© 2006 Bob Hackett, Sander Kingsepp and Peter Cundall
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 Naval 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.
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.
26 July 1942:
At 1000, ISHIGAKI departs Kataoka Bay for Attu, Aleutians escorting freighter 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.
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.
7 October 1943:
NNE of Araito Island, Kamchatka Peninsula, Kuriles.
LtCdr Francis E. Brown’s (former CO of S-39) USS S-44 (SS-155) is enroute from Attu to her patrol area when her radar detects a target thought to be a small freighter. S-44 closes on the surface and commences firing her four-inch deck gun at refrigerator ship KOKO MARU en route from Paramushiro to Hokkaido escorted by ISHIGAKI. The kaibokan sights the submarine off her port bow, 3,300 yards away and opens fire with her bow 4.7-inch gun.
Captain Brown orders S-44 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. About eight men make it into the water before S-44 sinks. 55 men are lost. ISHIGAKI picks up two enlisted survivors. [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 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.
[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.
Thanks for assistance go to Dr. Higuchi Tatsuhiro of Japan. Thanks also go to Jeff Donahoo of Iowa for help in identifying kaibokan COs.
-Bob Hackett, Sander Kingsepp and Peter Cundall.
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