Japanese destroyer Nowaki (1940)

The Kagerō class was an enlarged and improved version of the preceding {{sclass|Asashio|destroyer|4}}. Their crew numbered 240 officers and enlisted men. The ships measured {{convert|118.5|m|ftin|sp=us}} overall, with a beam of {{convert|10.8|m|ftin|sp=us}} and a draft of {{convert|3.76|m|ftin|sp=us}}.Chesneau, p. 194 They displaced {{convert|2065|t|LT|sp=us}} at standard load and {{convert|2529|t|LT|sp=us}} at deep load.Whitley, pp. 200–01 The ships had two Kampon geared steam turbines, each driving one propeller shaft, using steam provided by three Kampon water-tube boilers. The turbines were rated at a total of {{convert|52000|shp|lk=in}} for a designed speed of {{convert|35|kn|lk=in}}. The ships had a range of {{convert|5000|nmi|lk=in}} at a speed of {{convert|18|kn}}.Jentschura, Jung & Mickel, p. 148

The main armament of the Kagerō class consisted of six 12.7 cm/50 Type 3 naval gun in three twin-gun turrets, one superfiring pair aft and one turret forward of the superstructure. They were built with four Type 96 25 mm AT/AA Gun anti-aircraft guns in two twin-gun mounts, but more of these guns were added over the course of the war. The ships were also armed with eight {{convert|610|mm|in|adj=on|1|sp=us}} torpedo tubes for the oxygen-fueled Type 93 "Long Lance" torpedo in two quadruple traversing mounts; one reload was carried for each tube. Their anti-submarine weapons comprised 16 depth charges.

The destroyer was ordered in 1937. Nowaki was laid down on 8 November 1939 and launched on 17 September 1940. The ship was commissioned into the IJN on 28 April 1941, and she was assigned as the third ship of the 4th destroyer division (Arashi, Hagikaze, Nowaki, Maikaze). In the lead up to the second world war, Nowaki steamed through the Terashima Strait and regrouped with Admiral Kondō's fleet.

With the start of the Pacific War on 7 December 1941, Nowaki steamed with the fleet to support the invasion of the Philippines, and it was the next day she scored her first victory on an enemy ship. The Norwegian cargo ship Helius was located by the 4th destroyer division, prompting Nowaki and Hagikaze to inspect her, and ordered Helius to regroup with the fleet, capturing the vessel, escorting her to Japanese waters where she was renamed the Setsuzan Maru and transferred to the Imperial Japanese Army. For the following days, Nowaki provided distant cover for the Japanese troop convoys invading the Philippines, and escorted the Malaya troop convoys. With the Philippines successfully captured, Nowaki switched her focus to the Dutch East Indies, escorting invasion convoys for Staring Bay, and operating in Dutch waters as distance support.{{Cite web |title=IJN Nowaki: Tabular Record of Movement |url=http://www.combinedfleet.com/nowaki_t.htm}}{{Cite web |last=主要兵器 |first=大日本帝国軍 |date=2018-02-04 |title=野分【陽炎型駆逐艦 十五番艦】その1Nowaki【Kagero-class destroyer】 |url=https://japanese-warship.com/destroyer/nowaki/ |access-date=2025-01-21 |website=大日本帝国軍 主要兵器 |language=ja}}

In early March of 1942, the Dutch East Indies had just fallen into Japanese hands, and many allied ships were fleeing to safety in Australia. Nowaki and Arashi were assigned to operate alongside the heavy cruisers {{ship|Japanese cruiser|Maya||2}}, {{ship|Japanese cruiser|Atago||2}}, and {{ship|Japanese cruiser|Takao|1930|2}} in hunting down these ships and prevent them from further serving the enemy. On the 1st, They were immediately successful in this role when Nowaki and Arashi located the Dutch freighters Tomohon and Pagiri, and with gunfire sank both vessels without a fight. Later that day, Nowaki and Arashi located and sank the British minesweeper Scott Harley and the Dutch cargo ship Toradja, then halted and captured the Dutch steamship Bintoehan.{{Cite web |title=IJN MAYA: Tabular Record of Movement |url=http://www.combinedfleet.com/maya_t.htm}}{{Cite web |title=WRECKSITE - TOMOHON CARGO SHIP 1930-1942 |url=https://www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?59343 |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20250502184623/https://www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?59343 |archive-date=2025-05-02 |access-date=2025-05-15 |website=www.wrecksite.eu}}

The next day, Nowaki and Arashi sank the Norwegian cargo ship Prominent. However, greater action was destined to ensue as they joined the heavy cruiser Maya as they were informed that land based aircraft had spotted an enemy warship. This was the destroyer HMS Stronghold, and the three ships sped to intercept the enemy. At 17:43, the trio spotted their target and closed the range, then at 18:21, Maya opened fire at 16,300 yards, while Nowaki and Arashi unleashed their combined twelve 5-inch (127 mm) guns at 11,300. They immediately closed the range as Stronghold began to take hits aft and flooding began to slow the ship. Over the course of a half hour, Maya closed to 3,000 yards, and Nowaki and Arashi to 2,000 yards. Stronghold was completely disabled, on fire, and slipping beneath the waterline as the abandon ship order was issued and the destroyer sank at 19:00 with the loss of 70 men. Nowaki fired 345 5-inch (127 mm) shells, Arashi 290, and Maya 635.

On 3 March, Nowaki and Arashi tracked down the gunboat USS Asheville, which was also located by Japanese aircraft. After locating Asheville, they believed it was a merchant vessel and prepared a capture, only for Asheville to open fire with her three 4-inch (102 mm) guns to little effect. In respence, Nowaki and Arashi closed to point blank range and dumped 300 5-inch (127 mm) rounds. Asheville's forecastle and bridge were almost entirely shot away, and the gunboat sank by the stern over a half hour with the loss of 170 sailors. Arashi only had room for a single survivor, Fed L Brown, who later died in a prisoner of war camp in March of 1945.{{Cite web |title=Asheville I (Gunboat No. 21) |url=https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/a/asheville-gunboat-no-21-i.html |access-date=2025-05-16 |website=public2.nhhcaws.local |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |last=Fleiss |first=Alex |date=2021-10-15 |title=The Last Ship to Die: USS Asheville (PG-21) |url=https://www.rebellionresearch.com/the-last-ship-to-die-uss-asheville-pg-21 |access-date=2025-05-16 |website=Rebellion Research |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |title=PG-21 Asheville |url=https://www.navsource.org/archives/12/09021.htm |access-date=2025-05-16 |website=www.navsource.org}}

Finally on 4 March, Nowaki found herself involved in an attack on an allied convoy destined for Australia, where she helped to sink the British oil tanker Francol, the minesweepers M-3 and M-51, and the depot ship Anking. A half hour later, the sloop HMAS Yarra bravely attempted to defend the remaining ships against her attackers, which prompted the gunfire of Nowaki, Takao, and Atago to blast Yarra and sink her in a blaze of glory. Atago and Arashi then captured the Dutch steamships Tjisaroea and Duymer Van Twist.

After either helping to sink or capture 13 enemy ships, the depleted Nowaki returned to Staring Bay on the 7th, then from the 18th to 3 April escorted Atago on an inspection cruise across Tarakan, Balikpapan, Makassar, Singapore, and Penang. Nowaki finally returned to the homeland on 18 April, and was drydocked in Yokosuka for a much needed refit.

Main Article: Battle of Midway

At the start of June, destroyer division 4 left Yokosuka for a planed invasion of Midway Island; the Japanese aircraft carriers Akagi, Kaga, Sōryū, and Hiryū would lure out American aircraft carriers, and combined air and surface attacks would sink them in a decisive battle, while a large troop convoy would land in the Midway Atoll and capture the island. In what became the battle of Midway, Nowaki and the rest of the 4th destroyer division were assigned directly as anti-aircraft escorts to the carriers, and sailed with Admiral Nagumo's main strike force. As the carriers attacked Midway Island, the submarine USS Nautilus attacked the fleet, Arashi failed to depth charge and sink the submarine, which enabled Arashi to be spotted by a wave of planes from the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise and followed back to the main formation. The initial air attacks from USS Hornet were propelled, but a flight of dive bombers from the aircraft carriers Enterprise and USS Yorktown bombed Akagi, Kaga, and Sōryu, Hiryū initially survived and helped to sink Yorktown, but was herself sunk by Yorktown and Enterprise dive bombers.{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bd8_vO5zrjo&t=817s |title=The Battle of Midway 1942: Told from the Japanese Perspective (1/3) |date=2019-04-27 |last=Montemayor |access-date=2025-05-16 |via=YouTube}}{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXjydKPcX60 |title=The Battle of Midway: Hiryu's Counterstrike (2/3) |date=2020-08-11 |last=Montemayor |access-date=2025-05-16 |via=YouTube}}{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHO6xrSF7Sw |title=The Battle of Midway: The American Perspective and The Strategic Consequences of the Battle (3/3) |date=2020-08-11 |last=Montemayor |access-date=2025-05-16 |via=YouTube}}

File:Aerial view of the Japanese aircraft carrier Akagi maneuvering on 4 June 1942 (USAF-57576).jpg during the battle of Midway, 6 June 1942]]

Nowaki's crew could only watch as Akagi, Kaga, and Sōryū exploded after being hit by US aircraft. Nagumo had continued a rearming process to land based weaponry in spite of knowledge of a potential enemy task force, and the bomb hits detonated the thousands of pounds worth of explosives inside the fight deck. All damage control efforts to save the ships failed, and there was only one thing left to do. Nowaki removed Admiral Nagumo from the destroyed Akagi and acted as Japanese flagship for the remainder of the battle, before helping to scuttle the dying Akagi with her torpedoes. Other destroyers did the same to the other carriers, ending arguably the most devastating Japanese defeat of the entire war.

File:Nowaki-1.jpg

After the battle, Nowaki transferred Nagumo to the light cruiser Nagara, then escorted the light carrier Zuihō to the Aleutian Islands, where she spent the next few days on patrol duty, before finally returning to Yokosuka. On 14 July, the 4th destroyer division was reassigned to destroyer squadron 10, and on 16 August departed Kure to escort the Japanese fleet to Truk, arriving at their destination on the 21st. A week later, the Japanese aircraft carriers Shōkaku and Zuikaku and their escorts fought the American aircraft carriers Enterprise and USS Saratoga at the battle of the Eastern Solomons, with Nowaki again serving as an anti-aircraft platform. No waves of aircraft attacked the main fleet this time, but Saratoga aircraft still sank the light carrier Ryūjō of the decoy force, while land based aircraft sank the destroyer Mutsuki and the troop transport Kinyu Maru, ending the battle in an American victory as Nowaki and her companions returned to Truk.Hammel (1999), pp. 209–225

File:Nowaki-194308.jpg

From 1-9 September, Nowaki escorted the tanker Toa Maru - which was towing the crippled and disabled destroyer Shirakumo - to the Shortlands and back, and spent the rest of the months on patrol duty off Truk. The first half of October saw troop transport missions to Guadalcanal, where an air raid lightly damaged Nowaki with near misses, killing 11 and wounding 19, before escorting the supply group which supported the Japanese aircraft carriers at the battle of Santa Cruz. Waves of aircraft from Shōkaku, Zuikaku, Junyō, and Zuihō crippled the aircraft carrier USS Hornet (later finished off by destroyers Akigumo and Makigumo) and the destroyer USS Porter, and damaged multiple other American ships would suffering a single loss, ending the battle in a Japanese victory. Afterwards, she escorted the badly damaged Shōkaku to Kure, before departing for Rabaul as a consort to the escort carrier Akitsu Maru. At the start on December, Nowaki took part in a troop transport mission to Guadalcanal.

On 7 December 1942, Nowaki was underway as part of a troop transport mission to Guadalcanal when land-based aircraft attacked the formation, and Nowaki was singled out. A bomb near miss land right next to the ship's starboard center; so close it effectively acted as a torpedo hit. The engine and boilers were completely flooded, and Nowaki stopped dead in the water. The destroyer Naganami took Nowaki under tow, while the destroyers Arashi and Ariake escorted them to the Shortlands. From the 13th to the 18th, Maikaze further towed the crippled Nowaki to Truk, where over the next month she was patched up to just about get her engines up and running. From 16-24 February, Nowaki escorted a convoy to Yokosuka, where she could receive more permanent repairs. The damage was so devastating, Nowaki spent until early August docked in Yokosuka under repair, where she was refitted with type 13 and 22 search radars and multiple new AA gun placements.

File:Chokai and Fujinami.jpg during the battle off Samar, 25 October 1944]]

Nowaki fled Truk on 17 February 1944 in the midst of the massive American air and surface attack known as Operation Hailstone and escaped pursuit by US Task Force 50.9 with minor splinter damage despite being straddled several times by 16 inch salvos from {{USS|Iowa|BB-61|6}} and {{USS|New Jersey|BB-62|6}} at extreme range.

=== Philippine Sea and Leyte Gulf ===

Returning to the Central Pacific after repairs in Japan, Nowaki took part in the Battle of the Philippine Sea.

In the Battle off Samar on 25 October 1944, Nowaki took part in the torpedo attack on the U.S. escort carriers and assisted in sinking the destroyer {{USS|Johnston|DD-557|6}}. Later, she removed survivors from the cruiser {{ship|Japanese cruiser|Chikuma|1938|2}} and scuttled her with torpedoes, although recent studies suggests that she only managed to arrive in time to rescue the survivors, as Chikuma herself had sunk beforehand. The next day, Nowaki was isolated from the rest of the centerforce when she was met by the gunfire of the light cruisers {{USS|Vincennes|CL-64|6}}, {{USS|Miami|CL-89|6}}, and {{USS|Biloxi|CL-80|6}}.{{Cite web |title=Biloxi (CL-80) |url=https://www.history.navy.mil/content/history/nhhc/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/b/biloxi-cl-80.html |access-date=2024-06-02 |website=NHHC |language=en-US}} Lit aflame and badly crippled by gunfire, Nowaki was finished off by torpedoes from the destroyer {{USS|Owen|DD-536|6}}, {{convert|65|mi|km}} east-southeast of Legaspi ({{coord|13|0|N|124|54|E|display=inline, title}}). There were no survivors, including the rescued Chikuma sailors.

• List of ships of the Imperial Japanese Navy

{{reflist}}

• {{cite book|title=Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922–1946|editor1-last=Chesneau|editor1-first=Roger|publisher=Conway Maritime Press|location=Greenwich, UK|year=1980|isbn=0-85177-146-7}}
• {{cite book| last = Jentschura| first = Hansgeorg| first2 = Dieter |last2=Jung|first3=Peter |last3=Mickel| year = 1977| title = Warships of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1869–1945| publisher = United States Naval Institute| location = Annapolis, Maryland| isbn = 0-87021-893-X|name-list-style=amp}}
• {{cite book|last=Whitley|first=M. J.|title=Destroyers of World War 2|publisher=Naval Institute Press|date=1988|isbn=0-87021-326-1|location=Annapolis, Maryland}}
• Hammel, Eric: Carrier Clash: The Invasion of Guadalcanal & The Battle of the Eastern Solomons August 1942. St. Paul, Minnesota: Zenith Press. {{ISBN|0-7603-2052-7}}.

• [http://www.combinedfleet.com/kagero_c.htm CombinedFleet.com: Kagero-class destroyers]
• [http://www.combinedfleet.com/nowaki_t.htm CombinedFleet.com: Nowaki history]
• [https://japanese-warship.com/destroyer/nowaki/ Imperial Japanese Navy Major Weapons - Nowaki]

{{Kagerō-class destroyer}}

{{October 1944 shipwrecks}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nowaki}}

Category:Kagerō-class destroyers

Category:World War II destroyers of Japan

Category:World War II shipwrecks in the Philippine Sea

Category:1940 ships

Category:Warships lost in combat with all hands

Category:Maritime incidents in October 1944

Category:Ships built by Maizuru Naval Arsenal