Wakaba trial run in 1956 |
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| Career (Japan) | |
|---|---|
| Name: | JDS Wakaba |
| Builder: | Kawasaki, Kobe |
| Laid down: | 1 September 1944 |
| Launched: | 17 January 1945 |
| Commissioned: | 15 March 1945 as IJN Nashi |
| Fate: | Sunk, 28 July 1945 Salvaged, 31 September 1954 |
| Recommissioned: | 31 May 1956, as JDS Wakaba |
| Refit: | 1958 (weapons & radar) 1960 (sonar) |
| Struck: | 31 March 1971 |
| Fate: | Scrapped, 1972–73 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Tachibana-class destroyer |
| Displacement: | 1,250 t (1,230 long tons) |
| Length: | 100 m (328 ft 1 in) |
| Beam: | 9.35 m (30 ft 8 in) |
| Draft: | 3.28 m (10 ft 9 in) |
| Propulsion: | 2 × Kampon Type 3 mod C turbines, 15,000 PS (11,000 kW) 2 × Kampon Type 3 mod B2 boilers |
| Speed: | 26 knots (48 km/h; 30 mph) |
| Complement: | 175 |
| Sensors and processing systems: |
Radar (added 1958) : • Mk34 Fire Control • AN/SPS-5B C Band SS • AN/SPS-12 L Band AS • AN/SPS-8B S Band Heightfinder (added 1960) Sonar (added 1960) : • AN/SQR-4/SQA-4 • AN/SQS-11A |
| Armament: | (All added in 1958) • Mk.63 GFCS • 2 × Type 68/Mk.33 3"/50 caliber guns • 1 × Type 54/Mk.10 Hedgehog anti-submarine mortar • 4 × Type 54/Mk.6 K-Guns • 2 × Type 54 Depth charge rack |
JDS Wakaba was the former IJN Nashi, a Tachibana-class destroyer. The Nashi was sunk in July 1945, but salvaged in 1954 as the Wakaba, later being refitted as a radar trials ship. As such she was the only ship of the Imperial Japanese Navy to become part of the post-war Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, and for some time was the biggest ship in the JMSDF.
'Nashi' is a type of pear. 'Wakaba' means "Fresh Verdure" in Japanese, suggesting the "green shoots" of recovery, a symbol of a new start after the war.
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Nashi was completed at Kobe, and under Lieutenant Commander Takada Toshio was assigned to Desron 11, Combined Fleet, for training on 15 March 1945. In May 1945 she was assigned to Destoryer Division 52, Cruiser-Destroyer Squadron 31. Nashi escaped an attack on Kure harbour by B-29's on 22 June 1945, but on 28 July 1945 was sunk at Mitajirizaki, Kure () by aircraft from Halsey's Task Force 38. Takada and most of the crew escaped alive. On 15 September 1945 Nashi was officially struck from the Navy list.
The ship was refloated on 31 September 1954 and then repaired at Kure before being recommissioned in the JMSDF as the Wakaba on 31 May 1956. She was refitted in 1958 for use as a radar trials ship, and sonar was added in 1960.
Wakaba was struck on 31 March 1971, and scrapped in 1972-73.
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