Destroyer Kasumi

Kasumi was laid down at Uraga Dock Company on 1 December 1936, launched 18 November 1937, and commissioned 28 June 1939. She participated in some of the most significant events of the Pacific War from its very start: Kasumi and Arare escorted the Kido Butai (First Air Fleet) during the attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941. She later participated in the Battle of Midway and the Aleutians campaign, where on 5 July 1942 she was hit by a torpedo from USS Growler (in the same attack that sank Arare), which wrecked her bow and killed ten of her crew — damage that kept her under repair until June 1943. By 1945, Kasumi was one of the last surviving Asashio-class destroyers. On 6 April 1945, she sailed as part of the escort for battleship Yamato's final sortie — Operation Ten-Go — the suicidal last mission of the Imperial Japanese Navy to Okinawa. On 7 April 1945, overwhelmed by nearly 400 carrier aircraft from Task Force 58, Kasumi was struck by two bomb hits and numerous near misses. Left dead in the water and beyond saving, she was scuttled by two torpedoes from destroyer Fuyutsuki at approximately 31°N 128°E, about 150 miles southwest of Nagasaki, in the East China Sea.