KAIBOKAN!

(Type D (Class II)(even-numbered) Escort - colorized by Irootoko, Jr)

IJN Escort CD-82:
Tabular Record of Movement

© 2009-2017 Bob Hackett, Sander Kingsepp and Peter Cundall
Revision 4

6 September 1944:
Nagasaki. Laid down at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.

5 October 1944:
Numbered CD-82 and provisionally attached to Kure Naval District.

18 November 1944:
Launched.

1 December 1944:
Reserve Lt (later LtCdr) Mori Takeshi (former CO of T.136) is appointed the Chief Equipping Officer (CEO).

31 December 1944:
Completed and registered in the IJN. Attached to Kure Naval District. Assigned to Kure Guard Force. Reserve Lt Mori Takeshi is the Commanding Officer. Transferred to Saeki Bay soon thereafter.

4-11 February 1945:
Crimea (now in Ukraine). At the Yalta Conference, held between the US, UK and the Soviet Union, Premier Josef Stalin agrees to attack Japan within 90 days after the defeat of Germany.

14 February 1945:
At 0700 departs Kure and at 1700 arrives at Moji.

16 February 1945:
At 0500 destroyer TSUBAKI with kaibokans CD-55 and CD-82 depart Moji in convoy MOTA-38, consisting of SEISHU MARU and four unidentified merchant ships.

20 February 1945:
Arrives at Ssu Chiao Shan, Shushan (Chusan) Archipelago.

21 February 1945:
At 0700 departs Ssu Chiao Shan.

23 February 1945:
At 2230 the convoy arrives at Kirun.

E 28 February 1945:
At 1900, HI-92 then consisting only of oiler TOJO MARU, escorted by kaibokan CD-25 is joined either on this date or earlier by CD-82.

2 March 1945:
HI-92 anchors off Swatow. CD-82 is detached either there or before arrival.

3 March 1945:
At 0200 convoy TAMO-47, consisting of KINYU MARU No.7, NISSHO MARU No. 18, SEISHU MARU and four unidentified merchant ships, escorted by kaibokans CD-55, CD-82 and CD-150 and submarine chaser CH-19, departs Kirun.

5 March 1945:
Arrives at Ssu Chiao Shan.

6 March 1945:
At 1435 departs Ssu Chiao Shan.

11 March 1945:
At 0730 convoy TAMO-47 arrives at Mutsure. At 1730 CD-82 departs Moji.

12 March 1945:
Arrived at Kure. Undergoes repairs.

23 March 1945:
Departs Kure.

24 March 1945:
At 1700 arrives at Moji.

25 April 1945:
Assigned to the General Escort Command's First Escort Fleet's 102nd Escort Squadron.

8 May 1945: V-E Day:
Berlin. Germany surrenders unconditionally to the Allies.

17 June 1945:
Arrives at Sasebo, where CD-82 is dry-docked.

5 July 1945:
Reassigned to the 2nd Coast Defense Group.

15 July 1945:
Departs Sasebo to work up in Aso Bay, Tsushima Strait.

6 August 1945:
Arrives at Genzan (now Wonsan), Korea.

8 August 1945:
Moscow. The Soviet Union declares that from 9 August 1945, the Soviet Government will consider itself to be at war with Japan. CD-82 departs Genzan to rescue the survivors from the 5462-ton RASHIN MARU, torpedoed by USS PARGO (SS-264).

9 August 1945:
Carrying out Stalin's pledge at Yalta, Marshal Aleksandr Vasilevsky, CINC, Soviet Far East Forces, launches Operation "August Storm", the invasion of Japanese-held Manchuria (Manchukuo). The attack is made by three Soviet army groups ("fronts") comprising 80 divisions of 1.5 million men.

Around 0800 (JST), CD-82's lookouts observe two twin-engine Ilyushin Il-4T torpedo bombers, heading towards the Korean coast. The escort arrives to the scene of RASHIN MARU's sinking, but no survivors can be discovered. After 1200, CD-82 is suddenly targeted by two Il-4T torpedo bombers from the 49th Mine-Torpedo Air Regiment (MTAP), attempting an "anvil attack". Each of the bombers carries one 45-cm (970-kg) aerial torpedo 45-36AN (a slightly modified Italian 45F design of 1927). One torpedo misses CD-82 aft, another passes beneath her keel. At 1300 LtCdr Mori orders to cancel the search and return to Genzan.

After 2100, the crew of CD-82 is first informed about the outbreak of war with the Soviet Union. The escort makes an overnight stop in Orang Bay, S of Chongjin.

10 August 1945:
At 0300, CD-82 departs Orang Bay. LtCdr Mori receives the order to proceed to Rashin and escort all available transports to Genzan. Around 1500 she spots the the 6886-ton freighter MUKAHI MARU, beached in shallow water off the Korean coast after escaping from Rashin. CD-82 takes the ship in tow and manages to pull it free at high tide. After learning that Rashin is under attack of the Soviet bombers, LtCdr Mori orders to head for Genzan.

After 1700, CD-82 and MUKAHI MARU are again unsuccessfully attacked by a flight of Soviet torpedo bombers. Expecting new attacks, LtCdr Mori orders MUKAHI MARU to proceed to Genzan independently.

Sea of Japan. 7 miles SSW of Kumsudan, North Korea. A trio of Soviet Il-4T torpedo-bombers from the 49th MTAP, led by the Regiment's XO, Major Grigori D. Popovich, is on an armed reconaissance flight from Romanovka airfield near Vladivostok, Siberia. The Soviets spot the kaibokan and MUKAHI MARU she is escorting.

(Soviet Ilyushin IL-4T)

At about 1730 Maj Popovich and his wingmen attack, but CD-82's 25-mm AA gunners shoot down both wingmen; their torpedoes miss the ships. 2/Lt Gromakov and his two crewmen are killed, but 1/Lt Lazarev manages to ditch his plane. He and his crew swim safely ashore.

Popovich, targeting the kaibokan, makes a perfect approach. His navigator drops their torpedo which hits the target in the stern. The ensuing explosion detonates her depth charges and in a few seconds CD-82 goes down by the stern at 41-21N, 131-12E.

The skipper of MUKAHI MARU decides to return to pick up the survivors from CD-82, but twenty minutes later his vessel is attacked by a flight of three Ilyushin torpedo bombers from the same unit. All three torpedoes pass beneath the hull of the freighter.

Around 1800 MUKAHI MARU returns to the scene of attack and picks up 93 survivors, including the CO of CD-82. 117 hands are lost. [1]

17 August 1945:
Early in the morning MUKAHI MARU arrives at Songjin port (now Kimchaek) in North Korea, where the survivors of CD-82 are debarked.

In less than two weeks, the Soviets defeat the depleted and ill-equipped Kwantung Army of over 600,000 men. [2]

15 September 1945:
Removed from the Navy List.

Authors' Note:
[1] CD-82 (erroneously described as a destroyer) was the only Japanese warship sunk by Soviet torpedo-bombers at sea. For his success, Major Georgi Popovich, who had earlied excelled over Norwegian waters in 1942-43, was decorated with the Gold Star Medal of the Hero of the Soviet Union.

[2] After the defeat of Japan, the Kurile Islands and the southern part of Sakhalin, ceded to Japan by the Treaty of Portsmouth after the 1904-1905 Russo-Japanese War, were returned to the Soviet Union as agreed at Yalta.

Thanks go to Max Y. Tokarev of Russia for info about the sinking of CD-82, based on research by Col. Miroslav Morozov. Thanks also to Gilbert Casse of France for general assistance.

-Bob Hackett, Sander Kingsepp and Peter Cundall

Back to Escort Page