Destroyer Teruzuki

Teruzuki (照月) was the second ship of the Akizuki-class destroyers, the Imperial Japanese Navy's dedicated anti-aircraft destroyer class. She was laid down at the Mitsubishi shipyard in Nagasaki on 13 November 1940, launched on 21 November 1941, and commissioned on 31 August 1942.

The Akizuki class was designed specifically for fleet air defense, armed with eight 10 cm/65 Type 98 dual-purpose guns in four twin mounts — the best anti-aircraft armament on any Japanese destroyer of the war. At approximately 2,700 tons standard displacement, these were among the largest destroyers in the Imperial Japanese Navy.

Teruzuki's operational career was tragically brief. After commissioning, she was quickly deployed to the Solomon Islands campaign, where she fought at the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands in October and the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal in November. On the night of 11-12 December 1942, during a "Tokyo Express" resupply run to Guadalcanal, Teruzuki — then flagship of Rear Admiral Raizō Tanaka — was hit in the stern by torpedoes from American PT boats (most accounts name PT-37 and PT-40, though sources differ). The hits wrecked her rudder and a propeller shaft and started an oil fire that could not be controlled; some hours later it set off her depth charges and she sank off Guadalcanal. Nine men were killed; the rest of the crew were taken off by the destroyers Naganami and Arashi or reached Guadalcanal, after only about three months of active service.