JAPANESE DESTROYER AKATSUKI

Akatsuki was a Japanese destroyer whose keel was laid in 1930, launched in May 1932, and commissioned in the Imperial Japanese Navy in November 1932. The length of the ship at the time of launching was 118.4 m, width 10.4 m, and the actual full displacement - 2,050 tons. Destroyer Akatsuki's top speed was up to 38 knots! The main armament at the time of the launch was 6 127 mm guns in three twin turrets, and the secondary armament were 25 mm cannons, depth charges, and nine 610 mm torpedo tubes with nine spare torpedoes. Akatsuki was the twenty-first Fubuki-class destroyer. When designing destroyers of this type, the focus was on the most powerful armament - especially torpedo ones - and high maximum speed, at the expense of e.g. armor and, in particular, the living conditions of the crew. As a result, a series of ships was created that aroused the admiration of Western experts and the concern of US and British naval intelligence services! In the course of the service, however, some design shortcomings were revealed: first of all, the wrong center of gravity, which resulted in poor stability of these destroyers, as well as insufficient overall strength of the structure. However, all Fubuki-class ships underwent repairs and modernizations in the period 1935-1938, which eliminated the above-mentioned disadvantages. Undoubtedly, destroyers of this type were among the best destroyers in the world at the turn of the 1930s and 1940s, maintaining their combat value throughout the entire war in the Pacific. The destroyer Akatsuki underwent its baptism of fire in the Japanese-Chinese struggle that broke out in 1937. At the outbreak of World War II in the Pacific, he supported Japanese landings in Malaya, and later - in early 1942 - also operations in the Philippines and Java. From May-June 1942, he served in the North Pacific, taking part in operations against the Aleutians shortly thereafter. However, in August, with the launch of the Guadalcanal campaign, he returned to the south and fought in the Guadalcanal area. There, too, on November 13, 1942, he was sunk.