JDS Wakaba (DE-261)

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Career (Japan)
Name:	JDS Wakaba
Builder:	Kawasaki, Kobe
Laid down:	1st September 1944
Launched:	17th January 1945
Commissioned:	15th March 1945 (as IJN Nashi)
Out of service:	28th July 1945 (sunk)
Renamed:	31st May 1956
Refit:	1958 (weapons & radar) 1960 (sonar)
Struck:	31st March 1971
Fate:	Scrapped
General characteristics
Class and type:	Tachibana class
Displacement:	1289 tonnes
Length:	100m
Beam:	9.35m
Draught:	3.28m
Propulsion:	2xKanhon Type 3 mod C turbines (19000PS) 2xKanhon Type 3 mod B2 boilers
Speed:	25.5 knots
Complement:	175
Sensors and processing systems:	Radar (added 1958) : • Mk34 Fire Control • AN/SPS-5B C Band SS • AN/SPS-12 L Band AS • AN/SPS-8B S Band Heightfinder (added 1960) Sonar (added 1960) : • AN/SQR-4/SQA-4 • AN/SQS-11A
Armament:	(all added in 1958) • Mk63 GFCS • Type 68/Mk 33 3in/50(II) • Type 54/Mk 10 Hedgehog • 4xType 54/Mk 6 K-Gun • 2xType 54 DC Rack

The JDS Wakaba was the former IJN Nashi, a Tachibana-class destroyer. The Nashi was sunk in July 1945, but salvaged in 1954 as the Wakaba, later being refitted as a radar trials ship. As such she was the only ship of the wartime navy to become part of the post-war Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, and for some time was the biggest ship in the JMSDF.

'Nashi' is a type of pear. 'Wakaba' means "Fresh Verdure" in Japanese, suggesting the "green shoots" of recovery, a symbol of a new start after the war.

Commanding Officers (as HIJMS Nashi)

Chief Equipping Officer - Lt. Cmdr. Toshio Takada - 20 February 1945 - 15 March 1945

Lt. Cmdr. Toshio Takada - 15 March 1945 - 28 July 1945

[edit] History

• 15th March 1945 - completed at Kobe and under Lieutenant Commander Takada Toshio was assigned to Desron 11,Combined Fleet for training.

• May 1945 - assigned to Desdiv 52, Escort Squadron 31

• 22nd June 1945 - escaped an attack on Kure harbour by B-29's

• 28th July 1945 - sunk at Mitajirizaki, Kure (34.14N, 132.30E) by aircraft from Halsey's Taskforce 38. Takada and most of the crew escape alive.

• 15th September 1945 - officially struck off

• 31st September 1954 - refloated and then repaired at Kure

• 31st May 1956 - joins the JMSDF as the Wakaba

• 1958 - Major refit for use as a radar trials ship

• 1960 - Sonar added

• 31st March 1971 - Deleted

• 1972-3 Scrapped

[edit] See also

Wakaba, a Hatsuharu-class destroyer sunk at the Battle of Leyte Gulf

• Pictures of the salvage and refit of the Nashi
• Details of TF38 operations including the sinking of the Nashi

Combatant ship classes of the JMSDF

DDH : Destroyer Helicopter	Haruna class | Shirane class | 13500t class
DDG : Guided Missile Destroyer	Amatsukaze | Tachikaze class | Hatakaze class | Kongō class | Atago class
DD : Destroyer	Asakaze (Gleaves) class | Ariake (Fletcher) class | Harukaze class | Akizuki class | Hatsuyuki class | Asagiri class | Murasame class | Takanami class | 5000t class
DDA : All Purpose Destroyer	Murasame class (1958) | Takatsuki class
DDK : Anti Submarine Destroyer	Ayanami class | Yamagumo class | Minegumo class
DE : Destroyer Escort	Asahi (Cannon) class | Ikazuchi class | Akebono | Wakaba | Isuzu class | Chikugo class | Ishikari | Yubari class | Abukuma class
PF : Patrol Frigate	Kusu (Tacoma) class
SS : Submarine	Kuroshio (1955) (Gato class) | Oyashio (SS-511) | Hayashio class | Natsushio class | Oshio | Asashio class | Uzushio class | Yushio class | Harushio class | Oyashio class | Sōryū class
List	List of combatant ship classes of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force List of ships of the Japanese Navy