laststandonzombieisland

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.