Destroyer Hatsushimo

Hatsushimo was a Hatsuharu-class destroyer of the Imperial Japanese Navy, built by Uraga Dock Company: laid down on 31 January 1933, launched on 4 November 1933 and commissioned on 27 September 1934, displacing about 1,802 tons. Her armament was five 12.7 cm guns (two twin mounts and one single), three triple 61 cm torpedo tube mounts, anti-aircraft guns and depth charges.

From 1937 to 1940 she took part in operations of the Second Sino-Japanese War. After the outbreak of the Pacific War she joined the invasion of the Dutch East Indies in January–February 1942, and from May 1942 served in the Aleutians. On 26 March 1943 she fought in the Battle of the Komandorski Islands, and in July she joined the screening force for the evacuation of Kiska. In June 1944 she took part in the Battle of the Philippine Sea, and on 24 October she rescued 74 survivors of her sunken division mate Wakaba in Philippine waters.

In April 1945 Hatsushimo escorted the battleship Yamato on Operation Ten-Go. After Yamato, the light cruiser Yahagi and other ships were sunk by U.S. carrier aircraft, she rescued survivors of Yamato, Yahagi and the destroyer Hamakaze, and was one of the few destroyers to survive the sortie.

On 30 July 1945, aircraft of U.S. Task Force 38 attacked Miyazu Bay near Maizuru; while evading, Hatsushimo struck an air-dropped mine. Her crew ran her aground in shallow water, and 17 men were killed. The war had about two weeks left to run.

Hatsushimo was the 129th and last destroyer lost by the Imperial Japanese Navy in the war. She was struck from the navy list on 30 September 1945, and her wreck was broken up in 1948–1949.