© 2006-2010 Bob Hackett, Sander Kingsepp and Peter Cundall
Revision 4
15 August 1939:
Tamano. Laid down at Mitsui Engineering and Shipbuilding’s
yard as kaibokan No. 12.
25 July 1940:
Named ISHIGAKI.
14 September 1940:
Launched.
15 February 1941:
Completed and registered in the Ominato Guard District. Cdr Fujitani Yasumi is appointed CO.
12 May 1941:
Assigned to the Kuriles Area Guard Unit, 2nd Section, based at Matsuwa.
3 September 1941:
Cdr (Rear Admiral, posthumously) Kawano Yasushi (47)(former XO of KUMANO) assumes command.
8 December 1941:
At Kashiwabara Bay, Paramushiro Island, Kuriles.
13 December 1941:
Onekotan Strait. Stops and inspects Soviet steamer KUZNETSKSTROI that entered Japanese waters without permission. KUZNETSKSTROI is then directed to Tsushima Strait.
14 December 1941:
Off Matsura Jima, Kuriles. Violent winds cause auxiliary gunboat ZUIKO MARU's anchors to drag and then break. The gunboat’s boiler room begins to flood and the vessel runs aground on a reef. As a safety precaution all the crew except for 13 are put ashore that evening. After conditions worsen, ISHIGAKI and cargo ship KAIKO MARU rescue the remaining survivors. Later, ZUIKO MARU sinks.
27 April 1942:
Suribachi Bay, Paramushiro. Fishery Protection vessel KAIHO MARU transfers 45 tons of fuel oil to ISHIGAKI.
2 June 1942:
Based at Kataoka Bay, Shimushu Island, Kuriles. Patrols in the W Aleutians area.
16 July 1942:
Onekotan Straits, Kuriles. At 0440, SHUMAGAWA MARU runs aground and suffers slight damage.
17 July 1942:
ISHIGAKI goes in to take SHUMAGAWA MARU off, but is driven aground by heavy waves and suffers light water damage.
July 1942:
ISHIGAKI departs Ominato for Shimushu escorting freighter KANO MARU that is carrying construction materials, four Daihatu landing vessels and a scout plane.
July 1942:
Arrives at Kataoka Bay, Shimushu.
26 July 1942:
At 1000, departs Kataoka Bay for Attu, Aleutians escorting KANO MARU.
28 July 1942:
At 1400, arrives at Holtz Bay, Attu.
25 August 1942:
Ominato. Drydocked for repairs and maintenance.
6 September 1942:
Undocked. Repairs are completed.
November 1942:
ISHIGAKI is again based at Kataoka Bay, Kuriles.
1 November 1942:
Cdr Kawano is promoted Captain.
6 November 1942:
At 1400, ISHIGAKI departs Paramushiro for Attu escorting a convoy
consisting of TAIRIN and DOVER MARUs. Enroute, ISHIGAKI is detached.
12 November 1942:
At 1800, the convoy arrives at Attu. That same day, ISHIGAKI arrives back at Kataoka Bay.
November 1942:
ISHIGAKI joins the "B" convoy consisting of CHERIBON MARU that departed from Otaru, Hokkaido on 11 November for Attu.
24 November 1942:
ISHIGAKI detaches from CHERIBON MARU and reverses course back at Kataoka Bay.
15 January 1943:
Oiler TEIYO MARU refuels ISHIGAKI.
28 January 1943:
Murakami Bay, Paramushiro, Kuriles. Oiler TEIYO MARU refuels ISHIGAKI.
8 July 1943:
At 1900, departs Otaru, Hokkaido for Odomari, Karfauto escorting a convoy
consisting of MELBOURNE and FUSHIMI MARUs.
9 July 1943:
At 1800, arrives at Odomari and remains because of Typhoon warnings.
14 September 1943:
Departs patrol position off Yavina, Kamchatka Peninsula for Kataoka Bay, Shimushu. Loads supplies at Kataoka Bay. Thereafter sorties for anti-submarine sweep. At 1820, discovers a surfaced enemy submarine 7.4 nautical miles 216 degrees from Araito Island. Opens fire and then drops depth charges. Observes one close depth charge explosion and presumes the enemy sub sunk. Therafter, patrols off Ozernaya (Ozernovskiy), Yavina and Opala, SW coast of Kamchatka Peninsula.
6 October 1943:
Leaves patrol position off Yavina and arrives at Kataoka Bay the same day.
7 October 1943:
Lt Seto Sueyoshi is appointed Commanding Officer.
8 October 1943:
ISHIGAKI departs Kashiwabara Bay, Paramushiro for Hokkaido escorting refrigerator ship KOKO MARU. At 1830 (JST), while 18.6 nautical miles from Uomi Saki, Araito Island, Kamchatka Peninsula, Kuriles, a lookout discovers a surfaced enemy submarine off her port bow, 3,300 yards away. At the same moment, the submarine's four-inch deck gun opens fire at KOKO MARU. At 1832, ISHIGAKI answers with her 4.7-inch bow gun.
LtCdr Francis E. Brown (former CO of S-39) orders USS S-44 (SS-155) to crash-dive, but ISHIGAKI's first shell scores a hit below his conning tower. S-44 attempts to return fire, but her gunners are blinded by the kaibokan’s 75-cm searchlight and miss. ISHIGAKI approaches to within 55 yards and scores her second hit in the submarine’s battery section. The kaibokan now takes her adversary under fire from all three 4.7-inch guns and scores three more hits. Soon, S-44 goes down. About eight men make it into the water before S-44 sinks. ISHIGAKI picks up two survivors: Chief Torpedoman´s Mate Ernest A. Duva and Radioman 3rd Class William F. Whitmore. During the encounter ISHIGAKI receives only a single MG bullet. 55 men are lost. [1][2]
10 October 1943:
Cdr Kawano is reassigned. Lt Seto Sueyoshi assumes command.
1 December 1943:
Ominato, Honshu.. Drydocked for repairs and maintenance.
9 January 1944:
Undocked. Repairs are completed.
16 January 1944:
Reassigned to the General Escort Fleet's Second Surface Escort Division.
January 1944:
Departs Otaru, Hokkaido.
20 January 1944:
Arrives at Yokosuka. Assumes guardship duties while in port.
25 January 1944:
At 0700, departs Yokosuka for Truk with kaibokan HIRADO and subchaser CH-52 escorting convoy 3125 consisting of REIYO, TAMISHIMA and HANAKAWA MARU's.
E 30 January 1944:
Arrives at Truk.
February 1944:
Departs Truk and returns to Yokosuka. Later, departs Yokosuka for Ominato.
4 March 1944:
ISHIGAKI departs Ominato escorting a convoy of two ships to Matsuwa, Kuriles.
5 March 1944:
Assigned to the Northeast Area Fleet's Kuriles Area Base Force.
31 May 1944:
At 0200, Cdr Nozo Kajiro's ISHIGAKI departs Matsuwa-Jima, Kuriles for Otaru escorting convoy "HE" consisting of MADRAS, HOKUYO, IWAKI and KOTO MARUs.
70 miles W of Matsuwa Island. At 1130, LtCdr David J. Zabriskie’s HERRING (SS-233) attacks the convoy and hits ISHIGAKI with a torpedo that blows her bow off, but she manages to drop several depth-charges before sinking at 48-30N, 151-30E. 167 sailors are lost. [3][4]
10 July 1944:
Removed from the Navy List.
Authors’ Notes:
[1] On 10 Aug ’42, as heavy cruisers AOBA, FURUTAKA KINUGASA and KAKO were returning to Kavieng, New Ireland from the Battle of Savo Island, Guadalcanal, LtCdr John R. Moore’s S-44 torpedoed and sank KAKO, the largest IJN warship sunk by a submarine up to that time in the war.
[2] ISHIGAKI became the first kaibokan to sink a submarine. S-44's two survivors were taken to Paramushiro, then to the Naval Interrogation Camp at Ofuna. The two men spent the last year of World War II working in the Ashio copper mines, but were repatriated at the end of the war. The two survivors reported that during the battle one of the crew members opened the forward torpedo hatch and waved a white pillowcase as a sign of surrender, but the Japanese continued firing as the S-44 went down.
[3] That same day, LtCdr (later Rear Admiral/MOH) Eugene B. Fluckey's USS BARB also torpedoed and sank MADRAS, HOKUYO and KOTO MARUs.
[4] The next day, 1 Jun '44, HERRING (SS-233) sank IWAKI and HIBURI MARUs off
Matsuwa Island, Kuriles, but was herself sunk by a shore battery of the Matsuwa Detachment of the IJA's Guards Division 52. HERRING was the only American submarine sunk by a shore battery in WWII.
Thanks for assistance go to Dr. Higuchi Tatsuhiro of Japan. Thanks also go to Jeff Donahoo of Iowa for help in identifying kaibokan COs.
Thanks go to Erich Muethaler of Germany for information about the loss of S-44 in Rvision 4.
-Bob Hackett, Sander Kingsepp and Peter Cundall.
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