Japanese destroyer Yamakaze (1911)

For other ships with the same name, see Japanese destroyer Yamakaze.

File:IJN Yamakaze at Ominato Taisho 1.jpg Yamakaze at Ominato, 1926
History
Name:	Yamakaze
Operator:	Imperial Japanese Navy
Builder:	Mitsubishi shipyards, Nagasaki, Japan
Laid down:	November 23, 1909
Launched:	October 10, 1910
Commissioned:	September 28, 1911
Decommissioned:	April 1, 1936
General characteristics
Class & type:	Umikaze-class destroyer
Displacement:	1,030 long tons (1,050 t) normal, 1,150 long tons (1,170 t)
Length:	94.5 m (310 ft) pp, 98.5 m (323 ft)
Beam:	8.6 m (28 ft)
Draught:	2.7 m (8.9 ft)
Propulsion:	3-shaft Parsons steam turbine, 8 boilers, 20,500 ihp (15,300 kW)
Speed:	33 knots (61 km/h)
Range:	850 nmi (1,570 km) at 11 kn (20 km/h)
Complement:	141
Armament:	2 × 120 mm/40 cal guns 5 × 80 mm/40 cal guns 2 × 450 mm torpedoes

Yamakaze (山風, "Mountain Wind") was a Umikaze-class destroyer of the Imperial Japanese Navy. The second and last ship of this class to be built, she was laid down in 1909 and comissioned in 1911. After serving as a coastal patrol boat during World War I, she was converted to a minsweeper on June 1, 1930, along with her sister boat, Umikaze. On April 1, 1936 she was scrapped after 25 years of service.

Background

The Umikaze-class destroyers were designed after the Russo-Japanese War, as the Imperial Japanese Navy realized that the vessels in its current fleet of destroyers were too small and poorly designed for extended "blue water" operation.

Design and Construction

File:IJN Yamakaze launch at Nagasaki-Meiji 44.jpg

Yamakaze launch at Mitsubishi Nagasaki, 1911

The Umikaze-class ships were based largely on the Royal Navy Tribal-class destroyers. In terms of displacement, each vessel was almost three times larger than the previous destroyers in the Japanese Navy.

Externally, the design retained the four-smokestacks of the Ikazuchi class, however, internally the coal-fired triple expansion steam engines, were replaced with heavy oil-fired Parsons steam turbine engines, which was a first for Japan. The rated power of 20,500 shp gave the vessels a high speed of 33 knots (61 km/h), however fuel consumption severely limited range.

Armament was increased over the previous classes, with a pair of QF 4.7 inch Gun Mk I - IV guns, with one gun mounted on a small shelter forward and another on the quarterdeck and five QF 3 inch 12 pounder guns mounted staggered to port and starboard. The number of torpedoes was initially three in unreloadable tubes; but this was quickly changed to two in reloadable tubes in operational service. Yamkaze was laid down on November 23, 1909. After some delay due to turbines not being delivered on schedule, she was launched on October 10, 1910 and commissioned on September 28, 1911.

Service history

During World War I, Yamakaze mostly served as a coastal patrol boat and did not participate in any battle. On June 1, 1930, she was converted to a minesweeper and renamed W-8. Yamakaze was scrapped on April 1, 1936.