Copyright 2010 by Brandon Cope

Home

Back to Vehicles

Fubuki-class destroyer

The Fubuki-class destroyers began entering service in the late 1920's and were arguably the most powerful destroyers in the world, armed with three twin 5” turrets and nine 610mm torpedoes and reaching speeds of over 40 mph. Even by 1941, the class remained formidable warships. However, like many other interwar combat vessels, they carried an inadequate anti-aircraft armament, only two 13mm heavy machine guns. Additionally, it was not designed for anti-sub operations (but could carry mines).

Starting around 1935, improvements were made to increase seaworthiness and hull strength. These modifications (including added ballast) increased displacement by 400 tons and lowered speed slightly. To reduce weight above deck, some had their torpedo reloads removed. Additionally, the ships, with high angle mounts for the 5” guns, had them placed in smaller, lighter turrets with more normal elevation. Some had a pair of 25mm cannons added for air defense.

Twenty Fubuki-class destroyers were built and 19 lost in action (other Japanese destroyer classes suffered such heavy losses as well), the Ushio being the only survivor.

The crew is normally 197 men. The ship uses 2,237 gallons of diesel per hour. At a speed of 16 mph, this gives a range of 5,750 miles.

Subassemblies: Heavy Destroyer chassis +8, waterproofed Large Conning superstructure +5, waterproofed partial rotation Small Secondary turrets #1-3 +4, two full rotation Mini Weapon open mount #1-2, three partial rotation Medium Secondary open mounts #3-5 +4.
P&P: 2x18,643 kW steam turbines w/2x18,643-kW screw propellers, 158,300-gallon standard fuel tank; 80,000-kWs batteries
Occ: 12 NCS Sup, 14 NCS Body
Cargo: 300 Body

Armor

Body: F 4/150, other 4/60

Superstructure: 4/60

5” turrets: 4/60

Armament
6x127mm Medium DP Guns/100mm Mod 35 [Tur:1-3:F) (200 each)
2xLong Ground HMGs [OM#1-2:F] (6,000 each)
9x610mm torpedo tubes [OM#3-5:F] (18 total).
2xdepth charge racks [Body:T, facing B] (18 each).

Equipment
Body: 500 bilge, 10 bilge pumps, 300 cargo, 3x3-ton cranes (for torpedoes), 10 fire extinguishers, 185 hammocks, 8 cabins, 14 crew stations, 4 hospital beds, 250 man environmental system, 14,400 man/days provisions, precision navigation instruments, very large radio transmitter and very large radio receiver, radio direction finder, fire direction center (5” guns), fire direction center (torpedoes), 2 mile passive sonar, workshop. Superstructure: Autopilot, 12 crew stations, precision navigation instruments, fire extinguisher, 4 cabins. Turrets: Universal mount. OM1-2: Universal mount.

Statistics

HT: 11
HP: 150,000 [body], 1,500 [superstructure], 560 [turrets], 45 [open mount 1-2], 750 [open mount 3-5]

Floatation Rating: 5,040 tons

Design Notes
The historical displacement of 2,570 tons was used to calculate performance data. Design draft was 14'; the historical number was used instead. Design wSpeed was 39 mph.

Up to 18 mines could be carried in place of depth charges.

Variants
In 1943, the AA armament of surviving ships was upgraded to four HMGs and fourteen 25mm cannons, at the cost of one 5” turret. Some ships added more AA guns as the war went on, as high as 22 25mm guns. Radar was added later in the war ti the few remaining ships.

The four Akatsuki-class ships (1931) were slightly shorter, but otherwise the same. Some sources treat them as a subclass rather than a distinct class.

The Asashio-class (1937) were almost the same as the Fubukis, but the three triple torpedo tubes were reduced to two quadruple mounts and the 13mm HMGs were replaced by 25mm cannons. Ten were built.

In 1939, the 18 ships of the Kagero-class began entering service. They were nearly identical to the Asashio-class, but had two twin 25mm mounts.