Name Fuyutsuki Laid down 8 May 1943 Commissioned 25 May 1944 Launched 20 January 1944 | Ordered 1942 Completed 25 May 1944 Construction started 8 May 1943 Length 134 m | |
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Cost 17,820,400 JPY (as naval budget) | ||
Fuyutsuki (冬月) was an Akizuki-class destroyer of the Imperial Japanese Navy. Her name means "Winter Moon".
Construction and career
On 25 May 1944, Fuyutsuki was completed at Maizuru Naval Arsenal, and she was assigned to the 11th Destroyer Squadron, Combined Fleet.
On 24 June, she sailed to Yokosuka with Landing Ship No. 4 and Landing Ship No. 104. On 25 June, she escorted the I-Gō Transport Squadron, on 29 June, she was deployed to Chichi-jima with the cruiser Nagara and destroyer Matsu. They returned to Yokosuka on 3 July.
On 11 July, she sailed to Tokuyama with the destroyer Kiyoshimo. On 14 July, she joined the Ro-Gō Transport Squadron, and sailed to Nakagusuku Bay. On 15 July, she was assigned to the 41st Destroyer Division, 10th Division, 3rd Fleet with the destroyer Shimotsuki. Fuyutsuki returned to Kure on 26 July.
On 12 October, while escorting the light cruiser Ōyodo from Yokosuka to the Inland Sea, she was hit in the bow by a torpedo fired from the submarine USS Trepang. She returned to Kure where she was repaired.
On 31 January 1945 she ran aground on a sandbar near Ōita during a training mission in the Inland Sea.
Fuyutsuki participated on the last mission of the battleship Yamato (6–7 April 1945). She sank the crippled destroyer Kasumi with two torpedoes after taking aboard her crew. She was one of the few surviving ships, even though lightly damaged by 127 mm rockets and bombs. Her own losses were 12 dead and 12 injured.
On 20 August 1945, Fuyutsuki hit a mine at Moji, Kyūshū, suffering heavy damage to her stern. She surrendered unrepaired and without armament.