Japanese destroyer Asanagi

Asanagi (朝凪) was the eighth vessel of the Kamikaze-class destroyers built for the Imperial Japanese Navy following World War I. Advanced for their time, these ships served as first-line destroyers through the 1930s, but were considered obsolescent by the start of the Pacific War.

History
Construction of the large-sized Kamikaze-class destroyers was authorized as part of the Imperial Japanese Navy's 8-4 Fleet Program from fiscal 1921–1923, as a follow on to the Minekaze-class destroyer, with which they shared many common design characteristics. Asanagi, built at the Fujinagata Shipyards, in Osaka was laid down on March 5, 1923, launched on April 21, 1924 and commissioned on December 29, 1925. Originally commissioned simply as “Destroyer No. 15”, it was assigned the name Asanagi on August 1, 1928.

World War II history
At the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor, Asanagi was assigned to Destroyer Division 29 of Desron 6 in the IJN 4th Fleet, based at Truk. It provided cover for the Gilbert Island invasion force from December 8–10, 1941, and subsequently was assigned to the second Wake Island invasion force from December 23.

From January through March 1942, Asanagi provided cover for landings of Japanese forces during "Operation R" (the invasion of Rabaul, New Britain) and "Operation SR", (the invasion of Lae and Salamaua. While patrolling out of Lae on March 10, she suffered medium damage from strafing attacks, forcing a return to Sasebo for repairs by April. Once repairs were completed in June, Asanagi escorted convoys from Sasebo back to Truk. During the Battle of the Coral Sea from May 7–8, 1942, Asanagi was assigned to the "Operation Mo" invasion force for Port Moresby on New Guinea. When that operation was cancelled, she returned to Sasebo for further repairs.

Asanagi returned to Rabaul in mid-July and was assigned to cover Japanese landings on Buna. While making troop landings at Buna, Asanagi suffered damage by grounding on a coral reef while maneuvering to escape an air raid, and was forced to return to Yokosuka for repairs. She spent the remainder of September through November 1943 on patrols and escort duty in the central Pacific, and between Truk, Rabaul and the Japanese home islands.

In 1944, Asanagi escorted numerous convoys between Yokosuka, Truk, the Ogasawara Islands and the Mariana Islands. On her return from Saipan to Japan on May 20, 1944, she was torpedoed and sunk 200 mi west-northwest of Chichijima in the Ogasawara islands 28.33333°N, 138.95°W by the United States Navy submarine USS Pollack (SS-180).

Asanagi was struck from the navy list on July 10, 1944.