Shimushu class coastal defense ship

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Career Japanese Navy Ensign
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General characteristics
Displacement: 860tons standard
Length: 255 ft (77.7 m)
Beam: 29 ft 10 in (9.1 m)
Draft: 10 ft (3.05 m)
Speed: 19.7 knots
Complement: 150
Armament: 3 × 4.7 in (120 mm) / 45 cal DP guns,
Initially 4 25 mm AA guns, but later up to 15 × 25 mm AA guns,
12 initially, but up to 60 depth charges and six depth charge throwers
one 3.1 in (80 mm) mortar

The Shimushu class coastal defense ships were a class of ships in the service of the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II.

The four ships of the Shimushu class would provide the foundation for the five following classes of 171 Japanese Kaibokan type coast defense ships. The Japanese called them coast defense ships to denote a multi-purpose vessel. They were initially intended for patrol and fishery protection, minesweeping and lastly, convoy escorts.

The Shimushu class was initially armed with just twelve depth charges, but this was doubled in May 1942 when their minesweeping gear was removed. The ASW weaponry would later rise to 60 depth charges with a 8 cm trench mortar and six depth charge throwers. The rise of aircraft also saw the number of AA machine guns increase to 15.

The ships of the class were the Shimushu, Hachijo, Kunashiri, and Ishigaki. Ishigaki was the only ship of the class to be sunk during the war, being torpedoed by the USS Herring on 31 May 1944.

[edit] References

http://www.combinedfleet.com/Shimushu_c.htm

Worth, Richard, Fleets of World War II, Da Capo Press (2001), ISBN 0-306-81116-2

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