sayaret -> RE: ID this Japanese DD (3/13/2010 9:58:54 AM)
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IJN Kaibokan Type D (escort destroyer) "No. 134" under attack by North American medium bomber B-25 near Amoy, China, 6 April 1945. Top Photo: North American B-25J-5-NC Mitchell "Ruthless Ruth," serial number 43-28014, pulls up after making a skip-bombing run on IJN Coastal Defense Vessel No. 134. Japanese convoy HOMO-03 left Hong Kong enroute to Shanghai, consisting of subchasers CH-9 and CH-20, destroyer IJN Amatsukaze, Kaibokan (escort destroyers) Coastal Defense Vessels No. 1 and No. 134, Tokai Maru Number 2 and Kine Maru on April 4, 1945. Attacks by US Navy Martin PBM-5 Mariner flying boats, 5th Air Force Consolidated B-24 Liberators and Lockheed P-38 Lightnings on April 5 sink the two transports, and the convoy breaks up. The subchasers return to Hong Kong while the destroyers head for Amoy, China. Enroute, CH-9, CH-20 and No. 1 are damaged by another wave of B-24s. The next day, the three destroyers are found by twenty-four B-25s of the 345th; the Americans volunteered for the long over-water flight from their base at San Marcelino, Luzon to the Japanese ships off the China coast. Lt. Mikell scored a near-miss with his delayed fuse bomb; Lieutenant Francis Thompson strafed the ship; the flight leader scored a hit amidships. No. 134 rolled over to starboard and sank, her surviving crew abandoning ship to the shark-infested waters. No. 1 was also skip-bombed and sank. Amatsukaze was beached a mile away on a reef, but slipped stern-first into the sea and sank. [image]http://ibiblio.net/hyperwar/USA/USA-PR-Japan/img/USA-PR-Japan-440.jpg[/image]
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