Tomozuru Class, Japanese Torpedo Boats

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Specifications:

Ordered in 1931 and completed in 1933-1934, the Tomozurus had about half the displacement of a destroyer and were slower, in contrast with U.S. motor torpedo boats.  They were something of a throwback to the pre-First World War torpedo boats that were ancestors to the destroyer.  Probably the Japanese would not have bothered except that ships of this type were not restricted by the naval disarmament treaties. However, when war came, the ships proved highly valuable as escort vessels, though they were never an adequate substitute even for second-class destroyers.

The ships were not very seaworthy, with 22.7% of their weight in armaments on a hull with a beam of only 24'6" (7.5m) with a draft of just 8' (2.4m).  In fact, they were so unstable that Tomozuru herself capsized in a typhoon in 1934. As a result, the sixteen units of the class that had not yet been laid down were canceled, and the units that were already completed were reconstructed to improve stability. In the process, they lost one of the two twin 21" torpedo mounts of the original design.

Units in the Pacific:

References

Evans and Peattie (1997)

Jentschura, Jung, and Mickel (1977)

Morison (1950)

Whitley (1988)

Worth (2001)

The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia © 2007, 2009, 2013 by Kent G. Budge.  Index

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