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Shigure took part in many naval battles throughout four years of the Pacific War, for two of those years as the flagship of Captain Tameichi Hara (author of the book Japanese Destroyer Captain). Three times the US Navy sank all the ships in her squadron; each time Shigure escaped. But her luck finally did run out in January 1945.

Like all Japanese destroyers, Shigure was heavily armed and very speedy for her size. The Japanese naval architects tended to skimp on sturdiness and protection, in favor of offensive striking power, consistent with Japanese military doctrine in all arms. 341 feet long and displacing 1,368 tons, Shigure carried eight torpedo tubes and  five 5-inch guns. With a flared bow and long low flush deck, typical of Japanese destroyers, she must have cut an impressive picture, slicing through The Slot at 34 knots.

Shigure took part in the action at the Battle of the Coral Sea (May 7-8, 1942) and, in October of that year,  in the desperate battles around Guadalcanal. On the night of October 14-15, she escorted transports bringing army reinforcements to the doomed Japanese on that island. On the night of November 12-13, Shigure participated in the confused, bloody melee known as the Battle of Guadalcanal. Admiral Abe led a Japanese force of two battleships, a cruiser, and fourteen destroyers to bombard Henderson Field. They met American naval forces before reached their intended target, and overall, inflicted more damage than they took. But Abe's flagship, the battleship Hiei, took more than thirty hits from American cruisers and was crippled. After 0200, as the battle ebbed, Hiei, burnly fiercely, took refuge off Savo Island to the west. Shigure and other destroyers accompanied the battered warship. A bit like worker bees tending assiduously to their larger, but helpless, queen, the destroyers stood by, protecting and  assisting as they could.

It must have been an awful scene. Pitch darkness, thousands of miles from home, Shigure's crew watching the burning battleship, knowing what a target she presented. Indeed, all through the morning and afternoon of the 13th, American dive bombers, torpedo planes, and even B-17's from Henderson Field, pummeled Hiei. By 1800, Shigure helped take off her crew, and soon Hiei went down --- the first Japanese battleship lost in the war.

Battle of Vella Gulf

Typical of Shigure's luck (which could be considered either good or bad, for a ship to escape destruction frequently, while her mates went down), was this small engagement in The Slot on the moonless night of 6-7 August, 1943. By then the Americans had pushed the Japanese back up the island chain, and the IJN was essentially fighting a delaying action. On the night, four IJN destroyers, including Shigure, were bringing troops and supplies to Kolombangara. Six U.S. destroyers pounced. As no cruisers were present on either side, it was the first destroyer-on-destroyer battle of the war. Laboring with over-worked engines, Shigure lagged 1500 yards behind her sisters as they headed south through Bougainville Strait. In the dark, visibility was barely 2000 yards. Just before midnight, Shigure's reported: "White waves! black objects! . . . several ships headed toward us!"  Heading north to meet them, the US Navy destroyers, with superior radar,  had picked up the IJN force ten minutes earlier. Even before Shigure's watch saw them, the Americans had launched a deadly spread of twenty-four torpedoes. It was all over in minutes. Shigure loosed her own fish; but almost immediately the American torpedoes hit home.  Three slammed into Arashi's engine room. As she erupted into flames a fourth torpedo hit. Kawakaze, received one in her magazine, igniting her entire forward section. Two more torpedoes struck Hagikaze's fireroom, bringing her to a halt, also on fire. The American attack was impressive by any standards, with 7 of 24 torpedoes resulting in effective hits, but it should have been even better. An eighth hit holed Shigure's rudder without exploding while two torpedoes passed within twenty yards. As more gunfire smashed into the stricken ships, they began to sink. By 0018, all three had gone under, barely half an hour after Shigure had first spotted the enemy ships.

Another terrible scene, as Shigure put out a smokescreen to hide her movements, turned back to the north, and  passed through the wreckage of the other destroyers.  Read a full account of the Battle of Vella Gulf.

Shigure and her comrades fought on stubbornly. On the night of 6-7 October, 1943, Shigure, eight other destroyers, and many small transports steamed south from Rabaul to rescue 600 troops stranded on Vella Lavella. A smaller USN destroyer force intercepted, and in the ensuing battle, both sides lost one ship, but the Japanese accomplished their mission; their transport barges rescued the troops and returned them north. The Japanese night fighting skills could still produce victories, but by late 1943, successful withdrawals were the best victories that could be obtained.

More of the naval war of attrition followed, with the US Navy always pushing forward, the Japanese being forced back, and Shigure managing to survive. She even eluded destruction in the climactic, far-flung Battle of Leyte Gulf.

Shigure's luck finally ran out on 24 January 1945, when she was torpedoed and sunk by USS Blackfin (SS-322) in the Gulf of Siam.

Sources: Public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships

and pictures from my father's 1943 Naval Recognition Manual

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