©2010-2017 Bob Hackett and Sander Kingsepp
Revision 3
17 February 1921:
A projected second class river gunboat is named
HIRA.
3 March 1921:
Provisionally attached to Sasebo Naval District.
15 August 1921:
Kobe. Laid down at Mitsubishi Zosensho as a 340-ton
river gunboat.
20 November 1922:
LtCdr (later Captain) Yunokawa Tadakazu (34)(former
CO of FUSHIMI) is appointed the Chief Equipping Officer (CEO).
24 March 1923:
Launched.
24 August 1923:
Completed and attached to Sasebo Naval District, then
disassembled and shipped to Hankow, China.
[1]
E September 1923:
HIRA probably arrives at Hankow. Reassembled,
tested and completed at Yangtze Engineering Co.
E 8 September 1923:
IJN HIRA departs Hankow towards Wanhsien, China.
11 September 1923:
Wanhsien, China. At 1545, IJN HIRA arrives from
down river. At 1600, HIRA's captain pays an official visit to the captain of the
British Insect-class river gunboat HMS COCKCHAFER at anchor.
12 September 1923:
At 0550, HIRA departs towards Shanghai, about
2,500 miles up river.
E 20 September 1923:
Shanghai. HIRA probably arrives.
1 December 1923:
LtCdr (later Vice Admiral) Kobayashi Masashi
(38)(former navigating officer of AKITSUSHIMA) is appointed the CO.
6 January 1925:
LtCdr (later Rear Admiral) Miura Tomosaburo
(38)(former navigating officer of TONE) is appointed the CO.
15 June 1926:
LtCdr (later Captain) Okano Toshiyoshi (38)(former
assistant naval attache to China) is appointed the CO.
20 June 1927:
LtCdr (later Vice Admiral) Hirose Sueto (39)(former CO
of SUSUKI) is appointed the CO.
1 November 1928:
LtCdr (promoted Cdr 30 November 1929; later Vice
Admiral) Maeda Minoru (41)(former division officer of YAMASHIRO) is appointed
the CO.
1 May 1930:
LtCdr (later Rear Admiral) Yamazumi Teijiro (44)(former
ADC to Admiral Hyakutake Saburo) is appointed the CO.
8 September 1931: The "Mukden Incident":
Liutiaohu, about 25 miles
from Mukden (now Shenyang), the capital of Manchuria. Japanese soldiers detonate
an explosive on the Japanese-owned Southern Manchurian Railway. Chinese soldiers
retaliate with gunfire. The Japanese Kwantung Army reinforces their troops and
settles the conflict. The Japanese continue N to Mukden, attack the city and win
control the next day. The "Mukden Incident" is the beginning of the Pacific War.
1 April 1932:
LtCdr Mikami Iruka (44)(former damage control officer of
NOTORO) is appointed the CO.
20 October 1933:
LtCdr (promoted Cdr 15 Nov 1933; later Rear Admiral)
Itakura Tokushi (42)(former CO of SHIOKAZE) is appointed the CO.
15 November 1934:
Cdr (Rear Admiral, posthumously) Oda Tamekiyo
(43)(former CO of HATAKAZE) is appointed the CO.
15 November 1935:
LtCdr (later Captain) Motoki Tadatsugu (47)(former
damage control officer of ONDO) is appointed the CO.
9 January 1937:
Cdr (later Captain) Doi Shinji (45)(former division
officer of KAMOI) is appointed the CO.
7 July 1937: The Marco Polo Bridge (The"First China Incident") Incident:
Hun River, Lukuokiao (Peking), China. Japanese troops at the bridge fire
blank cartridges during night maneuvers. Chinese troops fire back. Later, the
Japanese discover a soldier missing. They demand entry to the Peking (Beijing)
suburb of Wanping to look for him, but the Chinese refuse. The Japanese shell
the city and an undeclared war on China begins.
July 1937:
Japanese residents in the Yangtze River area are guarded
by Rear Admiral (later Vice Admiral) Tanimoto Umataro's 11th Gunboat Division.
HIRA is based in Chungking.
12 November 1937:
Shanghai is captured.
13 December 1937:
Rear Admiral (later Vice Admiral) Kondo Eijiro's
(36)(former CO of KAGA) 11th squadron heads to Xiaguan led by gunboat ATAKA. The
squadron returns fire against blistering attacks from Liu Zijiang's trenches.
Gunboats HOZO and SETA are in front and ATAKA, gunboat HIRA and main force
destroyers KAWAKAZE and SUZUKAZE follow. The Yangtze River and its riversides
are full of routed Chinese boats and rafts. Each gunboat attacks them.
10 February 1938:
Cdr (later Captain) Nagaya Shigeru (48)(former
division officer of RYUJO) is appointed the CO.
15 December 1938:
Cdr (later Captain) Shimauchi Kichiji (49)(former
gunnery officer of OI) is appointed the CO.
25 September 1939:
Cdr (Rear Admiral, posthumously) Kubota Toshi
(46)(former XO of ONDO) is appointed the CO.
15 October 1940:
LtCdr (Captain, posthumously) Tsuchihashi Toshimi
(50)(former division officer of AOBA) is appointed the CO.
20 August 1941:
LtCdr (promoted Cdr 1 November 1942; Rear Admiral,
posthumously) Sakamoto Tsuneo (52)(former CO of MIKAZUKI) is appointed the CO.
December 1941:
Attached to the First China Expeditionary Fleet, China
Area Fleet.
31 May 1943:
Upriver from Hankow, Yangtze River. HIRA is attacked by
several USAAF Fourteenth Air Force P-40´s fighter-bombers and hit in engine
room, boiler room, compass bridge, upper part of bridge, midships upper deck and
crew spaces, unnavigable, 8 crew KIA including her CO Cdr Sakamoto Tsuneo. Two
other crewmen are seriously wounded.
4 June 1943:
LtCdr Murakami Tadaomi (57)(former CO of SAWAKAZE) is
appointed the CO.
June-July 1943:
Shanghai. Undergoes battle-damage repairs at Kiangnan
(Konan) Engineering and Dock Works.
20 August 1943:
Attached to the Yangtze Special Base Force, China Area
Fleet.
17 August 1944:
HIRA is damaged by unidentified USAAF Fourteenth Air
Force fighter-bombers at Kiukiang, China.
26 November 1944:
Yangtze River. HIRA and sister HOZU run aground in
shallow water. Chinese planes bomb and severely damage HIRA and sink HOZU near
Anking at about 30-30N, 117-00E.
Spring 1945:
Dismantled for scrap.
10 May 1945:
Removed from Navy List.
Author's Notes:
[1] Because the draft of this type of boat was so shallow,
even when the seas were a little high, there was a great danger of turning over,
so it was transported disassembled and re-assembled at its operating locale.
Thanks go to Erich Muehlthaler of Germany for info in Rev 1. Thanks go to
reader Dorbel for info in Rev 2 about HMS COCKCHAFER.
-Bob Hackett and Sander Kingsepp
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