SOKAITEI!

© 2005-2007 Bob Hackett and Peter Cundall

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1922:
Kobe. Laid down at the Harima Shipbuilding and Engineering Co. yard.

6 March 1923:
Launched and numbered W-1.

30 June 1923:
Completed and registered in the Yokosuka Naval District.

1 November 1941:
Assigned to Vice Admiral Ozawa Jisaburo's South Expeditionary Fleet in Rear Admiral (later Vice Admiral) Hiraoka Kumeichi's (former CO of HIEI) 9th Base Force.

8 November 1941:
Departs Kure.

17 November 1941:
Arrives at Sana (now Ya Xian), Hainan island and conducts patrols.

2 December 1941:
Departs Sana.

E 3 December 1941:
Arrives at Pulo Condore Island, Indochina.

5 December 1941:
Departs Pulo Condore Island.

7 December 1941:
At 2340, arrives off Singora, Siam (Thailand). Thereafter, supports the invasion.

20 January 1942:
W-1 departs Camranh with light cruiser SENDAI, DesDiv 11's FUBUKI, HATSUYUKI and SHIRAYUKI, DesDiv 20's ASAGIRI, AMAGIRI and YUGIRI escorting 11 troop transports.

22 January 1942:
The convoy arrives at Singora.

26 January 1942:
The convoy arrives at Endau.

27 January 1942: The Battle off Endau:
Singapore. LtCdr B. S. Davies' old WW1 destroyer HMS THANET and LtCdr W. T. A. Moran's HMAS VAMPIRE are dispatched to make a night attack on the troop tansports at Endau, about 80 miles N of Singapore. At 0237, approaching Endau, they engage a warship they take to be a destroyer, but actually is minesweeper W-1. VAMPIRE launches two torpedoes at W-1, but they miss. W-1 raises the alarm and the Allied destroyers continue towards Endau.

At 0318, VAMPIRE sights SHIRAYUKI to port and launches two torpedoes at her, but they miss. Then THANET launches all four of her torpedoes, but also misses. Both Allied destroyers open fire with their 4-inch guns. SENDAI and SHIRAYUKI return fire. The Allied destroyers retire SE at maximum speed.

At about 0400, THANET is hit in the engine and boiler rooms. Her speed falls off and an explosion wrecks the old destroyer. She goes dead in the water, lists heavily to starboard and begins to sink. VAMPIRE lays a smoke screen, but THANET is attacked by FUBUKI, HATSUYUKI, ASAGIRI, AMAGIRI, YUGIRI and W-1. At 0415, HMS THANET sinks. VAMPIRE is undamaged and without casualties, but she has no chance to pick up survivors. She makes for Singapore arriving there at 1000.

Troop transports KANSAI MARU and KANBERA MARU are damaged in the action. Later, SHIRAYUKI picks up 31 survivors from HMS THANET. They are never seen again.

31 January 1942:
The escort force returns to Camranh.

2 February 1942:
Assigned to escort the Bangka-Palembang, Sumatra invasion force.

9 February 1942: Operation "L" - The Invasions of Palembang and Banka Island:
MineSweepDiv 1's minesweepers W-1, W-2, W-3, W-4 and W-5 and SubChasDiv 11's CH-7 and CH-8 depart Camranh Bay, Indochina for Palembang escorting eight transports. Rear Admiral (later Vice Admiral) Hashimoto Shintaro's DesRon 3's light cruiser SENDAI with DesDiv 11's FUBUKI, HATSUYUKI and SHIRAYUKI, DesDiv 20's ASAGIRI provides close cover.

11 February 1942:
W-1, W-3 and W-4 escort eleven transports of the invasion force.

16 February 1942:
The transports land troops near Palembang.

18 February 1942: Operation "J" - The Invasion of Java, Netherlands East Indies:
W-1 is in Rear Admiral (later Vice Admiral) Hirose Sueto's (former CO of AOBA) 2nd Base Force in Cdr (Rear Admiral, posthunously) Amano Shigetaka's (47)(former CO of KAGERO) MineSweepDiv 1 with W-2, W-3, W-4 and W-5 of Vice Admiral Takahashi Ibo's Third Fleet, Southern Force, Netherlands East Indies Force.

21 February 1942:
Java Sea. Sweeps for mines in the Bantam Bay area in support of the invasion landings.

28 February 1942: The Battle of the Sunda Strait:
USS HOUSTON (CA-30) and Australian cruiser HMAS PERTH sortie for Tjilatjap via the Sunda Strait.

Bantam Bay. 27 transports land the main body of the IJA's 2nd Infantry Division. At 2215, HOUSTON and PERTH attack the Japanese troop transports that are screened only by destroyers HARUKAZE, HATAKAZE and FUBUKI and MineSweepDiv 1's W-1, W-2, W-3 and W-4. The escorts make smoke to mask the transports. FUBUKI charges and launches a salvo of torpedoes at HOUSTON and PERTH.

At 2300, the IJN’s Western Support Force's MIKUMA and MOGAMI, destroyer SHIKINAMI, Third Escort Force's light cruiser NATORI and destroyers SHIRAKUMO, MURAKUMO, SHIRAYUKI, HATSUYUKI and ASAKAZE arrive and engage HOUSTON and PERTH with gunfire and torpedoes.

1 March 1942:
At 0108, torpedoes strike both HOUSTON and PERTH. At 0142, PERTH sinks at 05-51-42S, 106-07-52E. At 0135, torpedoes fired by MOGAMI sink W-2 and sink or disable transports SAKURA, HORAI, TATSUNO and RYUJO MARUs, the latter carrying LtGen Imamura Hitoshi, Commander-in-Chief of the invading 16th Army. Imamura jumps into the sea, but survives. At 0142, PERTH sinks at 05-51-42S, 106-07-52E. At 0206, HOUSTON sinks at 05-48-45S, 106-07-55E.

8 March 1942:
MinesweepDiv 1 and DesRon 3's DesDiv 10 and DesDiv 20 depart Singapore escorting four invasion transport ships to Sabang and Koetaradja, Sumatra.

12 March 1942: Operation "T" - The Seizure of North Sumatra:
Sweeps for mines and covers troop landings at Kutaradja and Sabang.

16 March 1942:
Arrives at Singapore.

19 March 1942:
MineSweepDiv 1's W-1, W-3 and W-4 and SubChasDiv 91's CHOKO MARU and SHONAN MARU Nos. 5 and 7 are assigned to the No. 2 Escort Unit comprised of light cruiser KASHII (F), escort SHIMUSHU, minelayer HATSUTAKA, destroyers of DesRon 3 and 5 and the 9th Base Force's gunboat EIKO MARU. The No. 2 Escort Unit departs Singapore escorting 32 transports carrying the IJA's 56th Infantry Division.

20 March 1942: Operation “D” – The Seizure of the Andaman Islands.
Indian Ocean. Sweeps for mines in the Andaman Islands area in support of the invasion landings.

25 March 1942:Operation “U” – The Seizure of Rangoon, Burma.
The transports begin landing troops at Rangoon.

28 March 1942:
Arrives at Penang.

30 March 1942:
Departs Penang.

1 April 1942:
Strait of Malacca. Off Pulau Perak, Malaya. Empty transports YAE MARU and SHUNSEI MARU are torpedoed and sunk by Royal Navy Lt Cdr Hugh A.V. Haggard's submarine HMS TRUANT. TRUANT escapes a counterattack by the escort. Arrives at Singapore later that day.

3 April 1942:
Arrives at Singapore. Drydocked.

26 April 1942:
Undocked.

20 May 1942:
Reassigned to the Sasebo Naval District.

10 June1942:
Arrives at Sasebo. Patrols near the Okuma archipelago.

15 July 1942:
Attached to the Osaka patrol unit. Patrols in the Kii Straits.

31 August 1942:
Reassigned to the Sasebo Naval District. Conducts convoy escort duties and patrols the Sasebo and Kyushu's Nisikita Sea areas.

1 Apri1 1943:
Reassigned to the Yokosuka Guard Unit.

12 Apri1 1943:
Arrives at Yokosuka.

22 April 1943:
Attached to the Megawa area. Conducts convoy escort duties in the Aomori, Iwate and Miyagi areas .

22 July 1945:
At 1600, W-1 and subchaser CH-42 depart Yohohama for Hakodate, Hokkaido escorting ENBUN MARU and HAKUTETSU MARU No. 5. The convoy assembles at Tateyama and departs at 2100. At 2300, off Cape Nojima the convoy comes under fire from eight American destroyers at a range of 3.5 miles. Both ENBUN MARU and HAKUTETSU MARU No. 5 are hit. Fires are started on HAKUTETSU MARU No. 5. Carrier-based planes arrive and bomb and strafe the convoy. ENBUN MARU reverses course back to Tateyama. HAKUTETSU MARU No. 5 sinks while under tow to Yohohama.

10 August 1945:
Yamada Bay. Carrier-based planes from Task Force 38 of Admiral William F. Halsey's Third Fleet attack and sink W-1 and subchaser CH-42 at 38-26N, 141-30E.

15 September 1945:
Removed from the Navy List.

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Author's Notes:
[1] No data were found by the authors detailing W-1's movements during April 1943-July 1945. Readers with access to such data are requested to post the information on the Discussion and Questions board or at j-aircraft.org's IJN Ship Message Board

-Bob Hackett and Peter Cundall.

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