Yukikaze

Yukikaze Length 118.5 meters Beam 10.8 meters Draft 3.8 meters Displace- ment 2,530 tons Targets Godzilla First appearance Godzilla Minus One

The Yukikaze (雪風, "Snowy Wind") was a Kagero-class destroyer originally in service with the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN), commissioned in 1940 and seeing frequent combat during World War II, most notably the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal. Yukikaze survived the war and was given to the Republic of China as war reparations, renamed ROCS Dan Yang (丹陽), and ultimately scrapped in 1970 after being damaged beyond repair by a typhoon. In an alternate universe explored in the 2023 film Godzilla Minus One, the Yukikaze was returned to Japan in 1947, albeit stripped of its weapons, and played a crucial role in the defeat of Godzilla during Operation Wada Tsumi. During the campaign, it was captained by Tatsuo Hotta, who had previously served as the ship's captain during the war.

History

• Godzilla Minus One (2023)

Reiwa era

Godzilla Minus One

Following Godzilla's destructive raid on Tokyo's Ginza district, the Japanese government secured the return of four IJN destroyers as part of a desperate civilian-led plan to destroy the monster in Sagami Bay, dubbed Operation Wada Tsumi. Captain Tatsuo Hotta, who had previously commanded the ship during World War II, returned to lead it into one more battle; the plan's mastermind, former Navy technical officer Kenji Noda, was assigned to the Yukikaze as well. After Koichi Shikishima, one of Noda's crewmates aboard the minesweeper Shinseimaru, led Godzilla to Sagami Bay in the Local Fighter Shinden. Two of the destroyers, Yukaze and Keyaki, sped towards Godzilla; unbeknownst to him, both were uncrewed. He expends his atomic breath on the harmless ships, leaving him unable to use it again while he regenerated from his self-inflicted wounds. After enduring the massive waves kicked up by the monster's attack, Yukikaze and Hibiki encircled Godzilla and tied a cable attached to Freon canisters around him while Shikishima continued to buzz him. The ships scraped against each other as they completed the circle. As Godzilla prepared to fire his heat ray again, the canisters were ruptured, forcibly pulling him underwater. Upon surpassing the target depth of 1,500 meters, Godzilla froze in place and stopped charging his ray, but withstood the crushing change in pressure. Noda then ordered balloons attached to the canisters inflated under him, rapidly drawing the monster to the surface. When Godzilla tore through the balloons, the Yukikaze and Hibiki tried pulling him the rest of the way themselves, but the monster's weight proved too great and one of their cranes collapsed. The plan seemed doomed until a fleet of tugboats, led by another of Noda's crewmates, Shiro Mizushima, arrived to help the destroyers. Upon surfacing, Godzilla appeared heavily mutilated, having suffered critical damage to his body from decompression, but was still not dead. Noda and the others accepted their deaths as an enraged Godzilla coursed with power and prepared to unleash his atomic breath. Shikishima interceded, flying his plane into Godzilla's mouth and ejecting just before it exploded. The smoke cleared moments later, revealing that the top of Godzilla's head had been destroyed, after which the accumulated atomic energy overloaded, causing the rest of his body to crumble. Spontaneously, the crews of all the ships saluted. They returned to port to find a jubilant crowd waiting.

Weapons

Armaments

In its final wartime configuration, Yukikaze carried four 127mm Type 3 naval guns, up to 28 25 mm Type 96 AA guns, up to four 13.2mm AA guns, and eight 610mm torpedo tubes. In real life, after the war ended every single piece of armament were completely stripped off the ship and later replaced with completely different armaments while in Taiwanese service. In Godzilla Minus One, however, the turrets that originally housed the 127mm guns and the two quadruple torpedo launchers were kept, though the torpedo tubes and the blast bags of the 127mm guns were covered.

Books

• Novel Version: Godzilla Minus One (2023)

Gallery

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  (From furthest to closest) Yukikaze, Hibiki, Yukaze, and Keyaki participating in Operation Wada Tsumi

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  Hibiki and Yukikaze enduring the wave caused by Godzilla blowing up the Yukaze and Keyaki

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  Yukikaze (right) and Hibiki (left), showing the Freon gas canisters

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  Hibiki (top) and Yukikaze (bottom) on a collision course

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  Akitsu inside the bridge of the Yukikaze

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  Noda and Akitsu standing on the port bridge wing of the Yukikaze

Trivia

• The sign on the Yukikaze's hull is likely a reference to the ship in its post war configuration.

References

This is a list of references for Yukikaze. These citations are used to identify the reliable sources on which this article is based. These references appear inside articles in the form of superscript numbers, which look like this: ^[1]

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