IJN Shimakaze
Contents
Description
The Shimakaze-class, IJN Shimakaze, 1944 is a squadron rank III Japanese destroyer
with a battle rating of 5.0 (AB/RB/SB). It was introduced during Update "Raining Fire".
General info
Survivability and armour
Shimakaze is an extended Yugumo-class hull which comparatvily gives her more crew and extra space & displacement for an additional torpedo launcher and other weight, but also higher crew count (+40 men). Additionally her survivability is further is aided by having ammunition stored deep underneath the water line, what ensures survival if faced with AP shells, and having torpedo turrets protected against fragmentation damage, though they are still one of the easiest components to damage on the ship.
That said though, comparing to the equivalents in its BR, the ship has a relatively low crew count, sailing just a 2/3 of the Leningrad men, in a short-range fights Shimakaze has to rely on her overwhelming firepower to take down the enemy before suffering overwhelming causalities herself. This can either be the use of her main armament, her plentyful arsenal of torpedoes and/or 25 mm's.
Mobility
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Shimakaze is by far the fastest Japanese Ship ever made, she could reach a top speed of 40,9 kn due her new experimental high temperature and pressure Kampon boilers that developed 79,240 shaft horsepower, powering a new type of turbine, which generated 50 percent more power than typical turbines used in previous destroyers.
| Mobility Characteristics | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Game Mode | Upgrade Status | Maximum Speed (km/h) | |
| Forward | Reverse | ||
| AB | |||
| Upgraded | 93 | 31 | |
| RB/SB | |||
| Upgraded | 76 | 25 | |
Armament
Primary armament
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Shimakaze's primary guns are shared with Yugumo and Ayanami, offering the same capabilities and the same shell choice. Despite of being in a higher BR the ship stands a fair chance against its counterparts, though with increasingly challenging opponents and added care has to be put in an accurate gunnery and torpedoes play an even more important role in disposing opponents. But like her parallel predecessor (Yugumo-class), her main armament isn't her selling point at this BR.
Secondary armament
Unlike other early refits of Japanese destroyers, which have very few anti-air defense, the Shimakaze is refitted in her 1944 fit, which gives her well enough air cover at semi-close ranges and desimates smaller patrol vessels within 2km range.
- Universal belts: good balance between firepower and tracer contents, useful for newcomers to the Japanese 25 mm autocannon.
- APT belts: Full of AP shells, good against boats but you might not meet lots of them in destroyer.
- HEI belts: Trades tracer rounds for extra firepower, harder to aim but very good at knocking out aircraft.
Anti-aircraft armament
The Shimakaze has a single 13.2 mm HMG on the stern. Her 25 mm's are responsible for for air cover along with the 13 mm, but can't be manually controlled together with the 25 mm's at the same time.
Torpedo armament
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Like her parallel predecessor the Yugumo-class, Shimakaze uses the new, Type 93 Model 1, Mod 2 torpedoes. Those are much more powerful, having over 30% more explosive power, which enables it to sink nearly any destroyer with a single hit. To compare with equivalents of other nations, Shimakaze's torpedoes have an equivalent of 627.2 kg TNT, while German G7a has 358.4 kg, British Mk.IX has 340kg or US Mk.15 has 224 kg, all also having much lower range and slower speed. It's one of the best torpedoes available, bested only by Type 93 Model 3 or more modern anti-ship torpedoes, such as Mk.16.
On top of having one of the best torpedoes, she racks a total of 15 torpedoes she can fire all at once due her lengthened hull compared to the Yugumo-class allowing for heavier quintuple launchers, and an extra 3rd torpedo turret due the added buoyancy.
| Number per turret |
Mass (kg) | Maximum speed in water (km/h) | Travel Distance (km) | Explosive TNT equivalent (kg) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Type 90 | IJN Ayanami IJN Mutsuki | 3 | 2540 | 85 | 7 | 480 |
| Type 90 + Torpedo Mode | IJN Ayanami IJN Mutsuki | 3 | 2540 | 65 | 15 | 480 |
| Type 93 Model 1, Mod 2 | IJN Yugumo IJN Shimakaze | 4 | 2700 | 91 | 20 | 627.2 |
| Type 93 Model 3 | IJN Akizuki | 4 | 2800 | 91 | 15 | 998.4 |
Special armament
Depth charges, mines, rocket launchers and missiles are also effective in skilled hands and can take an off-guard opponent by surprise. Evaluate the ammunition of this type of armament and rate its performance in combat. If there are no special armaments, remove this section.
Usage in battles
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The Shimakaze is one of the most formidable destroyers Japan can offer, owing largely to its outstanding torpedo armament of 3 quintuple launchers and only beaten by Tashkent as 2nd fastest ship in-game.
Otherwise, she has a well-rounded mix of survivability and firepower, lagging behind slightly due to the lack of AP ammunition options, making it cannon fodder for most cruisers if the manoeuvrability isn't made use of. On the contrary, cruisers only have to worry about the Shimakaze like any other Japanese destroyer for the arsenal of torpedoes that will most likely wall them off in a wave of torpedoes and sinking them instantly.
The Long Lance is among the best torpedo in game with excellent range, speed and explosive filler. Like all torpedo-centric destroyers, Shimakaze excels in Arcade Battles with the ability to re-spawn torpedoes mid-battle and is better than other Japanese destroyers which have a 2nd reload for torpedoes which takes a few seconds between torpedo bursts unlike the full burst the Shimakaze can do at once and instantly reload the full rack. Meanwhile in realistic battles torpedoes should be used sparing as you can't reload them out of the capture zone and only reloads one torpedo per torpedo turret.
Modules
| Tier | Seakeeping | Unsinkability | Firepower | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| I | Dry-Docking | Tool Set | 25 mm APT belt | |||
| II | Rudder Replacement | Fire Protection System | Smokescreen | 25 mm HEIT belts | Auxiliary Armament Targeting | 127 mm Type 1 HE-TF |
| III | Propeller Replacement | Shrapnel Protection | Ventilation | Improved Rangefinder | Primary Armament Targeting | |
| IV | Engine Maintenance | New Pumps | Ammo Wetting | Bomb mortar | ||
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Fastest Japanese destroyer
- Good manoeuvrability
- Top speed of 93 / 76 km/h
- 3 quintuple torpedo launchers
- Can release 15 torpedoes at once
- Very deadly torpedoes (Type 93 Model 1, Mod 2)
- 127 mm guns have good ballistics
- 21 x 25 mm AA cannons with a lot of ammunition
Cons:
- Average Japanese destroyer turrets (Type 3 (127 mm))
- Slow turret traverse
- 127 mm guns have no AP (only HE and HE-DF)
- 127 mm guns are almost useless against air targets (due to slow traverse)
- Turrets tend to be taken out often
- 25 mm AA only effective at close range (max range about 3 km)
History
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Describe the history of the creation and combat usage of the ship in more detail than in the introduction. If the historical reference turns out to be too long, take it to a separate article, taking a link to the article about the ship and adding a block "/History" (example: https://wiki.warthunder.com/(Ship-name)/History) and add a link to it here using the main template. Be sure to reference text and sources by using <ref></ref>, as well as adding them at the end of the article with <references />. This section may also include the ship's dev blog entry (if applicable) and the in-game encyclopedia description (under === In-game description ===, also if applicable).
Media
Shimakaze (Right) leading infront of Yugumo (Left)
Shimakaze leading infront of the fleet
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See also
- Related development
- Yugumo-class (parallel predecessor)
- Shimakaze-class
- Ships of comparable role, configuration and era
- Kiyoshimo (Yugumo-class)
- Tashkent (Tashkent-class)
- Haida (G63) (Tribal-class)
- Corazziere (Soldati-class)
- Type 1934A (1944) (Type 1934-class)
- Fletcher (Fletcher-class)
External links
- [Devblog] Shimakaze: Fast as the Wind
- [Wikipedia] Japanese experimental destroyer Shimakaze (1942)
- [RV Petrel] IJN Shimakaze wreck
| 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 squadron ships | |
|---|---|
