Shimushu escort
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| Career |  |
|---|---|
| Ordered: | |
| Laid down: | 29 November 1938 |
| Launched: | 13 December 1939 |
| Commissioned: | 30 June 1940 |
| Fate: | Sold to Soviet Union, 5 July 1947 |
| Struck: | 5 October 1945 |
| 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, up to 15 × 25 mm AA guns, Up to 60 depth charges and six depth charge throwers one 3.1 in (80 mm) mortar |
Shimushu was lead ship of its class, the foundation of all of Japan's "Kaibokan" coast defense ships.
Shimushu participated in the landings in Thailand, escorting the 55th IJA Infantry Division to landings at Nakhon on 8 December 1941. Shimushu also escorted various other invasion convoys on Malaya, Sumatra, Palembang. Shimushu, using her sonar, located the British battlecruiser HMS Repulse on 29 January 1942, being the first ship to locate her wreck after she sank.
The Shimushu participated in and was the sole escort in the HI-40 convoy disaster, in which all six oilers that were escorted by her were torpedoed and sunk on 19 - 24 February 1944 by the USS Grayback and the USS Jack. After that convoy disaster, the Naval General staff discontinued assigning only one escort to convoys and organized larger convoys with more escorts.
Shimushu participated in the TA No. 2 and 3, the Japanese effort to hold Leyte island, and claimed downing one of the five B-25s lost in the first wave. On 25 November 1944 Shimushu was torpedoed by the USS Haddo and lost her bow, and was repaired by 20 January 1945.
Shimushu spent more than a year on repatriation duty and was ceded to the Soviet Union on 5 July 1947.
[edit] References
http://www.combinedfleet.com/Shimushu_t.htm
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