Usugumo completed her delivery voyage from England to Japan on 14 May 1900 with her arrival at Kagoshima.[2] She was reclassified as a destroyer on 22 June 1900.[2]
During the predawn hours of 10 March 1904, a force consisting of Usugumo, Shinonome, the protected cruiser Chitose, and the destroyers Akebono and Sazanami — with Usugumo serving as the destroyer division's flagship — intercepted the Russian destroyers Reshitel‘nyi and Steregushchiy as they approached Port Arthur from the south-southeast during their return from a reconnaissance mission.[5] As the Japanese moved to cut them off from Port Arthur, Reshitel‘nyi and Steregushchiy turned to starboard and made for the shelter of Russian minefields off Dalniy.[6] With superior speed, the Japanese destroyers closed to a range of 300 metres (330 yd), and the two sides opened gunfire on one another.[6] The Russians scored a number of hits on the Japanese ships, but at 06:40 a Japanese shell detonated in one of Steregushchiy′s coalbunkers, damaging two of her boilers and causing her speed to drop off quickly.[6]Reshitel‘nyi′s commanding officer was wounded, forcing her engineering officer to take command, and she also suffered a shell hit which knocked out one of her boilers, but she managed to keep her speed up and reach waters within range of Russian coastal artillery at daybreak.[6] As Reshitel‘nyi again altered course toward Port Arthur, where she arrived safely, the coastal artillery opened fire on the Japanese and discouraged them from continuing the chase.[6]
Giving up their pursuit of Reshitel‘nyi, the Japanese closed with the limping Steregushchiy. The Japanese destroyers were larger and more heavily armed than Steregushchiy, and they opened an overwhelming fire on her in broad daylight.[6]Chitose and the Japanese armored cruiserTokiwa also joined the action. Aboard Steregushchiy, a Japanese shell exploded in the No. 2 boiler room, opening a hole in the hull through which water entered the compartment, flooded the fireboxes, and forced Steregushchiy′s crew to abandon the room. As the unequal fight continued, Japanese shell hits brought down all of Steregushchiy′s funnels and masts. Her commanding officer and gunnery officer died at their posts, her executive officer was killed while trying to launch her whaleboat, and her engineering officer was blown overboard by the explosion of a Japanese shell. One by one, Steregushchiy′s guns fell silent, and by 07:10 she was a motionless wreck with her hull mangled and almost her entire crew dead or dying.[7] She struck her colors to surrender.[6]
The Japanese ships ceased fire and gathered around Usugumo, finding that Usugumo and Shinonome had sustained only minor damage, Sazanami had suffered eight shell hits, and Akebono had taken about 30 hits. The Japanese destroyers had suffered a number of killed and wounded. The Japanese attempted to take possession of the Russian destroyer, but Steregushchiy′s crew had opened her Kingston valves to scuttle her, and two members of her crew locked themselves in her engine room to prevent the Japanese from closing the valves, sacrificing their lives to ensure that she sank.[7] At 08:10, a Japanese tug arrived, and Sazanami began an attempt to towSteregushchiy to port. At around the same time, however, the Russian armored cruiser Bayan and protected cruiser Novik approached under the personal command of the commander of the Russian First Pacific Squadron, Vice AdmiralStepan Osipovich Makarov, and the Japanese abandoned their towing attempt, rescued Steregushchiy′s four surviving crew members, and withdrew to avoid combat. At 09:07, Steregushchiy sank 7 nautical miles (13 km; 8.1 mi) southeast of Mount Laoteshan and 6 nautical miles (11 km; 6.9 mi) from the Lushun Lighthouse with the loss of 49 members of her crew.[7][8]
Usugumo later took part in the Battle of the Yellow Sea on 10 August 1904 and the Battle of Tsushima in late May 1905.[2][4] During the Battle of Tsushima, Usugumo was part of the force escorting surrendered Imperial Russian Navywarships to Japan during the night of 28–29 May 1905 when the captured Russian battleshipOryol, which was under the control of a Japanese prize crew with her Russian crew still aboard as prisoners-of-war, began to slow and finally stopped altogether due to mechanical defects.[9] The rest of the force proceeded with its voyage, leaving Oryol behind with only Usugumo standing by.[10] The ugly mood of the Russian prisoners aboard Oryol prevented her Japanese commander from ordering Usugumo to go for help, as he believed he might need Usugumo′s crew to maintain order aboard Oryol, but around dawn on 29 May the Russians became more cooperative, and the Japanese commander sent Usugumo to request the assistance of a tug.[10]Usugumo soon encountered the Japanese armored cruiser Asama, which proceeded to assist Oryol.[10] By the time Asama rendezvoused with Oryol, Oryol was back underway, and a few minutes later the main Japanese force also arrived, having turned back to find Oryol after discovering that she was missing.[10]Oryol reached Japan,[10] where she was repaired and incorporated into the Imperial Japanese Navy with the name Iwami.
On 28 August 1912, the Imperial Japanese Navy revised its ship classification standards. It established three categories of destroyers, with those of 1,000 displacement tons or more defined as first-class destroyers, those of 600 to 999 displacement tons as second-class destroyers, and those of 599 or fewer displacement tons as third-class destroyers.[11] Under this classification scheme, Usugumo became a third-class destroyer.[12]
On 1 April 1922, Usugumo was reclassified as a "special service vessel" for use as a second-class minesweeper.[2] On 30 June 1923 she was reclassified as a second-class minesweeper.[2] On 1 August 1923, she stricken from the navy list, reclassified as a "general utility vessel" for use as a cargo ship, and simultaneously renamed No. 2525.[2] She was hulked on 25 February 1925.[2] On 29 April 1925 she was sunk as a live-fire target in the Philippine Sea off Izu Ōshima[2] in the Izu Islands.
^「大正1年 達 完：8月」 アジア歴史資料センター Ref.C12070064400 画像33『達第十一號 艦艇類別等級別表ノ通改正セラル 大正元年八月二十八日 海軍大臣 男爵斎藤實 （別表）｜驅逐艦|一等|千暾以上|二等|千暾未満六百暾以上|三等|六百暾未満｜』 ("1912: August Asia Historical Records Center Ref.C12070064400 Image 33 ′Tatsu No. 11 Ship Classification Classification Table Revised Serral August 28, 1912 Minister of Navy Baron Minoru Saito (Appendix ): Destroyer, First class, 1,000 tons or more; Second class; Less than 1,000 tons, 600 tons or more; Third class′") (in Japanese)
^("1912 August Image 34 ′Tatsu 12th Revision of Ship Classification Classification Table No. August 28, 1912, Minister of Navy Baron Minoru Saito (separate table): Destroyer, Third class: Shinonome, Murakumo, Yugiri, Shiranui, Kagero, Usugumo, ...′") (in Japanese)
^日本海軍史』第9巻・第10巻の「将官履歴」及び『官報』に基づく ("Based on History of General Officers and Official Gazette in Volumes 9 and 10 of History of the Japanese Navy) (in Japanese)
^『官報』第1601号、大正6年12月3日 ("Official Gazette" No. 1601, December 3, 1916") (in Japanese)
^ ab『官報』第2199号、大正8年12月2日 ("Official Gazette" No. 2199, 2 December 1919") (in Japanese)
^ ab『官報』第2419号、大正9年8月24日 ("Official Gazette" No. 2419, 24 August 1919") (in Japanese)
^ ab『官報』第2784号、大正10年11月11日 ("Official Gazette" No. 2784, 11 November 1925") (in Japanese)
^ ab『官報』第2784号、大正10年11月11日 ("Official Gazette" No. 2849, 2 February 1922") (in Japanese)
Bibliography
海軍歴史保存会『日本海軍史』第7巻、第9巻、第10巻、第一法規出版、1995年。("Naval History Preservation Society "Japanese Naval History" Vol.7, Vol.9, Vol.10, Daiichi Hoki Publishing, 1995.") (in Japanese)
Cocker, Maurice (1983). Destroyers of the Royal Navy, 1893-1981. Ian Allan. ISBN0-7110-1075-7.
Corbett, Julian S. (1994). Maritime Operations in the Russo-Japanese War 1904–1905, Volume I. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN1-55750-129-7.
Corbett, Julian S. (1994). Maritime Operations in the Russo-Japanese War 1904–1905, Volume II. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN1-55750-129-7.
Evans, David (1979). Kaigun: Strategy, Tactics, and Technology in the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1887-1941. US Naval Institute Press. ISBN0-87021-192-7.
福井靜夫『写真日本海軍全艦艇史 Fukui Shizuo Collection』資料編、KKベストセラーズ、1994年。("Shizuo Fukui, "Photographic History of All Ships of the Imperial Japanese Navy Fukui Shizuo Collection" Data Edition, KK Bestsellers, 1994.") (in Japanese)
