JAPANESE DESTROYER SAKURA

Sakura was a Japanese destroyer whose keel was laid in 1944, launched in September 1944, and commissioned in the Imperial Japanese Navy in November 1944. The length of the ship at the time of launching was 100 m, width 9.4 m, and full displacement - 1,500 tons. The top speed of destroyer Sakura was up to 28 knots. At the time of the launch, the main armament was 3 127 mm guns in single mounts, and the additional armament was 20 25 mm cannons, depth charge launchers and four 610 mm torpedo tubes. Sakura was the thirteenth Matsu-class destroyer. The ships of this type were built during the war in the Pacific, struggling with problems with the supply of strategic raw materials. Therefore, the best cost-effect ratio was achieved. The result was ships much smaller than previous Japanese destroyers, with a slower maximum speed, but much better equipped with anti-aircraft weapons and anti-submarine armament (ZOP). Destroyer Sakura's combat career turned out to be very short. From the turn of January and February 1945, the destroyer performed convoy service in its home waters, and in March this year it operated in the Shanghai area. However, on July 11, 1945, the destroyer Sakura sank after hitting a mine in the port of Osaka.