Hibiki

Hibiki Length 118.41 meters Beam 10.4 meters Draft 3.2 meters Displace- ment 1,750 long tons (1,780t) (standard) 2,050 long tons (2,080t) (rebuilt) Targets Godzilla First appearance Godzilla Minus One

Hibiki (響,   Hibiki, lit. "Echo") was the 22nd of the 24 Fubuki-class destroyers and the second of the Akatsuki-subclass that were built for the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN), commissioned in 1933 and seeing some amount of combat during World War II, most notably assisting during the Aleutian Islands campaign. Hibiki survived the war and was transferred to the Soviet Union in 1947 and was renamed Verniy (Верный; "Faithful"), then Dekabrist (Декабрист; "Decembrist") in 1948, before being sunk after being used for target practice in the 1970s.

In an alternate universe explored in the 2023 Toho Godzilla film Godzilla Minus One, Hibiki was returned to Japan in 1947, albeit stripped of its weapons like its contemporaries, and played a crucial role in the defeat of Godzilla during Operation Wada Tsumi.

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. At a dock near Sagami Bay, Hibiki and the other destroyers were prepared for the operation. Hibiki was fitted with a winch at the stern, with a cable connected to a winch on Yukikaze.

When Godzilla had arrived at the mainland faster than anticipated, Kenji Noda ordered the destroyers to set sail anyway, relying entirely on Koichi Shikishima, one of Noda's crewmates aboard the minesweeper Shinseimaru, to lead the monster out to sea. After Shikishima lured Godzilla to Sagami Bay in the Shinden, Captain Tatsuo Hotta in Yukikaze ordered Yūkaze and Keyaki to speed towards Godzilla. Unbeknownst to the monster, both were uncrewed. Godzilla expended 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 wrapped the cable attached to the Freon canisters around him while Shikishima continued to distract the monster. 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 sinking 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 the balloons attached to the canisters to be inflated under him, rapidly drawing the monster to the surface. When Godzilla tore through the balloons, Hibiki and Yukikaze tried pulling him the rest of the way themselves, but the monster's weight proved too great, causing Yukikaze's crane to collapse. The plan seemed hopeless until a fleet of tugboats, led by another of Noda's crewmates, Shiro Mizushima, arrived to help the destroyers. The tugboats tied ropes on the bow of each destroyer and pulled, rising the kaiju. Upon surfacing, Godzilla appeared heavily mutilated, having suffered critical damage to his body from decompression, but was still alive. 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

Armament

In its final wartime configuration, Hibiki carried six 127 mm Type 3 naval guns, up to 22 25 mm Type 96 AA guns, up to 10 13 mm AA guns and nine 610mm torpedo tubes. In real life, in 1947 it was rearmed with completely different armaments while in Soviet service. In Godzilla Minus One, however, like the Yukikaze, the turrets and torpedo launchers were retained, though the torpedo tubes and the blast bags of the 127mm guns were covered.

Books

• Novel Version: Godzilla Minus One (2023)

Gallery

Screenshots

Godzilla Minus One

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  Hibiki (middle right) next to Keyaki (far right) along with Yukikaze (middle left) and Yūkaze (far left), being prepared for Operation Wada Tsumi

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  Half of an acoustic minesweeper being thrown by Godzilla near Hibiki

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  Godzilla stomping ashore near Hibiki

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  (From furthest to closest) Yukikaze, Hibiki, Yūkaze, and Keyaki sailing toward Sagami Bay

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  (From closest to furthest) Yukikaze, Hibiki, Yūkaze and Keyaki in position before the operation

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  Yūkaze and Keyaki sailing together toward Godzilla

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  Hibiki and Yukikaze enduring the wave caused by the explosion of Yūkaze and Keyaki

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  Hibiki (left) and Yukikaze (right) beginning Operation Wada Tsumi

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  Hibiki (background) and Yukikaze (foreground) circling Godzilla while the Shinden distracts the monster

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  Hibiki (top) and Yukikaze (bottom) about to scrape against each other to complete the crossing

See also

• Yukikaze
• Yūkaze
• Keyaki

References

This is a list of references for Hibiki. 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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