Category:Destroyers

A Destroyer (駆逐艦 kuchikukan) is a fast and maneuverable yet long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against smaller, powerful, short-range attackers. The first ship named and classified as a destroyer was the Spanish warship Destructor (1886), designed by Fernando Villaamil.

In the Imperial Japanese Navy posses some of the most formidable destroyers of their day. This came as a nasty surprise to the Allies, who had generally underestimated Japanese technical capabilities.

Originally the IJN issued numerical designations to every ship. However, the bland numerical designations were unpopular with the officers and crews. Thus the IJN abolished destroyers' numerical designations in August 1928, reverting to names. The reverence held by the Japanese for the arts of war, promoted by the pre-war military governments, led to poetic sounding names for warships. Destroyers were allocated names associated with natural phenomena of weather, sky and sea, e.g., wind (kaze), snow (yuki), rain (ame), clouds (kumo), waves (nami), mist (kiri), frost (shimo), tides (shio), and the moon (tsuki).