Japanese destroyer Ariake (1934)

Ariake (有明) was the fifth of six Hatsuharu-class destroyer destroyers, built for the Imperial Japanese Navy under the Circle One Program (Maru Ichi Keikaku). Three were laid down in JFY 1931 and the next three in JFY 1933.

History
Construction of the advanced Hatsuharu-class destroyers was intended to give the Imperial Japanese Navy smaller and more economical destroyers than the previous Fubuki-class destroyer and Akatsuki-class destroyers, but with essentially the same weaponry. These conflicting goals proved beyond contemporary destroyer design, and the initial ships of this class were top-heavy design, with severe stability problems and with inherent structural weaknesses. After the "Tomozuru Incident" of 1934 and "IJN 4th Fleet Incident" in 1935, Ariake underwent extensive design changes and modifications prior to launch to remedy these issues.

Ariake was laid down at Kawasaki Shipyards in Kobe on January 14, 1933, launched on September 23, 1934 and commissioned on March 25, 1935.

Operational history
At the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor, Ariake was assigned to Destroyer Division 27 of Destroyer Squadron 1 of the IJN 1st Fleet together with her sister ships JAPANESE DESTROYER Shiratsuyu, JAPANESE DESTROYER Shigure, and JAPANESE DESTROYER Yugure, and was based at Hashirajima in Japanese home waters on anti-submarine patrol.

In January 1942, Ariake escorted aircraft carriers JAPANESE AIRCRAFT CARRIER Hiryū and JAPANESE AIRCRAFT CARRIER Sōryū to Palau and to Ambon during the invasion of the Netherlands East Indies, and was a participant in the Darwin air raid of February 19, 1942. Afterwards, she was based at Staring Bay, in Sulawesi from which she conducted escort patrol missions to the end of March. She returned to Sasebo Naval Arsenal for repairs from March 22 to April 15, 1942. At the end of April, she went to Truk as part of the escort for JAPANESE AIRCRAFT CARRIER Shōkaku and JAPANESE AIRCRAFT CARRIER Zuikaku and was part of Admiral Takeo Takagi's force at the Battle of the Coral Sea. In May, she was reassigned to escort the cruisers JAPANESE CRUISER Myōkō and JAPANESE CRUISER Haguro back to Kure. During the Battle of Midway, she was part of the escort for the Aleutian diversionary force under Admiral Shirō Takasu. Reassigned to the IJN 2nd Fleet on July 14, she was then detached for temporary duty with the IJN 4th Fleet in a sortie from Truk to Jaluit on August 20. After bombarding Nauru on August 23, a landing party from Ariake occupied that island as part of "Operation RY" on August 26 until relieved by a garrison force on August 30. Ariake was then assigned to the Solomon Islands, participating in a troop transport run to land the Ichiki and Aoba Detachments on Guadalcanal, and shelling Henderson Field. From September through December 1942, she was assigned to numerous Tokyo Express high speed transport runs throughout the Solomon Islands. On December 17, she attacked and claimed sinking an unidentified submarine, but the report remains unconfirmed. At the end of December, she suffered significant damage near Rabaul in an air raid by USAAF B-24 bombers while towing the damaged JAPANESE DESTROYER Uzuki. Six near misses killed 28 crewmen and injured 40 others, disabling her No.2 and No.3 gun turrets.

After returning to Sasebo for major repairs through the middle of February 1943, Ariake escorted a convoy to Truk and the end of February and another convoy from Turk to Rabaul and back to Yokosuka at the end of April. She returned to Truk at the end of the month as escort for JAPANESE AIRCRAFT CARRIER Unyō, returning with JAPANESE BATTLESHIP Musashi at the end of May. In early June, she was docked for repairs, escept for a sortie to escort JAPANESE AIRCRAFT CARRIER Hiyō to Turk, and to return with the same damaged ship a few days later. In late June, she escorted JAPANESE AIRCRAFT CARRIER Ryūhō from Yokosuka to Truk, and JAPANESE CRUISER Kumano and JAPANESE CRUISER Suzuya from Truk to Rabaul, repeating the mission twice in early July.

On 27–28 July 1943, Ariake was on a troop transport run to Tuluvu, New Britain. After grounding on a reef near Cape Gloucester (-5.45°N, 148.41667°W) with JAPANESE DESTROYER Mikazuki, Ariake was able to work free. She removed troops and ComDesDiv 30 (Captain Orita Tsuneo) from JAPANESE DESTROYER Mikazuki and completed the mission to Tuluvu, then returned to assist Mikazuki. She was sunk while so engaged by U.S. Army B-25 Mitchells. Seven men were killed, along with Ariake's captain, Lt. Cmdr. Akifumi Kawahashi