page_title: Momi-class destroyer
section_title: As patrol boats
hierarchical_section_title: Momi-class destroyer / As patrol boats
caption_attribution_description: The Japanese escort vessel Patrol Boat No.39 (originally the destroyer Tade) sinking after being torpedoed by the U.S. Navy submarine USS Seawolf (SS-197) 280 km north-east of Formosa on 23 April 1943. Photographed through Seawolf's periscope.
context_page_description: The Momi-class destroyers were a class of twenty-one second-class destroyers of the Imperial Japanese Navy. All were named for plants. Obsolete by the beginning of the Pacific War, the Momis were relegated to mostly secondary roles, with some vessels serving throughout the war as patrol vessels or high speed transports.
context_section_description: Beginning in 1939, nine Momi-class vessels were re-classified as patrol boats and converted for escort duty, having one boiler removed (dropping their power to 12,000 ihp (8,900 kW) and speed to just 18 knots (21 mph; 33 km/h). Their torpedo tubes, minesweeping gear, and the amidships Type 3 gun mount were replaced by six Type 96 25 mm AT/AA Guns, 36 depth charges, and three depth charge throwers. As well, their names were dropped and they were simply numbered.
  During 1941–1942, these vessels were modified again, to carry and launch a Toku Daihatsu-class landing craft, by having the aft smokestack removed and the stern modified with a sloping deck to the waterline, as well as providing accommodation for 150 naval infantry troops. All of these vessels except ex-Fuji (as Patrol Boat #36) were sunk during the course of the Pacific War.
caption: Periscope photo of Patrol Boat #39 (Japanese escort vessel, originally the destroyer Tade, 1922) sinking after being torpedoed by Seawolf on 23 April 1943
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