Nagatsuki, a 1315-ton Mutsuki class destroyer built at Tokyo, Japan, was completed as (Destroyer) Number 30 in April 1927. She was renamed Nagatsuki in 1928. In the years before World War II she participated in the normal activities of the Japanese fleet, including the realistic exercises that gave that navy a high degree of readiness for night combat.
On 10 December 1941, a few days after the Pacific War began, Nagatsuki participated in the landings at Aparri, at the northern end of Luzon. Later in the month, she took part in the main invasion of Luzon, at Lingayen, and was lightly damaged by an air attack at that time. During the East Indies Campaign, in the first months of 1942, she was part of the force that put troops ashore in western Java, and in early April assisted the cruiser Naka after that ship had been torpedoed by a U.S. submarine.
In early February 1943 Nagatsuki assisted with the evacuation of Guadalcanal, which brought an end to the long and bitter Guadalcanal campaign. In the war's next phase, the fight for the Central Solomons, she served as a fast transport, bringing troops to threatened Japanese bases. While so employed on the night of 5-6 July 1943, Nagatsuki was lightly damaged by U.S. warship gunfire in the Battle of Kula Gulf. At the close of that action, she ran aground north of Vila. After her forward ammunition blew up when she was bombed on the morning and afternoon of 6 July, Nagatsuki was abandoned where she lay, just off the shore of Kolombangara Island.
This page features our only view of the Japanese destroyer Nagatsuki (1927-1943).
If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions." |
Click on the small photograph to prompt a larger view of the same image.
Photo #: 80-G-232152 Battle of Kula Gulf, 6 July 1943 The remains of the Japanese destroyer Nagatsuki aground, just offshore at Kolombangara Island, 8 May 1944. She had been beached there during the Battle of Kula Gulf. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Online Image: 105KB; 740 x 620 pixels Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system. |
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In addition to the images presented above, the National Archives appears to hold at least one other view of the wreck of the Japanese destroyer Nagatsuki. The following list features this image:
The image listed below is NOT in the
Naval Historical Center's collections.
DO NOT try to obtain it using the procedures described in our
page "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions".
Japanese destroyer Nagatsuki wrecked off Kolombangara, 8 May 1944. This photograph is relatively close up, and shows the ship from the midships boat davits to what remains of her bow, looking forward from just off her port side. Reproductions of this image should be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system for pictures not held by the Naval Historical Center. The image listed in this box is NOT in the Naval Historical Center's collections. DO NOT try to obtain it using the procedures described in our page "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions". |
If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions." |
Page made 30 May 2002