Qualla: Japanese Destroyer Tanikaze

Japanese Destroyer Tanikaze: Introduction

Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Unknown author, Public domain. Sixty-one dive bombers against one destroyer. That was the math at Midway on June 6, 1942, when American pilots, unable to find the carrier Hiryu they had been sent to finish off, turned their attention to the Japanese destroyer Tanikaze instead. They needed to jettison their bombs before landing, and the small warship below made a convenient target. Through aggressive zigzagging commanded by Katsumi Motoi, Tanikaze dodged every single bomb. Not one of the sixty-one aircraft scored a direct hit. It was the kind of improbable survival that defined this Kagero-class destroyer's war, a career that stretched from the attack on Pearl Harbor to a torpedo in the Sulu Sea, touching nearly every major battle of the Pacific campaign along the way.

Image: Unknown author | Public domain

Japanese Destroyer Tanikaze: From Hitokappu Bay to Pearl Harbor

Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit File:Japanese destroyer Tanikaze at anchor in April 1941.jpg: Shizuo Fukui derivative work: Fulvio314, Public domain. Tanikaze was one of nineteen Kagero-class destroyers built for the Imperial Japanese Navy in the late 1930s. At 118.5 meters long with a crew of 240, she was fast at 35 knots and lethal, armed with six 127-millimeter guns and eight 610-millimeter torpedo tubes loaded with the oxy...

Image: File:Japanese destroyer Tanikaze at anchor in April 1941.jpg: Shizuo Fukui derivative work: Fulvio314 | Public domain

Japanese Destroyer Tanikaze: The Impossible Dodge at Midway

Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Shizuo Fukui, Public domain. Midway was the turning point of the Pacific War, and Tanikaze was at its center. Sent to check on the burning carrier Hiryu, the destroyer arrived too late; Hiryu had already slipped beneath the waves. But the American dive bombers searching for the carrier found Tanikaze instead...

Image: Shizuo Fukui | Public domain

Japanese Destroyer Tanikaze: Three Torpedoes for Helena

Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Unknown author, Public domain. After Midway, Tanikaze plunged into the grinding Guadalcanal campaign, running troops and supplies through waters contested by both navies. On January 15, 1943, Commander Motoi was killed by shrapnel during an air attack, a loss felt deeply by a crew who had watched him outmaneuv...

Image: Unknown author | Public domain

Japanese Destroyer Tanikaze: The Long Escort

Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Shizuo Fukui, Public domain. Through 1943 and into 1944, Tanikaze served as a tireless escort, shepherding carriers, battleships, and troop transports across the shrinking perimeter of Japanese control. She rescued sailors blown overboard when the carrier Junyo was torpedoed. She had her X turret removed and...

Image: Shizuo Fukui | Public domain