Kagero Class Destroyer Summary

This is a 3D printed sculpt of the Kagero class destroyer game piece from EBard Models.

The Kagerō-class consisted of nineteen destroyers built for the Imperial Japanese Navy during the 1930s. At the time of introduction, these destroyers were among the deadliest destroyers afloat, primarily due to the excellent range and lethality of their "Long Lance" torpedoes.

The Kagero class was based upon the design of the preceding Asashio class and had an almost identical silhouette, but was slightly larger and incorporated a number of improvements which had been gained through operational experience. It had a heavier main battery and much heavier torpedo armament than other contemporary foreign destroyer designs. The first 15 ships of this class were ordered in 1937 under the 3rd Naval Armaments Supplement Programme and the final four vessels were ordered in 1939 under the 4th Naval Armaments Supplement Programme. The final vessel in the class, Akigumo, was sometimes mistaken for part of the succeeding Yūgumo class by immediate postwar historians due to confusion over the number of fictitious destroyers listed in the Japanese budgetary records in an effort to conceal the budget devoted to the secret Yamato-class battleships.

During the war the Kagerō class was used extensively in the Solomons campaign, and wartime attrition was severe, with 18 of 19 vessels lost. In all, six were sunk by air attack, five by submarine attack, five in battle with other surface forces, one by a mine, and the remaining two sunk by a combination of mines and air attack. Yukikaze was the only ship to survive the war. All but the Natsushio (sunk in February 1942) took part in the Battle of Midway. 7 out of the only 9 destroyers of the Pearl Harbor strike force were of the Kagero class.

Ship of Class:

• Kagerō - Air attack SW of Rendova (New Georgia Campaign), 1943
• Shiranui - Air attack N of Iloilo, Panay, 1944
• Kuroshio - Mined leaving Vila, Kolombangara (New Georgia Campaign), 1943
• Oyashio - Mined, air attack leaving Vila, Kolombangara (New Georgia Campaign), 1943
• Hayashio - Scuttled after air attack, Guna Bay (New Guinea Campaign), 1942
• Natsushio - Torpedoed S of Makassar, 1942
• Hatsukaze - Sunk in Battle of Empress Augusta Bay, 1943
• Yukikaze - Surrendered to Republic of China in 1947
• Amatsukaze - Air attack E of Xiamen, 1945
• Tokitsukaze - Air attack SE of Finschhafen, 1943
• Urakaze - Torpedoed NNW of Keelung, Taiwan, 1944
• Isokaze - Scuttled SW of Nagasaki following air attack, 1945
• Hamakaze - Air attack SW of Nagasaki, 1945
• Tanikaze - Torpedoed in Sibutu Passage, 1944
• Nowaki - Sunk in the aftermath of the Battle off Samar, 1944
• Arashi - Sunk in Battle of Vella Gulf (New Georgia Campaign), 1943
• Hagikaze - Sunk in Battle of Vella Gulf, 1943
• Maikaze - Sunk in surface action during Operation Hailstone at Truk, 1944
• Akigumo - Torpedoed SE of Zamboanga, Philippines, 1944

Selecting the hull camouflage option adds hull numbers and mid-ship lettering as shown.

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