@Allyn Nevitt - January 2012

@Revised - Anthony Tully - May 2023

Name Translation: "Summer Tide"

9 December 1937: Laid down at Fujinagata Shipyard, Osaka, Japan. 23 February 1939: Launched and named NATSUSHIO ("Summer Tide").

1 May 1940:
Cdr (RAdm posthumously) Nomaguchi Kanetomo (48) (former CO of URANAMI) is appointed Chief Equipping Officer.
Lt (Cdr posthumously) Watanabe Yoshiro (61) (former Navigator, USHIO), Lt (later Admiral, JMSDF) Nishimura Tomoharu (59) (former Gunnery Officer, NAGATSUKI), and Lt (later LtCdr) Fujiki Hiroshi (60) (former Gunnery Officer, KAMIKAZE) are appointed Equipping Officers.

23 August 1940:
LtCdr (Eng.) (later Cdr) Nuka Hisanao (Eng. 34) (former Chief Engineer, SUZUKAZE) is appointed an Equipping Officer.

31 August 1940:
Completed, placed in commission, and assigned as flagship of Captain Ueda Hironosuke (42) (former CO of NOJIMA)’s newly-activated DesDiv 15 (NATSUSHIO, OYASHIO, HAYASHIO, KUROSHIO).

Initial Command Structure:
Ship's captain: Commander Nagai Sumitaka [50] (prev. C.O. NENOHI). Assigned to Desdiv 15 (NATSUSHIO, OYASHIO, HAYASHIO, KUROSHIO), Desron 2, Second Fleet. Flagship of Comdesdiv 15, Captain Sato Torajiro [43].
Commanding Officer: Cdr Nomaguchi Kanetomo (48)
Torpedo Officer: Lt Watanabe Yoshiro (61)
Gunnery Officer: Lt Nishimura Tomoharu (59)
Navigator: Lt Fujiki Hiroshi (60)
Chief Engineer: LtCdr (Eng.) Nuka Hisanao (Eng. 34)

15 November 1940:
DesDiv 15 assigned to RAdm (VAdm posthumously) Goto Aritomo (38) (former CO of YAMASHIRO)’s DesRon 2, Second Fleet.
Lt (j.g.) (later Admiral, JMSDF) Ishida Suteo (64) (former Crew, KASHIMA) is appointed Torpedo Officer. Lt Watanabe is appointed CO of CH-5.
Lt (j.g.) (LtCdr posthumously) Niwa Hiroshi (65) is appointed Navigator. Lt Fujiki is appointed Navigator of KIKUZUKI.

1 May 1941:
Torpedo Officer Lt (j.g.) Ishida is promoted Lt.

14 May 1941:
Lt (later LtCdr) Ago Shigeatsu (60) (former Gunnery Officer, USHIO) is appointed Gunnery Officer. Lt Nishimura is reassigned.

18 June 1941:
Captain (RAdm posthumously) Sato Torajiro (43) (former ComDesDiv 4) is appointed ComDesDiv 15. Captain Ueda is reassigned.

23 June 1941:
Desdiv 15 training with Desdiv 9 in Shikoku Sea. While thus engaged involved in collision with destroyer MINEGUMO. The lower half of MINEGUMO's bow was sheared off below the forecastle. The damage area to NATSUSHIO is unclear. [One account says it was NATSUGUMO involved]

24 June - September 6 1941:
At Kure undergoing repairs.

21 July 1941:
Lt (j.g.) (later VAdm, JMSDF) Yabushita Toshiharu (66) (former Navigator, MIKAZUKI) is appointed Navigator. Lt (j.g.) Niwa is appointed Torpedo Officer, relieving Lt Ishida, who is reassigned.

5 September 1941:
Lt (Eng.) (later LtCdr) ShimaiTomizo (Eng. 45) is appointed Chief Engineer. LtCdr (Eng.) Nuka is reassigned.

15 October 1941:
Torpedo Officer Lt (j.g.) Niwa is promoted Lt.

20 October 1941:
Cdr (later Captain) Nagai Sumitaka (50) (former Chief-of-Staff, DesRon 1) is appointed CO. CdrNomaguchi is appointed ComDesDiv 5.

1 -9 November:
Left Sukumo Bay; arrived at Ariake Bay, southest Kyushu. A week later returned to Sukumo Bay.

11 November:
Cruised to Hashirajima anchorage.

16 November:
Sailed to Kure. Carried out last minute maintenance and made war preparations.

21 November:
Departed Kure and after stopover at Hashirajima; then proceeded to Terashima Strait to join Philippine Island Invasion Forces.

26 November-1 December 1941:
Desdiv 15 steamed with Desron 2 from Terashima Strait to Palau.

6 December 1941:
Desdiv 15 departed Palau with Southern Philippine attack forces, initially escorting RYUJO in attack on Davao.

8 December:
0812: As approached Davao dropped depth charges on suspected submarine. No results observed.
1000: A single enemy PBY "Catalina" flying boat was observed. Arrived off Davao, southern Mindanao, Southern Philippines.

10-11 December:
With HAYASHIO, escorted YAEYAMA laying mines in Surigao Strait.

12 December:
Desdiv 15 with Legaspi invasion force.

14 December:
Returned to Palau. Hereafter at ancho on standby.

17 December:
Departed Palau in support of landings at Davao.

19 December:
1312: JINTSU reported detecting a submarine. NATSUSHIO dropped two depth charges and claimed a sinking.

20 December:
Desdiv 15 with Davao invasion force.

23 December:
0816: Opened fire on shore targets after arriving off Jolo Island. 10 main battery and some machine-gun rounds expended. Enemy air attack repulsed at this time.

25 December:
Desdiv 15 with Jolo invasion force.
0816: Engaged enemy shore batteries. Return fire wounded one man. Thereafter landings on Jolo successfully executed.

27 December:
More bombardment duty. Fired 29 main battery shells at enemy positions on Jolo Island.

28 December:
1300: Returned to Davao. Patrolled mouth of the Gulf.

31 December:
Steamed to nearby Malalag Bay, Davao Gulf and anchored with other warships on standby status.

1942

6 January:
Cruised to nearby Magunaga [Magnaga] Bay.

9 January:
0100: Departed Magnaga Bay with the Menado Invasion Convoy.

11 January 1942:
Desdiv 15 with Menado invasion force.
0610: Two enemy aircraft attacked. Repulsed with 18 main battery shells fired. Then sailed for Banka Anchorage and remained there on standby doing maintenance work.

14 January:
Desdiv 15 with Kendari invasion force.

16 January:
1206: Banka Anchorage attacked by aircraft. No damage received.

21 January:
1130: Departed Banka anchorage with the Kendari Invasion Force.

24 January:
Supported successful landings at Kendari, eastern Celebes Island.

26 January:
1426: On patrol off Kendari detected submarine and depth-charged for obscure results.

27 January:
Arrived at Kendari.

31 January:
Desdiv 15 with Ambon invasion force.

2 February:
Supported successful landings at Ambon, Ceram Island. Bombarded shore positions and "captured a number of enemy small craft."

4 February:
Departed Ambon area; arrived at Kendari same day.

6 February:
Departed Kendari in support of the Makassar Invasion Forces.

7 February:
0346: Detected and depth charged an enemy submarine. Results unknown.

8-9 February 1942:
Desdiv 15 with Makassar invasion force.
Action:
- 2215 While Desdiv 15 was steaming north in column and approaching Makassar in poor visibility NATSUSHIO was torpedoed in port side [Note 1] by USS S-37 (SS-142); back broken; eight dead and two wounded. The single torpedo struck just aft of the second funnel in the forward part of the engine room and it and No.3 boiler room were flooded while the blast blew the No.2 torpedo mount situated overhead overboard. The searchlight toppled down into the large hole opened in the upper deck. [The submarine was unmolested because the uncertain Japanese after some exploratory depth-charging detected no submarines and later concluded it was a mine] Comdesdiv 15 (Captain Sato) transferred to OYASHIO. [Note 2]

- 9 February:
- 0330 Unaware of the lurking submarine risk, KUROSHIO took in tow with the plan to take NATSUSHIO to Kendari. This was initially successful and steady progress was made. However as dawn approached a strong wind arose causing the pace of NATSUSHIO's flooding amidships and buckling to increase. It was realized she was foundering. Temporarily suspending the tow KUROSHIO removed all those remaining aboard as a precaution. The tow was cautiously resumed. However...

Sunk:
- 0843: Sank six minutes after folding at the torpedo damage point and the middle submerging in the rising seas 22 miles south of Makassar, Celebes. First of 39 Japanese destroyers to fall victim to U.S. submarines during the war.
- Survivors were the bulk of the ship's complement and included:Cdr Nagai, Torpedo Officer Lt Nagai, Gunnery Officer Lt Ago, Navigator Lt (j.g.) Yabushita, and Chief Engineer Lt (Eng.) Shimai. As far as known, none were lost after the initial torpedo hit. [Note 3]
- Cdr Nagai is later appointed Chief-of-Staff of DesRon 4. Lt Niwa is later appointed an Equipping Officer of AKIZUKI. Lt Ago is later appointed Gunnery Officer of JINGEI. Lt (j.g.) Yabushita is later appointed Navigator of KUROSHIO. Lt (Eng.) Shimai is later appointed Chief Engineer of MAIKAZE.

28 February 1942:
Removed from Navy List.

Notes and Sources:

Acknowledgements: Special thanks to Anthony Tully, Bill Somerville, and Matthew Jones for contributing to this TROM.