The chill of Autumn, and 500-pound bombs, 73 years ago today
A B-25 executes a skip-bombing attack on IJN Akishimo during the Ormoc Bay campaign,10 November 1944. US Army Signal Corps Photo A56859A
IJN destroyer Akishimo shown under attack by U.S. Army B-25 Mitchells while escorting troop convoy TA No. 4 withdrawing from from Manila to Ormoc, Philippines, on this day in November 1944.
She suffered heavy damage after taking a direct bomb hit, losing her bow and 20 sailors along with it. Two days later, while under repair at Japanese-occupied Cavite Naval Yard, she was hit by another USAAF attack and subsequently destroyed.
Akishimo (秋霜, “Autumn Frost”) was a 2,500-ton Yūgumo-class destroyer completed 11 March 1944 for the Imperial Japanese Navy. As such, she was just over eight months old in the above photo, and would never be pretty again.
https://polldaddy.com/js/rating/rating.jsGreat article but this is not a destroyer but rather a small Japanese Kaikobam, an escort vessel. Still the articles are amazing and well worth the wait.
https://polldaddy.com/js/rating/rating.jsWiki article on the Jap escort vessel –
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_destroyer_Akishimo