Hiburi-class escort ship

The Hiburi class escort ship (日振型海防艦,) was a sub class of the Mikura class escort ships of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN), serving during and after World War II.

Background

 * In 1943, the Japanese Navy General Staff (Gunreibu) promoted the building of Escort ship Type-A, the Etorofu class and Escort ship Type-B, the Mikura class. However, the Navy General Staff also noted that too many man-hours of work were needed for their building.

Design

 * The Navy Technical Department (Kampon) used the Ukuru's basic designs for the new drawings. It was a chimera of Mikura and Ukuru classes.
 * The new drawings had the following characteristic.
 * Armaments and under waterline designs were same as Mikura.
 * Everything else was same as in the Ukuru.
 * The Kampon estimated man-hours for building will be between 42,000 to 40,000.
 * The new drawing was sent to the Hitachi Zōsen Corporation, Sakurajima Shipyard. The Mikura class and the Ukuru class that had not been started were converted to the Hiburi class. The Hitachi Zōsen build all of the Hiburi class vessels.

Appendix

 * Classification of the Kaibōkan classes in IJN official documents
 * The Shimushu, Etorofu, Mikura, Hiburi and Ukuru were classed in the Shimushu class.
 * The IJN changed their classification on 5 June 1944, because the shipyards and commanders were confused.
 * The Escort ship Type-B and Modified Type-B were combined to the Escort ship Type-A, and Type-Bs became extinct thereby.

Photos
(changes of the equipments, and under waterline designs)