Japanese destroyer Warabi

The Japanese destroyer Warabi (蕨) was one of 21 Momi-class destroyers built for the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) in the late 1910s. The ship was sunk on August 24, 1927 in a collision with the cruiser JAPANESE CRUISER Jintsū off Miho Bay, and was struck from the naval list on September 15, 1927.

Design and description
The Momi class was designed with higher speed and better seakeeping than the preceding Enoki-class destroyer second-class destroyers. The ships had an overall length of 280 ft and were 275 ft between perpendiculars. They had a beam of 26 ft, and a mean draft of 8 ft. The Momi-class ships displaced 850 LT at standard load and 1020 LT at deep load. Warabi was powered by two Parsons geared steam turbines, each driving one propeller shaft using steam provided by three Kampon water-tube boilers. The turbines were designed to produce 21500 shp to give the ships a speed of 36 kn. The ships carried a maximum of 275 LT of fuel oil which gave them a range of 3000 nmi at 15 kn. Their crew consisted of 110 officers and crewmen.

The main armament of the Momi-class ships consisted of three 12 cm Type 3 guns in single mounts; one gun forward of the well deck, one between the two funnels, and the last gun atop the aft superstructure. The guns were numbered '1' to '3' from front to rear. The ships carried two above-water twin sets of 533 mm torpedo tubes; one mount was in the well deck between the forward superstructure and the bow gun and the other between the aft funnel and aft superstructure.

Construction and career
Warabi, built at the Fujinagata Shipyards in Osaka, was laid down on October 12, 1920, launched on September 28, 1921 and completed on December 19, 1921. The ship was sunk on August 24, 1927 in a collision with the cruiser JAPANESE CRUISER Jintsū off Miho Bay, and was struck from the naval list on September 15, 1927. In the collision and sinking, 119 people died.

Wreck
In September 2020 researchers discovered what they concluded is the forward section of Warabi 33 km to the northeast of the Mihonoseki Lighthouse, Shimane Prefecture, noting that the ship had broken in two in the collision,. The aft part was located in July 2021, 10 km north of the bow.