page_title: Japanese destroyer Yūzuki
section_title: Pacific War
hierarchical_section_title: Japanese destroyer Yūzuki / Construction and career / Pacific War
caption_attribution_description: The Imperial Japanese Navy destroyer Yuzuki flees Tulagi harbor on 4 May 1942 in an attempt to evade air attack from U.S. carrier aircraft from the aircraft carrier USS Yorktown (CV-5).
context_page_description: The Japanese destroyer Yūzuki was the last of twelve Mutsuki-class destroyers built for the Imperial Japanese Navy during the 1920s. During the Pacific War, she participated in the Battle of Guam in December 1941 and the occupations of New Guinea and the Solomon Islands in early 1942.
context_section_description: At the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor, Yūzuki was assigned to Destroyer Division 23 under the Second Carrier Division of the 1st Air Fleet. She sortied from Hahajima in the Ogasawara Islands as part of the Japanese invasion force for the invasion of Guam. She returned to Truk in early January 1942 to join the invasion force for Operation R covering landings of Japanese forces at Kavieng, New Ireland on 23 January, and returning to Truk one month later. In March, Yūzuki assisted in covering landings of Japanese forces in the northern Solomon Islands, Lae and Admiralty Islands. The ship was reassigned to the 4th Fleet on 10 April.
  During the invasion of Tulagi on 3–4 May 1942, Yūzuki was strafed in an air attack, which killed 10 crewmen, including her captain, Lieutenant Commander Hirota Tachibana, and injured 20 more. After the sinking of her sister ship Kikuzuki, she became the flagship of Destroyer Division 30.
  After repairs at Sasebo Naval Arsenal later that month, Yūzuki was assigned to Destroyer Division 29 in June and remained flagship of the division. The ship was initially based at Truk, and assigned to escort convoys carrying airfield construction crews from Truk to Bougainville and Guadalcanal, and patrols around Rabaul until the end of August. On 31 August, Yūzuki helped screen the Nauru and Ocean Island invasion force during Operation RY, and patrolled in the central Pacific to the end of the year.
  After maintenance at Sasebo in January 1943, Yūzuki returned to Truk in February and resumed her patrols in the central Pacific to November 1943, on numerous occasions rescuing crews of torpedoed transports. On 30 November, Yuzuki was reassigned to Destroyer Division 30 of Destroyer Squadron 3, of the 8th Fleet and returned to Rabaul on 17 February 1944. In February, Yūzuki led the final Tokyo Express transport runs to New Britain and the final evacuation of Rabaul. From the end of February to May, Yūzuki was based at Palau and assisted in rescuing the survivors of the torpedoed light cruiser Yūbari on 27 April. From 1 May, Yūzuki was reassigned to the Central Pacific Area Fleet and on 18 July, directly to the Combined Fleet. In September and October, Yūzuki escorted convoys from the Japanese home islands to Taiwan, and escorted the aircraft carrier Jun'yō to Brunei and Manila. On 21 November, Yūzuki was reassigned to the 5th Fleet.
  On 12 December, while escorting a troop convoy from Manila to Ormoc, Yūzuki was sunk by USMC aircraft, 65 miles (105 km) north-northeast of Cebu at coordinates 11°20′N 124°10′E, with 20 crewmen killed and 217 survivors. The survivors were rescued by the destroyer Kiri. Yūzuki was struck from the Navy List on 10 January 1945.
caption: Yūzuki flees Tulagi harbor during airstrikes by aircraft from the aircraft carrier USS Yorktown on 4 May 1942 during the Japanese invasion of Tulagi
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