was one of six s built for the Imperial Japanese Navy in the late 1890s and the only one not completed until 1900. Usugumo took part in several major engagements during the Russo-Japanese War (1904–1905) and served during World War I (1914–1918).
Construction and commissioning
Authorized under the 1897 naval program, Usugumo was laid down on 1 September 1898 by John I. Thornycroft & Company at Chiswick, England, as Torpedo Boat Destroyer No. 10. Launched on 16 January 1900, she was completed on 1 February 1900 and commissioned the same day, classified as a torpedo boat destroyer.
Service history
Usugumo completed her delivery voyage from England to Japan on 14 May 1900 with her arrival at Kagoshima. She was reclassified as a destroyer on 22 June 1900.
After the destroyer ran aground in Yabiji, a coral reef group north of Ikema Island in the Miyako Islands in Okinawa Prefecture, on 7 June 1902, Usugumo and the protected cruisers and Saien came to her assistance. Shinonome eventually was refloated and made port at Sasebo, Japan, on 5 August 1902.
When the Russo-Japanese War broke out in February 1904, Usugumo was part of the 3rd Destroyer Division of the 1st Fleet. She took part in the Battle of Port Arthur on 8 February 1904.
During the predawn hours of 10 March 1904, a force consisting of Usugumo, Shinonome, the protected cruiser , and the destroyers and — with Usugumo serving as the destroyer division′s flagship — intercepted the Russian destroyers and as they approached Port Arthur from the south-southeast during their return from a reconnaissance mission. As the Japanese moved to cut them off from Port Arthur, Reshitel‘nyi and Steregushchiy turned to starboard and made for the shelter of Russian minefields off Dalniy. With superior speed, the Japanese destroyers closed to a range of , and the two sides opened gunfire on one another. The Russians scored a number of hits on the Japanese ships, but at 06:40 a Japanese shell detonated in one of Steregushchiy′s coal bunkers, damaging two of her boilers and causing her speed to drop off quickly. Reshitel‘nyi′s commanding officer was wounded, forcing her engineering officer to take command, and she also suffered a shell hit which knocked out one of her boilers, but she managed to keep her speed up and reach waters within range of Russian coastal artillery at daybreak. As Reshitel‘nyi again altered course toward Port Arthur, where she arrived safely, the coastal artillery opened fire on the Japanese and discouraged them from continuing the chase.
Giving up their pursuit of Reshitel‘nyi, the Japanese closed with the limping Steregushchiy. The Japanese destroyers were larger and more heavily armed than Steregushchiy, and they opened an overwhelming fire on her in broad daylight. Chitose and the Japanese armored cruiser also joined the action. Aboard Steregushchiy, a Japanese shell exploded in the No. 2 boiler room, opening a hole in the hull through which water entered the compartment, flooded the fireboxes, and forced Steregushchiy′s crew to abandon the room. As the unequal fight continued, Japanese shell hits brought down all of Steregushchiy′s funnels and masts. Her commanding officer and gunnery officer died at their posts, her executive officer was killed while trying to launch her whaleboat, and her engineering officer was blown overboard by the explosion of a Japanese shell. One by one, Steregushchiy′s guns fell silent, and by 07:10 she was a motionless wreck with her hull mangled and almost her entire crew dead or dying. She struck her colors to surrender.
The Japanese ships ceased fire and gathered around Usugumo, finding that Usugumo and Shinonome had sustained only minor damage, Sazanami had suffered eight shell hits, and Akebono had taken about 30 hits. The Japanese destroyers had suffered a number of killed and wounded. The Japanese attempted to take possession of the Russian destroyer, but Steregushchiy′s crew had opened her Kingston valves to scuttle her, and two members of her crew locked themselves in her engine room to prevent the Japanese from closing the valves, sacrificing their lives to ensure that she sank. At 08:10, a Japanese tug arrived, and Sazanami began an attempt to tow Steregushchiy to port. At around the same time, however, the Russian armored cruiser and protected cruiser approached under the personal command of the commander of the Russian First Pacific Squadron, Vice Admiral Stepan Osipovich Makarov, and the Japanese abandoned their towing attempt, rescued Steregushchiy′s four surviving crew members, and withdrew to avoid combat. At 09:07, Steregushchiy sank southeast of Mount Laoteshan and from the Lushun Lighthouse with the loss of 49 members of her crew.
