© 2008 Bob Hackett, Sander Kingsepp and Peter Cundall
Revision 1
13 December 1921:
Kobe. Laid down at Kawasaki Heavy Industries shipyard as a second-class destroyer named KIKYO.
20 July 1922:
LtCdr Homoto Shigeji (36) is posted Chief Equipping Officer.
24 July 1922:
Launched.
30 September 1922:
Completed and registered in the IJN. LtCdr Homoto is the CO.
1 April 1924:
Designated destroyer No. 2.
1 December 1924:
LtCdr (later Vice Admiral) Kurita Takeo (38)(former CO of OITE) assumes command.
1 December 1925:
LtCdr (later Vice Admiral) Fukuda Rivozo (38) assumes command.
1 December 1926:
LtCdr (later Vice Admiral) Fujita Ruitaro (38)(former CO of ENOKI) assumes command.
20 January 1927:
LtCdr Fujita assumes command of DD-8 (later named SAWARABI) as an additional duty.
20 June 1927:
LtCdr (later Vice Admiral) Katsuno Minoru (40) assumes command of DD-2 and DD-8 as an additional duty.
10 August 1927:
LtCdr Katsuno is relieved of command of DD-8.
1 November 1927:
LtCdr (later Vice Admiral) Nishimura Shoji (39)(former CO of KIKU) assumes command of DD-2.
1 August 1928:
Renamed WAKATAKE as the namesake of the second-class WAKATAKE-class destroyers.
10 December 1928:
LtCdr (later Rear Admiral) Koyanagi Tomiji (42) assumes command.
30 November 1929:
LtCdr (later Rear Admiral) Itakura Tokushi (42)(former CO of SAKURA) assumes command.
10 December 1929:
WAKATAKE is put on the Reserve List.
1 December 1930:
Lt Kuranaga Kouki (46) assumes command.
1 December 1932:
Lt (later Rear Admiral) Mori Kan (48) assumes command.
15 November 1934:
Lt Baba Noboru assumes command.
31 October 1935:
LtCdr (later Captain) Taniguchi Yasumaro (51) assumes command.
1 December 1936:
LtCdr Seo Noboru (51) assumes command.
1 December 1938:
WAKATAKE is put on the Reserve List as a 4th class warship.
1938:
WAKATAKE's fore funnel is capped and additional ballast is added to improve stability.
15 October 1940:
Lt Tanegashima Yogi (55) assumes command.
10 April 1941:
LtCdr Koyo Keiji (57) assumes command.
15 September 1941:
LtCdr Yoshida Kengo (58) assumes command.
8 December 1941:
Kure Naval District. WAKATAKE is in Cdr Otani’s DesDiv 13 with SANAE and KURETAKE. Patrols in the Inland Sea, Bungo Suido and off Western Kyushu.
10 April 1942:
WAKATAKE is assigned to Cdr Amaya Yoshishige’s (47) DesDiv 32 of Rear Admiral Inoue Yasuo’s (38) 1st Surface Escort Division organized this day as a unit of the Southwest Area Fleet.
25 April 1942:
WAKATAKE departs Mutsure escorting convoy No. 103 consisting of five unidentified merchant ships.
30 April 1942:
Arrives at Mako.
10 December 1942:
DesDiv 32 is disbanded.
10 June 1943:
Lt Takahashi Tatsuhiko (61) assumes command.
15 June 1943:
At 0730, WAKATAKE departs Manila for Takao escorting convoy No. 853 consisting of ROKKOSAN, KYOEI and FUJISAN MARUs.
18 June 1943:
At 0730, arrives at Takao.
20 October 1943:
WAKATAKE, subchaser CH-4 and auxiliary subchaser CHa-41 escort convoy No. 2609 consisting of nine unidentified ships from Makassar, Celebes to Palau.
15 November 1943:
WAKATAKE's 1st Surface Escort Division is reassigned from the Southwest Area Fleet to the General Escort Command.
20 November 1943:
WAKATAKE escorts convoy 2611 to an unknown location.
23 December 1943:
WAKATAKE departs Palau with destroyers HAYANAMI escorting convoy No. 2516 consisting of fast oilers KENYO and NIPPON MARUs.
25 December 1943:
At dawn, HAYANAMI is detached.
28 December 1943:
Arrives at Tarakan, Borneo. Loads a cargo of refined oil.
2 January 1944:
At 1600, WAKATAKE departs Tarakan for Balikpapan, Borneo escorting oiler IRO and cargo ship TOSHO MARU.
4 January 1944:
At 1900, arrives at Balikpapan.
6 January 1944:
WAKATAKE departs Balikpapan for Manila escorting the Rinji M convoy consisting of tanker OKIKAWA MARU and two unidentified merchant vessels
13 January 1944:
At 1500 departs Manila escorting convoy 3102 consisting of tankers KOSHIN, SEINAN, NITTATSU, TAKETOYO and RONSAN MARUs, and cargo ships TEIRYU and NITTAI MARUs.
20 January 1944:
At 1500 arrives at Miri.
21 January 1944:
At 1200, WAKATAKE departs Miri escorting convoy 3202 consisting of tankers KOSHIN, SEINAN and NITTATSU MARUs and and one unidentified ship.
22 January 1944:
At 1736, LtCdr Donald F. Weiss' USS TINOSA (SS-283) attacks the convoy. Weiss torpedoes and sinks KOSHIN MARU at 07-27N, 115-07E and SEINAN MARU at 07-19N, 116-52E. WAKATAKE drops 17 depth charges, but TINOSA escapes.
31 January 1944:
At 1300, arrives at Manila.
9 February 1944:
WAKATAKE departs Tomie, Goto Retto for Takao escorting convoy MOTA-09 consisting of liner TEIRITSU MARU and cargo ships MATSUE, DAIZEN, TAKETOYO, HAMBURG, KYOKUZAN, MURORAN, BATOPAHAT, CHUYO, BUNZAN, TAIYU, SHOEI MARUs, HINO MARU No. 1 and tankers OGURA MARU No. 2 and SAN LUIS MARU.
E 10 February 1944:
Patrol boat PB-38 joins the escort of MOTA-09.
11 February 1944:
CHUYO MARU develops engine trouble. At 0950, PB-38 is detached to find her, but is unsuccessful and later rejoins the convoy.
13 February 1944:
At 1844, an enemy submarine is detected at 25-58N, 121-34E. The escorts drop 50 depth charges and drive it off.
14 February 1944:
PB-38 detects another enemy submarine and drives it away by dropping three depth charges.
15 February 1944:
At 1845, arrives at Takao.
10 March 1944:
Lt Tanaka Shigeru (64) assumes command.
20 March 1944:
WAKATAKE departs Takao with minelayer MAESHIMA escorting combined convoys NISHI MATSU No.2/TAPA-06 consisting of MATSUE, CHUYO and HAMBURG MARUs.
26 March 1944:
In the afternoon, during a violent rain squall, LtCdr Charles F. Brindupke's USS TULLIBEE (SS-284) attacks the convoy. The escorts attack without success, then sweep the seas with machine gun fire. To their surprise, a large explosion is heard. Later, a single survivor is rescued by WAKATAKE. [1]
27 March 1944:
The convoy arrives at Palau.
30-31 March 1944: American Operation “Desecrate One”:
Palau. The anchorage is attacked by F6F "Hellcats", SBD "Dauntless", TBF "Avenger" and SB2C "Helldiver" carrier aircraft of Task Group 58. 1's USS ENTERPRISE (CV-6), BELLEAU WOOD (CVL-24) and COWPENS (CVL-25), TG 58. 2's BUNKER HILL (CV-17), HORNET (CV-12), MONTEREY (CV-26) and CABOT (CVL-28) and TG 58. 3's YORKTOWN (CV-10), LEXINGTON (CV-16), PRINCETON (CVL-23) and LANGLEY (CVL-27).
At 0550, the attack is discovered. Convoy PATA-07 which formed up at 0500 and is leaving the atoll anchorages is dissolved. The convoy consists of GOSHU, RAIZAN, KIBI (1941 built), TESHIO, HOKUTAI and RYUKO MARUs and tanker AKEBONO MARU escorted by WAKATAKE, patrol boat PB-31 and auxiliary subchaser CHa-26. All of these merchant ships are sunk over the following two days.
20 miles off Palau. TF 58's planes find and torpedo WAKATAKE. She goes down west of Babeldaob near the West Passage at 07-30N, 134-30E. Lt Tanaka is lost with an unknown number of crewmen. Tanaka is promoted LtCdr, posthumously. In all, Operation “Desecrate One” accounts for 36 Japanese vessels sunk or damaged.
10 May 1944:
Removed from the Navy List.
Author's Notes:
[1] The Japanese claim a sinking, but the survivor noted that Brindupke fired two Mark 18 torpedoes at 3,000 yards. It is now believed that TULLIBEE was sunk by one of her own torpedoes that made a circular run.
Little data were found detailing WAKATAKE's movements during much of 1942 and 1943. Readers with access to such data are requested to post the information on the Discussion
and Questions board or j-aircraft.org's IJN Ship Message
Board
-Bob Hackett, Sander Kingsepp and Peter Cundall
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