IJN Yuudachi
Contents
Description
The Shiratsuyu-class, IJN Yuudachi, 1942 (夕立, namesake: Evening Squall) was the fourth of ten Shiratsuyu-class destroyers. She was launched in 1936, and participated in many battles and invasions in the Pacific and Indian Oceans. She was referred to by the Allied soldiers as "the Nightmare of Solomon" because of her reputation for taking bold and aggressive measures. Bearing white sails to boost crew morale, these signs were mistaken for white surrender flags, which greatly outraged Allied sailors as Yuudachi was in active combat. She was caught between US ships after a fierce final night battle that left many Allied ships damaged. She mistook them for friendly Japanese ships and flashed the wrong signals at enemy ships, which caused her to be salvoed on with shells and torpedoes, leaving her disabled in the water. The Japanese destroyer Samidare picked up 206 remaining crew, but it was unable to scuttle. The unmanned Yuudachi was sunk by the USS Portland on 13 November 1942 while drifting in the water with actual white surrender flags, with the US crew ignoring the surrender owing to her earlier actions.
She was introduced during Update 1.89 "Imperial Navy" as a reward for the 2019 Operation H.E.A.T event. As a Japanese destroyer, weapon layout and configuration shouldn't come as a surprise equipped with 16 torpedoes. As an earlier design, under the Shiratsuyu-class, the stern layout having 2 turrets directly behind each other, lacking a barbette meaning the 2nd turret can only fire broadside. The one unique thing Yuudachi offers is the AA armament which doesn't consist of Type 96 25 mm's, but instead 40 mm Pom-Pom Vickers cannons, which fire at a slower rate, but last longer and do considerably more damage if hit.
General info
Survivability and armour
The Yuudachi has no armour beyond her steel hull the 0.125 inch antifragmentation armour of the main calibre turrets which isn't rare for destroyers. She has the lowest crew count among destroyers at its battle ratin, with even a few frigates like the British Whitby class (F-77) or the German Köln F220 having slightly larger crew sizes. Her magazines for the main guns are roughly on par with other countries in size but are slightly higher up and more exposed than other similar ships, with no nearby modules to shield them from potential damage. She does present a slightly lower and longer silhouette than most of her peers which helps with her survivability.
Mobility
Write about the ship's mobility. Evaluate its power and manoeuvrability, rudder rerouting speed, stopping speed at full tilt, with its maximum forward and reverse speed.
| Mobility Characteristics | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Game Mode | Upgrade Status | Maximum Speed (km/h) | Turn Time (s) | Turn Radius (m) | |
| Forward | Reverse | ||||
| AB | Stock | 57 | 24 | ~118.87 | ~210.2 |
| Upgraded | 77 | 33 | ___ | ___ | |
| RB/SB | |||||
| Upgraded | 63 | 27 | ___ | ___ | |
Modifications and economy
2 × 210 / 520 / 50 % 2 × 142 / 142 / 142 % | Seakeeping | Unsinkability | Firepower | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Armament
Primary armament
The Yuudachi's main armament is comprised of five 127 mm Type 3 cannons in two dual and one single gun turret. Note that none of the turrets are superfiring, requiring a broadside to bring all guns to bear.
The Type 3 cannon is the same one found on most of the modern IJN destroyers. Unfortunately, it suffers from multiple drawbacks such as slow reload and traverse speed. This makes the cannon relatively ineffective against aircraft, coupled with the lack of proximity fuse shells (only time-fused shells are available). It also does not have access to any armour-piercing rounds, limiting its effectiveness against heavy warships. The cannons will do just fine against destroyers and small craft, but the poor rate of fire will leave you unable to win against most other destroyers in a straight up gun battle. However, you are still much more well-armed than reserve destroyers, and can destroy most of them in an even fight.
| Penetration statistics | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ammunition | Type of warhead |
Penetration @ 0° Angle of Attack (mm) | |||||
| 1,000 m | 2,500 m | 5,000 m | 7,500 m | 10,000 m | 15,000 m | ||
| Type 1 HE | HE | 28 | 28 | 28 | 28 | 28 | 28 |
| HE-TF | HE-TF | 26 | 26 | 26 | 26 | 26 | 26 |
| Shell details | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ammunition | Type of warhead |
Velocity (m/s) |
Projectile mass (kg) |
Fuse delay (m) |
Fuse sensitivity (mm) |
Explosive mass (TNT equivalent) (kg) |
Ricochet | |||||
| 0% | 50% | 100% | ||||||||||
| Type 1 HE | HE | 910 | 23 | 0 | 0.1 | 2.31 | 79° | 80° | 81° | |||
| HE-TF | HE-TF | 910 | 23 | 0 | 0.1 | 2.07 | 79° | 80° | 81° | |||
Secondary armament
The ship's anti-air armament includes two 40 mm cannons mounted near the ship's center, with one gun on each side of the ship. These cannons gain access to time-fused shells, which is unusual for their calibre. While these cannons are not as powerful as the Bofors L/60 Mark 1 (40 mm), they can still pack quite a punch towards aircraft and small ships. They have a reasonably fast rate of fire, although they will need to reload often. In order to utilize these cannons to their full potential, make sure to max out your crew training for auxiliary cannons so that your AI can take down planes for you. Despite this, the Yuudachi is not equipped with enough weapons to deal with aircraft alone. Try to stick near friendlies with more automatic cannons who are able to protect you.
The Yuudachi is not equipped with any other secondary artillery systems.
Additional armament
The Yuudachi is equipped with a very formidable eight torpedo launchers in two quad mounts. In addition, the ship carries an extra set of torpedo reloads, totaling to 16 torpedoes. The torpedoes carried by this destroyer are the very powerful Type 93 Model 1, Mod 2 torpedoes, commonly known as the "Long Lance". These torpedoes have a very lethal warhead; they are the third most powerful torpedoes in the game by explosive mass. They are also incredibly fast and have a very long range, being able to reach over 20 km. This grants the Yuudachi a significant advantage in long range combat, as the torpedoes can outrange even cruisers. It is a good idea to stay out of harm's way and launch torpedoes at the general direction of enemy warships, this will usually lead to a few unlucky enemies running into torpedoes. These torpedoes are capable of sinking most destroyers with one hit, as well as crippling, if not outright destroying cruisers. The torpedo reload feature allows you to carry an extra set of torpedoes in Realistic Battles. In Arcade Battles, they will allow you to fire your second spread of torpedoes faster.
Due to their extreme range, high damage and fast speeds, the torpedoes are by far the most valuable weapons on the Yuudachi.
The warship is equipped with a few depth charge launchers on the ship's stern. Due to the lack of submarines in the game, these weapons are not useful as they require you to get extremely close to an enemy to utilize them. At these ranges, conventional gunfire and torpedoes are more effective.
Usage in battles
Since the ship is revolved mainly around its torpedoes, the effectiveness of the ship is dependant on the map. The Yuudachi excels in long range maps with little to no cover. This combination allows the Yuudachi to stay at long range, far away from most threats, while being able to launch torpedoes that can travel across the entire map.
The ship especially excels in Conquest gamemodes for this reason. Alternatively, it can be a strong ship for the Encounter gamemode, since the torpedoes will allow the Yuudachi to attack the enemy convoy from long range, often from the start of a battle.
Usage of this ship will mostly to be slinging torpedoes from a long range. In Arcade battles, you can fire off as many as you want thanks to unlimited amount of torpedoes. Try to target large groups of ships and fire at a relative average of their heading. It is also a good idea to fire torpedoes at an area that you'd predict multiple ships would pass through, such as choke points. This will allow you to score multiple kills without firing a single shot from your artillery. In Realistic battles, you are limited to only 16 torpedoes so you have to play more conservatively and to release your torpedoes more carefully and at more worthy targets. The Yuudachi is still capable of fighting other ships in an artillery battle, but due to the cannons' low fire rate, you will either need support or have your enemy distracted to win against more modern destroyers. Being a destroyer, the ship is also good at dealing with enemy gunboats and frigates, as you will outgun them at range.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Relatively manoeuvrable
- Equipped with five 127 mm cannons
- Often faces weaker ships thanks to relatively low battle rating
- Has access to the very deadly Long Lance torpedo, and can carry sixteen of them
- Torpedo reloads allow for increased amount of torpedoes, and faster reloading in Arcade Battles
- Premium economy gain
Cons:
- Poor protection
- Cannons have poor traverse and reload, making them relatively weak overall
- Does not have any access to armour piercing rounds, cannot deal with heavier cruisers without the use of torpedoes
- Lack of lighter, automatic AA guns for short range defence
History
The Yūdachi is one of the Shiratsuyu-class destroyers designed with consideration in the restrictions of the London Naval Treaty in place during the period of 1933-1937. All ten destroyers of this class had histories replete with adventure and combat. They were active in Japan's naval war in the Pacific ocean, the conquests in the Philippines and Indonesia, and the battles of Midway and Guadalcanal.
Especially noteworthy is the Yūdachi's final battle in November of 1942, when, after a nocturnal assault, the small ship found herself at the head of a large squadron that had literally collided head first with American ships defending the Solomon Islands. The American formation was thrown into chaos by this unexpected encounter between fleets. Ships from the opposing sides began to manoeuvre, changed course, and eventually became inextricably intermingled. This led to a horrific 40-minute close combat, in which the Yūdachi found herself behind the enemy front line. Seeing that the squadron's flagship, the battleship Hiei, was taking heavy fire, the commander of the Yūdachi steered his ship into the thickest part of the battle. The destroyer wound up between two ships, both of which attacked her at once: the USS Juneau, a light cruiser, and the USS Aaron Ward, a destroyer. Taking hit after hit, the Yūdachi tried to torpedo the Juneau. The next torpedo volley hit the USS Portland, the hull of which was massively breached as a result. Parts of the damaged aft section caused a "bump steer," and the ship could only move in circles until the end of the battle. Unceasingly firing her artillery at the enemy ships, the Yūdachi mistook the destroyer USS Sterett for a friendly vessel, where she paid for her mistake – the Sterett disabled the Japanese ship's powertrain with a torpedo volley, immobilising the Yūdachi where surviving crew members were evacuated. It wasn't until the following morning that the heavy cruiser the USS Portland, which had been hit by the little destroyer, sank the brave ship with six volleys.
- From Devblog
Media
- Skins
See also
Links to articles on the War Thunder Wiki that you think will be useful for the reader, for example:
- reference to the series of the ship;
- links to approximate analogues of other nations and research trees.
External links
| Sasebo Naval Arsenal (佐世保海軍工廠) | |
|---|---|
| Destroyers | |
| Mutsuki-class | IJN Mutsuki |
| Hatsuharu-class | IJN Hatsuharu |
| Shiratsuyu-class | IJN Yuudachi |
| Light Cruisers | |
| Agano-class | IJN Agano |
| Unique Ships | IJN Yubari |
| Tanks | Chi-Ha Short Gun |
| Japan destroyers | |
|---|---|
| IJN | |
| Momi-class | IJN Momi |
| Mutsuki-class | IJN Mutsuki · IJN Satsuki |
| Fubuki-class | IJN Ayanami |
| Hatsuharu-class | IJN Hatsuharu · IJN Nenohi |
| Shiratsuyu-class | IJN Yuudachi |
| Yugumo-class | IJN Yugumo · IJN Hayanami · IJN Kiyoshimo |
| Shimakaze-class | IJN Shimakaze |
| Akizuki-class | IJN Akizuki · IJN Hatsuzuki |
| JMSDF | |
| Ariake-class* | JDS Yūgure (DD-184) |
| Harukaze-class | JDS Harukaze (DD-101) |
| Murasame-class | JDS Murasame (DD-107) |
| * Modified Fletcher-class destroyers | |
| Japan premium ships | |
|---|---|
| Motor torpedo boats | Type T-14 (mod. 1) · Type T-51a |
| Motor gun boats | Type 4 (Mod 4) · PG 02 |
| Sub-chasers | Type K-8 No.13 |
| Frigates | Akebono |
| Destroyers | IJN Satsuki · IJN Nenohi · IJN Hayanami · IJN Kiyoshimo · IJN Yuudachi · JDS Yūgure (DD-184) |
| Light cruisers | IJN Yubari · IJN Mikuma |
| Heavy cruisers | IJN Myoko |
| Battleships | IJN Yamashiro |
