Japanese destroyer Shiranui (1938)

Shiranui on 20 December 1939
History
Empire of Japan
Name:	Shiranui
Ordered:	Uraga Dock Company
Laid down:	30 August 1937
Launched:	28 June 1938
Completed:	20 December 1939
Struck:	10 December 1944
Fate:	Sunk in action, 27 October 1944
General characteristics
Class and type:	Kagerō-class destroyer
Displacement:	2,033 long tons (2,066 t) standard
Length:	118.5 m (388 ft 9 in)
Beam:	10.8 m (35 ft 5 in)
Draft:	3.8 m (12 ft 6 in)
Propulsion:	3 × Kampon water tube boilers 2 × Kanpon impulse turbines 2 × shafts, 52,000 shp (39 MW)
Speed:	35.5 knots (40.9 mph; 65.7 km/h)
Range:	5,000 NM at 18 knots (21 mph; 33 km/h)
Complement:	239
Armament:	(1939) 6 × 12.7 cm/50 Type 3 DP guns 2 × Type 96 25 mm AA guns 8 × 610 mm (24 in) torpedo tubes 18 depth charges 2 × paravanes (1943) 6 × 12.7 cm/50 Type 3 DP guns 8 × Type 96 25 mm AA guns 8 × 610 mm (24 in) torpedo tubes 18 depth charges

Shiranui (不知火, alternatively Shiranuhi, Phosphorescent Light^?) was the second vessel to be commissioned in the 19-vessel Kagerō-class destroyers built for the Imperial Japanese Navy in the late-1930s under the Circle Three Supplementary Naval Expansion Program (Maru San Keikaku).

The Kagerō-class destroyers were outwardly almost identical to the preceding light cruiser-sized Asashio class, with improvements made by Japanese naval architects to improve stability and to take advantage of Japan’s lead in torpedo technology. They were designed to accompany the Japanese main striking force and in both day and night attacks against the United States Navy as it advanced across the Pacific Ocean, according to Japanese naval strategic projections. Despite being one of the most powerful classes of destroyers in the world at the time of their completion, only one survived the Pacific War.

Shiranui, built at the Uraga Dock Company, was laid down on 30 August 1937, launched on 28 June 1938 and commissioned on 20 December 1939.

At the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor, Shiranui, was assigned to Destroyer Division 18 (Desdiv 18), and a member of Destroyer Squadron 2 (Desron 2) of the IJN 2nd Fleet, and had deployed from Etorofu in the Kurile Islands, as part of the escort for Admiral Nagumo’s Carrier Strike Force. She returned to Kure on 24 December.