The Fubuki type destroyer (known as the Toku-gata, or Special Type, in Japanese naval parlance) was revolutionary in naval design, given its greater size and armament versus other navies’ destroyers at the time of its introduction in 1929. The design packaged three twin 5 inch mounts in enclosed turrets, a heavy battery of nine 24” torpedoes with reloads, long range and a high speed in a powerful package whose destructive broadside outmatched anything comparable, including most navies’ light cruisers.
Ayanami (pronounced Aay-ah-nom-me) was the lead ship of the ten units that comprised the second group of this design, referred to as the Type IIs. She was laid down on January 2, 1928 at the Fujinagata Shipyards in Osaka, Japan and commissioned on April 30, 1930. As with others of her class, Ayanami underwent modernization in the mid 1930s. She had an active and notable war record in Chinese waters in the late 1930s, and then in the South Pacific until sunk at the 2nd Naval Battle of Guadalcanal on the night of November 15th, 1942.
One of the 3 ships of DesDiv 19 led by light cruiser Sendai that night as part of the escort for the IJN bombardment force, she was detached for a solo scouting sweep around the west coast of Savo Island. There, she ran into a US force comprised of battleships South Dakota and Washington, proceeded by their four destroyer escort. In conjunction with other IJN ships, her gunfire and torpedoes contributed to heavy damage among all four of the American destroyers; one of her torpedoes likely the one that hit and doomed USS Walke. In turn, she was taken under fire by Washington and severely damaged. Immobilized, she was later scuttled by a torpedo from her sister Uranami. Her remains were discovered in 1992 by the famed Ballard expedition while searching for warships sunk during the Guadalcanal campaign.
