inChina. On 11 March 1939, she collided with thesubmarineI-61.^[6] Due to damage and flooding incurred during theAttack on Yokosuka on 18 July 1945, she is towed toNagaura and placed in No. 2 drydock, eventually sinking due to lack of repairmen. At the time of thesurrender of Japan in September 1945, theYakaze was still bottomed. Scrapped 1947.^[5][1][7]

• Gardiner, Robert & Gray, Randal, eds. (1985).Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press.ISBN 0-85177-245-5.
• Howarth, Stephen (1983).The Fighting Ships of the Rising Sun: The Drama of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1895–1945. Atheneum.ISBN 0-689-11402-8.
• Jentschura, Hansgeorg; Jung, Dieter & Mickel, Peter (1977).Warships of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1869–1945. Annapolis, Maryland: United States Naval Institute.ISBN 0-87021-893-X.
• Nevitt, Allyn D. (1997)."IJNYakaze: Tabular Record of Movement".HYOTEKIKAN. Combinedfleet.com. Retrieved10 November 2015.
• Watts, Anthony J. & Gordon, Brian G. (1971).The Imperial Japanese Navy. Garden City, New York: Doubleday.ISBN 0385012683.
• Whitley, M. J. (1988).Destroyers of World War Two. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press.ISBN 0-87021-326-1.

• Minekaze-class destroyers
• Ships built by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries
• 1920 ships
• World War II destroyers of Japan
• Maritime incidents in 1939
• Maritime incidents in July 1945

• Articles with Japanese-language sources (ja)
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Articles containing Japanese-language text