Japanese destroyer Isokaze (1939)

Isokaze (磯風) was one of 19 Kagerō-class destroyers built for the Imperial Japanese Navy during the 1930s.

Design and description
The Kagerō class was an enlarged and improved version of the preceding Asashio-class destroyer. Their crew numbered 240 officers and enlisted men. The ships measured 118.5 m overall, with a beam of 10.8 m and a draft of 3.76 m. They displaced 2065 t at standard load and 2529 t at deep load. 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 52000 shp for a designed speed of 35 kn. The ships had a range of 5000 nmi at a speed of 18 kn.

The main armament of the Kagerō class consisted of six Type 3 127 mm guns 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 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 610 mm 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.

Career
On 7 April 1945, Isokaze escorted the battleship JAPANESE BATTLESHIP Yamato from the Inland Sea on her Operation Ten-Go attack on the Allied forces on Okinawa. She was struck by aircraft of Task Force 58 and scuttled by the destroyer JAPANESE DESTROYER Yukikaze with gunfire 150 mi southwest of Nagasaki (30.46°N, 128.92°W). Of those on board, 20 were killed and the rest were rescued by other ships. Yamato's other escorts, including JAPANESE DESTROYER Hamakaze, JAPANESE DESTROYER Asashimo and Yamato herself, were sunk afterwards, Asashimo losing all hands during the encounter.

Isokaze's wreckage was located in an underwater survey in May 2016, but the news was not made public until February 10, 2018.