SOKAITEI!

© 2005-2009 Bob Hackett and Peter Cundall

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1922:
Tamano. Laid down at the Mitsui Co. Ltd. shipyard.

17 March 1923:
Launched.

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

24 April 1924:
Renumbered W-2.

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, both based at Camranh Bay, Indochina. Lt Ikunaga Kunio is the CO.

8 November 1941:
Departs Kure.

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

2 December 1941:
Departs Sana.

7 December 1941: Operation "E" - The Invasion of Malaya.
At 2345 (L), light cruiser SENDAI, DesDiv 19's AYANAMI, ISONAMI, SHIKINAMI and URANAMI commence a bombardment of Kota Bharu, Malaya.

8 December 1941:
At 0045 local, W-2 and W-3, SENDAI and her destroyers, subchaser CH-9 and transports AWAJISAN MARU, AYATOSAN MARU and SAKURA MARU land troops at Kota Bharu. At 0210, they are attacked by seven of RAAF No. 1 Squadron's "Hudson" light bombers. The headquarters ship of MajGen Takumi Hiroshi's 5th Division, 9,794-ton transport AWAJISAN MARU, is hit and set afire. The other two transports are damaged. After towing by two of DesDiv 19's destroyers fails, AWAJISAN MARU is abandoned.

The Indian-British brigade defending Kota Bharu puts up stiff resistance and inflicts heavy casualties on the Japanese, but is soon outflanked and overrun. That same day, the other ten transports land troops unopposed at Singora and five transports land troops unopposed at Patani, Thailand.

15 December 1941:
Arrives at Singora, Thailand.

1 January 1942:
Departs Singora. Arrives at St. Jacques, Indochina.

13 January 1942:
Arrives at Pulo Condore Island.

January 1942:
Kaibokan SHIMUSHU receives a signal from Vice Admiral Ozawa Jisaburo's First Southern Expeditionary Fleet's flagship CHOKAI that orders the kaibokan to locate the wreck of British battleship HMS PRINCE OF WALES sunk off Kuantan, Malaya by IJN aircraft on 10 December.

29 January 1942:
South China Sea, E of Malaya. SHIMUSHU, escorted by minesweepers W-2, W-1, W-3, W-4 and W-5, locates the wreck of British battlecruiser HMS REPULSE and marks it with a buoy.

1 February 1942:
SHIMUSHU reports locating the wreck of PRINCE OF WALES at a depth of 60 meters. The site is marked with a buoy and the IJN ships are recalled.

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 W-2, W-1, 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 SENDAI with DesDiv 11's FUBUKI, HATSUYUKI and SHIRAYUKI, DesDiv 20's ASAGIRI provides close cover.

11 February 1942:
Patrols off Muntok.

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

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's 1st 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 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. [1]

That same day, an unknown officer assumes command from Lt Ikunaga.

10 March 1942:
Rerated a Reserve warship, 4th class.

30 November 1945:
Removed from the Navy List.

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Authors' Note:
[1] The Japanese fired about 90 torpedoes in the engagement. Based on post-battle analyses, MOGAMI's torpedoes probably sank W-2 and the four transports.

-Bob Hackett and Peter Cundall.

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