Shimakaze
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'Shimakaze' was a one-off super-destroyer built for the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II. A virtual cruiser, she was armed with six 127mm dual purpose guns and conventional anti-aircraft and anti-submarine weaponry. More importantly, she was also armed with 15 torpedo tubes each capable of firing the deadly 24-inch Long Lance torpedo. The ship was a testbed for an enormously powerful high-temperature, high-pressure steam engine that was able to develop nearly 80,000 shaft horsepower. This made her possibly the fastest destroyer in the world: her designed speed was 39 knots, but on trials she made 40.9 knots. Ordered in 1939 under the Fourth Naval Replacement Programme (the Maru Yon programme), Shimakaze was laid down in Maizuru naval dockyard in August 1941 and completed on 10 May 1943. She saw action in the evacuation of Kiska in July 1943 and was present in 1944 at the Battle of the Philippine Sea. While flagship of the 2nd Torpedo-Boat Flotilla, she was sunk by American aircraft on 8 November 1944 during the Battle of Ormoc Bay. Japan had intended to lay down sixteen such destroyers, with long term plans for a total of 32 to equip 4 destroyer squadrons, but a lack of industrial capacity prevented them from being realized.
