Matsu (松, namesake: Pine Tree) was the lead ship of her class and the first of the last major destroyer type of the Imperial Japanese Navy. With Japan’s increasing need for destroyers to handle both second-line duties and limited fleet roles, the Type D destroyers were developed as a more mass-producible hybrid between traditional destroyers and Kaibōkan (roughly equivalent to destroyer escorts). These vessels were designed with an emphasis on anti-air and anti-submarine capabilities, as well as radar, at the expense of surface firepower.

Commissioned in April 1944, Matsu was assigned to the 43rd Destroyer Division. On 29 July 1944, she escorted Convoy No. 4804 to Chichi Jima. On 4 August 1944, while escorting the convoy, Matsu was crippled by Task Group 58.1 aircraft and sank the following day by gunfire from USS Cogswell, Knapp, and Ingersoll approximately eighty miles northwest of Chichi Jima.

Matsu was introduced during Update “Hornet’s Sting”. Being a relatively cheaper, mass-produced second-line DD, her top speed and main armament aren't particularly powerful – the latter having a slow traverse rate – but are adequate for dealing with PT boats, gunboats, and frigates. Her main benefits lie in the auxiliary armament, being the earliest vessel packing the deadly Type 93 Oxygen torpedo, many anti-air guns, and a functional radar for both air and surface targets.