© 1998 Allyn D. Nevitt

IJN Murakumo: Tabular Record of Movement


Name Translation: "Clustered Clouds"

Initial Command Structure:
Ship's captain: Lieutenant Commander Higashi Hideo [52] (prev. C.O. AKIKAZE). Assigned to Desdiv 12 (SHIRAKUMO, MURAKUMO, SHINONOME), Desron 3, First Fleet.

20-26 November 1941:

Desdiv 12 steamed with Desron 3 from Kure to Samah (Hainan).

4-11 December:

Desdiv 12 escorted troop convoy out of Samah in Malaya invasion operation; covered landings at Khota Bharu; then to Camranh Bay.

16 December:

Desdiv 12 with British Borneo invasion force.

24 December:

Claimed sinking of Dutch submarine K-XVI in depth charge attack after sub had torpedoed SAGIRI. (K-XVI's sinking has been attributed to submarine I-66.)

January-February 1942:

Escorted CHOKAI out of Camranh Bay in support of Malaya, Anambas Islands and Bangka-Palembang invasion forces.

27 February:

With Western Java invasion force.

28 February-1 March: Battle of Sunda Strait

Assisted in sinking of HMAS PERTH and USS HOUSTON (CA-30), then with SHIRAKUMO drove Dutch destroyer EVERTSEN ashore on Sebuku Besar.

10 March:

Desdiv 12 deactivated; reassigned to Desdiv 11 (HATSUYUKI, SHIRAYUKI, FUBUKI), Desron 3, First Fleet.

12 March:

Escorted Admiral Ozawa's cover force for Northern Sumatra invasions.

23 March:

Escorted Admiral Ozawa's cover force for Andaman Islands invasion; then patrol/escort duties out of Port Blair during Japanese raids into Indian Ocean.

13-22 April:

Steamed from Singapore via Camranh Bay to Kure, then docked for maintenance.


4-5 June: Battle of Midway

Escorted Admiral Yamamoto's Main Body.

30 June-2 July:

Escorted troop convoy from Kure to Amami-O-Shima, then antisubmarine patrolling there.

17-31 July:

Steamed from Amami-O-Shima via Mako, Singapore and Sabang to Mergui (Burma) for Indian Ocean raiding operations, aborted due to Guadalcanal.

8-17 August:

Steamed from Mergui via Makassar to Davao.

19-23 August:

Escorted troop convoy from Davao to Truk.

25-27 August:

Steamed from Truk to Rabaul.

28-29 August:

Troop transport run to Milne Bay, then to the Shortlands on 31 August.

1-2 September:

With YUDACHI, escorted barge-carrying convoy (SADO MARU and ASAKA MARU) from Shortlands to Gizo and back.

4-5 September:

Troop transport run to Guadalcanal: with YUDACHI and HATSUYUKI (and a second section of URANAMI, SHIKINAMI and ARIAKE) landed about 1,000 soldiers of Ichiki and Aoba Detachments at Taivu. Assisted in sinking USS GREGORY (APD-3) and USS LITTLE (APD-4).

7 September:

Troop transport run to Guadalcanal.

11 September:

Troop transport run to Guadalcanal.

13 September:

Gunfire support mission to Guadalcanal (Kawaguchi offensive).

15 September:

Troop transport run to Guadalcanal.

18 September:

Attack mission to Guadalcanal.

1 October:

Troop transport run to Guadalcanal.

4 October:

Troop transport run to Guadalcanal.

7 October:

Troop transport run to Guadalcanal.

11-12 October:

Troop transport run to Guadalcanal. Sunk: by air attack after attempting to assist FURUTAKA in aftermath of Battle of Cape Esperance. Three near-misses, a torpedo hit and then bomb hit left ship unmaneuverable and aflame, with 22 dead. SHIRAYUKI rescued survivors, including Lieutenant Commander Higashi (to C.O. OYASHIO), then scuttled with torpedo 90 miles west-northwest of Savo Island (08-40 S, 159-20 E).

15 November 1942:

Removed from Navy List.


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