@Updated - January 6, 2012 - Allyn Nevitt

@Revised - Anthony Tully with Allyn Nevitt - 2019

Name Translation: "Daybreak"

Initial Command Structure:
Ship's captain: Lieutenant Commander Sasagawa Hiroshi [50] (prev. C.O. KARUKAYA). Assigned to Desdiv 12 comprised of SHIRAKUMO (flagship of Comdesdiv 12 Commander Ogawa Nobuki), MURAKUMO, and SHINONOME. (USUGUMO should have been the fourth member but was inoperational--see Note 1) Assigned to Desron 3, First Fleet.

20-26 November 1941:
All three destroyers of Desdiv 12 steamed with Desron 3 from Kure to Samah (Hainan) to prepare for the opening of hostilities and First Phase Operations.

28 November:
SHINONOME left the anchorage and carried out local patrol duty. Returned the next day.

1 December:
SHINONOME departed the bay and carried out patrol and exercises.

3 December:
Returned to Samah. Desdiv 12 attached to the Southern Expeditionary Fleet.

4 December:
0630: Desdiv 12 escorted troop convoy departing Samah for the Eastern Malaya invasion operation.

8 December:
This day by Tokyo date brought the commencement of hostilities in the Pacific. Desdiv 12 (SHIRAKUMO, SHINONOME, and MURAKUMO) had arrived off Patani and Tepoh (southern Thailand) shortly before midnight and covered landing troops of the 42nd Infantry Regiment at Patani.
Action:
- 0115 Landings at Patani and Surat Thani commence. SHINONOME assigned to close cover of the transports SAGAMI MARU, KINKA MARU, TOZAN MARU, and HIROKAWA MARU at Patani and KINUGASA MARU and ASOSAN MARU off Surat Thani.
- 0150 Enemy aircraft commenced attacking. Subsequent intermittent bomb and strafing attacks follow. Although Marus off Kota Bharu suffered damages, the transports under SHINONOME's protection remained unharmed.
- Enemy aircraft continued to attack and there is heavy resistance ashore from the Royal Thai Army, but it is soon defeated. Moved south to join the forces off Khota Bharu.

9 December:
Operations at Khota Bharu completed, Desdiv 12 left the area and rendezvoused with Desron 3 flagship cruiser SENDAI. On this day SHINONOME reported she had dropped depth charges on an enemy submarine for unknown results.

12 December:
Desdiv 12 arrived at Camranh Bay, southern Indo-China. SHINONOME embarked provisions from SURUGA MARU.

13 December:
0730: Desdiv 12 departed Camranh Bay to support the British Borneo invasion force. Acted as close escort of the invasion convoy.

15 December:
2330: Desdiv 12 and transports arrived off the Miri, western Borneo area. The convoy splits into three sections for three separate beacheads at Miri, Lutong, and Seria-Beliat.

16 December:
Desdiv 12 supported the three landings at British Borneo. Each destroyer is assigned a zone.
0440: Delayed by violent rainstorms the landings in Seria and Belait to capture the oil installations present commenced from HIYOSHI MARU guarded by SHINONOME. Hereafter patrolled the local area continuing overnight.

17 December:
Desdiv 12 as before with British Borneo invasion force. Small but effective elements of enemy aircraft attacked the Japanese units.

Action & Sunk:
- 0650 [Tokyo time; Dutch time local 0550] While in distant company of HIYOSHI MARU and W-7 the SHINONOME was attacked shortly after dawn by Dutch flying boat X-32 of GVT-7 (GVT = Groep Vliegtuigen = Aircraft Group) off Miri, Borneo (04-24 N, 114 E). Five bombs were dropped, with two direct hits and one near-miss observed. One of them detonated an aft magazine: SHINONOME came to a stop, heeled over, and went down by the stern within five minutes.[1]
- 0700 HIYOSHI MARU and W-7 attacked by Dutch Flying Boat X.33. Attack ended.
- 1020 MURAKUMO sees a huge column of white water erupting from the sea in the area of Baram Lighthouse and huge underwater shock is felt at the same time. It seemed like a deep super depth-charge in its concussion.
- 1246 To investigate, MURAKUMO cast off from No.3 TONAN MARU after having first refueled. The destroyer thereafter discovered a ten-meter long patch of oil about fifteen kilometers off Baram Lighthouse containing relatively little debris. Most poignantly, the only recognizable item was a barrel of radishes, known to have been embarked by SHINONOME from the supply ship SURUGA MARU at Camranh Bay.
- 1930 MURAKUMO gave up search for survivors, having found not a single one. Returned to Miri and assigned patrol duties. Thus Lt.Cdr. Sasagawa and all hands - some 221 officers and men - perished.

15 January 1942:
Removed from Navy List.

[1] Desdiv 12 like the majority of Japanese destroyer divisions originally had four members. For closer look at the challenges and achievements of Desdiv 12 see:
Allyn Nevitt: Fleeting Glory: The Fubukis of DesDiv 12

[2] The details necessarily come from the Dutch side. Shinonome was reported at the time as a large cruiser in the vicinity of one anchored merchant ship and a small torpedo-boat. For some time uncertainty persisted as to the actual enemy action that destroyed Shinonome. Some early sources claimed it was not the X.32 flying boat, and that she fell victim to a controlled mine that could be detonated from from a shore observation post: hence the huge underwater convulsion. At first glance, the times of the incidents -- the X.32 attack and the huge underwater explosion and shock at 1020 -- do not match. But this is because the Japanese associated the blast with the time of her loss -- but approximately three hours prior (i.e., about 0720) Murakumo had picked up a message from an unknown originator believed to be Shinonome that an air attack was in progress. This would closely match the Dutch account. As for the mysterious detonation at 1020 a possible explanation that reconciles these is that the depth charges and other munitions aboard the sunken wreck of the SHINONOME exploded after an interval of time on the bottom. This might also explain the ultimate lack of survivors. In any case, given the timing of the last message reporting air attack there can be little doubt the Dutch claim is correct. For the best discussion, see here:

Jan Visser: Who Sank the Shinonome?