Koko Kyouwakoku (Republic of Koko)

Expressive is always my man

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More here:viewtopic.php?f=14&t=8292

Excellent work! Very interesting and good looking DDs.

completing another destroyer class

Shizuha Class Destroyer:

As the London Naval Treaty entered into effect the only possible way for Koko no Kaigun to keep building destroyers was to retire older units. The Kuchikukan-15 and -27 Classes and the lone Sato were those upon which the choiche befell, converted into patrol boats or relegated to training duties. Given the number of Yuuka and Reisen class ships that were still to enter service, only four extra units could have been built. More so, they must have displaced no more than 1.500T because the Reisens ate all the extra tonnage allowances permitted by the treaty.
In november 1930 the Naval Staff issued the requirement for a new class of destroyers to be built. With said requirement of a maximum 1.500T displacement at standard load KnK designers ended up joining the IJN ones to develop a design. The resulting ship would have been 109,5m long, 10 abeam and drafting 3,3 for a planned displacement of 1.400T, the armament called for five 5-inch guns (127mm) and nine 610mm torpedo tubes in triple launchers to be installed, top speed was planned at 36knots for a range of 4.000nm at 14knots. The ships were ordered in Japan as the Hatsuharu Class and as the Shizuha Class in Koko.
The lead ship, Shizuha, was laid down at Kumoi Arsenal on December 18th 1931 and launched on December 17th 1932. While she was still fitting out, IJN Hatsuharu trials revealed the ship to be prone to roll heavily, demonstrating that her metacentric height was too low. As a contermeasure the upper levels of Shizuha's bridge were reduced in size and bulges were added, bringing the overall beam to 10,6m. The rudder was modified to improve handling during turns. As completed Shizuha turned out to be some 40 tons lighter than an Hatsuharu, displacing 1.490T instead of 1.530. Still both ships were overweight compared to their planned design.
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The second ship of the class, Minoriko, was laid down December 31st 1932 at Kumoi arsenal shortly after the launch of Shizuha. The last two units, Hina and Nitori, started construction at Kousaten Navy Yard in late 1933. In March 1934 Minoriko was roughly two months away from launch when the IJN torpedo boat Tomozoru disastrosly capsized during night torpedo trials off Sasebo. The incident prompted an immediate revision of all ships currently under construction or recently completed for both the IJN and KnK, with the Hatsuharu/Shizuha beign among the most deficent ones when it came to stability and topweight issues. Construction on the three ships was halted and Shizuha was taken out of service while designers returned to the drawing board to find a solution for the problems. Japanese Hatusharus had their bridgework and armament reduced to counter topweight, and ballast led to a lowered top speed from 36 to 33 knots, Kokoan Shizuhas went through a much more extensive and complex rebuilds.
In the time that elaped between their construction approval and the Tomozoru incident, Koko had experienced a government change and a coup d'etat that ultimately strenghtened Kusako Morimoto's leadership. As soon as his new cabinet took office a naval rearmament plan was immediately approved, progressively disregarding treaties as it would later proved by the joint Kokoan/Japanese denunciation of the Washinton Naval treaty in december 1934.
Under the new provisions designers scrapped the 1.500T weight limitations and drafted a new ship from the old plans with no restrictions in mind. By fall 1934 works restarted on Minoriko, Hina and Nitori. In an overly complex fashion the hull was cut apart at midship and a newly built 2,3m section was added bringing the total length of the ships to 111,8m and the beam to 10,1. The engines were replaced with new boilers generating 56.000shp installed in place of the planned 40.000shp ones. Supestructure volume was vastly reduced, the funnels cut down and the entire aft deckhouse replaced by a much smaller structure. The forward, superfiring, single 127mm gun was moved to the quarterdeck and all three triplee torpedo launchers were landed, replaced by two quadruple sets. A new, larger, rudder was also installed and the hull strengthened. The large-scale rebuild strained to the brim the capabilities of the shipyards involved, but in effectively turned the three destroyers into new ships. Their displacement had risen from 1.490 to 1.796T, also increasing draft to 3,5m, but thanks to the increased engine power the top speed fell by just 0,3knots from 36 to 35,7. Minoriko, Hina and Nitori were eventually commissioned between August and November 1935. Shizuha was docked at Toumachi Naval arsenal to underwent a similar, massive reconstruction, eventually rejoining the fleet modified like her sisters by early March 1936.
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The first rearmament bill not only disregarded treaty limitation concerning weigth, but also called for a restart in Destroyer production. On October 24th 1934 five more ships of the Shizuha class were ordered, this time to be built from the start to the modified design. The first ship, Momiji, was laid down at Kousaten Navy Yard by the end of the year, two more, Mion and Kanako, followed in 1935 and another two, Suwako and Iku, in 1936. Their orders split between Toumachi and Hoshiguma Naval Yards. When in September 1935 many IJN vessels were damaged in what will be later known as the Fourth Fleet Incident the design of the five newer ship was revised once again, relocating armament and deckhouses placement and reducing the bridge for more topweigh-saving measures, although lenghtening building time. The so-called second batch of the Shizuha class, also known as Type II or Momiji subclass had its ships entering service between 1937 and 1939. The ships displaced 1.788T, slightly less than the four earlier sisters. They sported newer gun turrets and more advanced fire-control equipment, other than an increased depth charge complement, dedicated RDF room and twin 13mm machine gun as light anti-air guns in place of the 40mm ones fitted on the other ships of the class.
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Overall, while the massive rebuild the ships solved the topweight and stability issues allowing to retain almost of the armament and speed of the original design the works were so extrensive that they stretched the shipyards capabilities to the point that just nine ships were built over the course of eight years despite beign ordered on four different shipyards. This, coupled with other slipways beign committed to the building of other ships under the rearmament plans, prevented the restart of full-sized destroyer production until 1937 despite it was intended to ignore treaty limitations since December 1934.
In late 1940 all ships recieved a degaussing cable, and hydrophone and had their anti-air armament upgraded to either two twin 25mm machine guns (Shizuha through Nitori) or two triples (Momiji trough Iku).
At the start of the Pacific War all sisters were involved in the invasion of Midway. After that they were deployed to Indonesian waters to support Japanese operations in the Dutch East Indies and took part in the naval battle of Balikpapan. Based at Singapore from late february to mid May 1942 they kept supporting Japanese and Kokoan operations before returning home to join the main force of operation AL-MI. Like all other surface ships involved, they played no part in the subsequent battle.
All fitted with an extra twin 25mm piece on a platform forward of the bridge, the nine sisters then took part in most operations around the Solomon islands from late 1942 to June 1943. Here Shizuha would be lost to an enemy submarine in April and Kanako to aircrafts two months later.
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As Koko no Kaigun attentions shifted north, the destroyers returned home. All recieved a Type22 surface search radar and were painted in black and white arctic camouflage. Redeployed to the Aleutians, Hina and Momiji would be lost as well by the end of the year.
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The battered five survivors were then recalled in stints for a major wartime refit. The two remaining ships of the original batch, Minoriko and Nitori, were considered less structurally sound and capable of handling extra weight, so they had thier single 127mm turred removed to relieve topweight issues. A deckhouse with a triple 25mm machine gun platform was added aft, together with twelve single 25mm pieces. A TypeR2FA air-search radar was installed on the aft mast and lower deck portholes sealed.
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The three Type II ships, Mion, Suwako and Iku, were in better material condition and were given a more extensive overhaul. The single 127mm gun was retained, and two 25mm triple machine gun mounts were added on new platforms abaft the fore funnel, augmented by another nine single mounts. The TypeR2FA air-search radar was added, but fitted on the foremast as well, deleting the crow's nest entirely, and a Type R4Ca fire-control radar added on the integrated director-rangefinder set on top of the bridge, which was expaned with the addition of a dedicated radar room. Many portholes were sealed as well.
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Eventually two more ships would be lost during 1944. As 1945 dawned, Minoriko was the sole survivor of the original batch of four and badly needed another refit. During works the anti air-armament was further increased to thirty-one barrels (three triple, one twin and twenty singles). The Type 22 air-search set was replaced by a more advance Type33-kai and the split director-rangefinder set was replaced by an integrated one fitted with a TypeR12CAD fire-control radar. An IFF set was fitted, more portholes were sealed and, by the second half of the year, a late war blue-black camouflage painted.
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The surviving Type II ships (Mion and Iku) followed similar lines but recieved more upgrades. They recieved a sonar set, a Type64 High-Frequency RDF and two twin mounts of the new 40mm Type5 machine guns in place of their midship torpedo reload set (for a total of two twin 40mm, four triple, one twin and thirteen single 25mm pieces).
Mion was sunk in late 1945 during the massive US offensive against the Aleutians that took place during Koko uprisings. During the subsequent co-belligerant timeframe that Koko went through sfter its surrender Minoriko was interned to Midway. Iku was instead brought into service under Amagi squadron and repainted in USN Measure22 scheme, taking part in naval operations around Okinawa.
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The two surviving ships were both decommissioned shortly after the end of the war and scrapped in 1947/48.

Ships in class: (laid down-launched-commissioned - fate)

Shizuha 1931-1932-1933 - Sunk 1943
Minoriko 1932-1934-1935 - Decommissioned 1946
Hina 1933-1934-1935 - Sunk 1943
Nitori 1933-1934-1935 - Sunk 1944
Momiji 1934-1936-1937 - Sunk 1943
Mion 1935-1936-1937 - Sunk 1945
Kanako 1935-1936-1937 - Sunk 1943
Suwako 1936-1937-1938 - Sunk 1944
Iku 1936-1938-1939 - Decommissioned 1946

Awesome work, as always, my friend!

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MS State Guard - 08 March 2014 - 28 January 2023

The Official IJN Ships & Planes List

#FJB

Lovely additions, nice to see some 'Specials' in this AU.

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Tsukasa Class Destroyer:

By 1937 -despite assembling a respectable fleet of 60 units- Koko no Kaigun was in a dire need of a new Destroyer class, with new constructions struggling through the decade because of treaty limitations, multiple design changes and overly complex rebuilds on existing units to circumvent restriction and solve design flaws. Aiming at putting newer units in service as quick as possible, dsigners took the Type II Shizuha class (Momiji subclass) as basis, then stretched it to a more sound and less loaded design while retaining the same armament and machinery.
The result was a 116,3m long ship with a beam of 10,4 and a draft of 3,7, all for a displacement of 1.937T. The same engine layout with three boilers and two turbines generating 56.000shp was enough to reach a speed of 35knots, while the larger hull allowed for extra fuel to be carried to retain the same 4.000nm range at 14knots the Shizuhas had. Armament was still made of five 127mm dual-purpose guns in two twin and single mount, in this case the single mount was not at deck level but superfitring over the aft twin, two twin 25mm machine gun made up the light anti-air arment. Two quadruple torpedo tubes with reloads were carried as well. Other modifications included a raised binocular position on top of the bridge, redesigned forecastle break, improved torpedo reload system, enlarged aft deckhouse and repositoned aft mast to improve turret 2 firing arcs. An hydrophone was added on all ships during construction.
By fall 1937 ten ships had been ordered: two each at Shionseki Shipyards, Fuyuki Dock Company, Nagaisaka Industries, Taniguchi Shipbuilding and one at Higurashi Iron works and Sado Shipbuilding. Naval staff intended to speed up building time and have as much of them as possible in service within three years by allocating the class to minor yards and shipbuilding firms to avoid overloading the major shipyard already oberated with Battleship, Cruisers and Carriers construction.
The first two ships, Tsukasa and Eika, were laid down by late 1937 and completed in January 1939 and December 1938 respectively, Eika preceding the lead ship by a month.
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Three more ships were started in 1938 and 1939 each, with another in 1940 and the last one, Sannyo, in February 1941.All units of the class recieved a degaussing cable were attached directly to Koku Sentai 1, providing dedicated escort duties for Koko no Kaigun Fleet Carriers. Eight were in service by the time the Pacific war started, with a ninth, Takane, joining her sisters shortly after in January 1942. Teir escort role took them through the initial operations for the invasion of midway, the second phase of the Aleutian invasion, the nsuccesful pursue of USS hornet and enterprise after the Doolittle raid and the subsequent raids against US positions in the Frnch Frigate Shoals and eastern Aleutians. A second raid against the Aleutians followed in June 1942 during Operation AL/MI. After a brief period of inactivity, they followed the Carriers to the south in their aerial operations in the Guadalcanal area in November and December 1942, the Battles of Rennel island on January 30th 1943, Torres island on March 7th and Solomon Sea on June 26th. Leaving the Solomons, they took part in another carrier-battle shortly thereafter, on August 21st 1943, when Koko no Kaigun Carrier force clashed with two newly commissioned US Essex-class Carriers off the Frigate Shoals.
Enjoying some respite after almost twenty-one months of continous operations all ships then in service recieved a refit. A type13 air-search and aType22 surface-search radar were fitted and the anti-air armament increased to two triple and a twin 25mm machine guns.
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As construction of the last ships had started to overlap with that of the subsequent and more advanced Tenshi class, focus of the small shipyards was diverted to the construction of more Escorts and Auxiliaries, This had led to a slight delay in Takane's comissioning (early 1942 instead of the planned mid 1941) and a much more significant one on Sannyo, the last ship of the class, which was still fitting out in mid 1943. Not yet in a rush to complete her, Sannyo's design was modified to improve her effectiveness as a carrier-escort. Her aft superfiring single 127mm gun was omitted, replaced by two twin 25mm machine gun mounts, which coupled with two more triples, a twin and ten singles gave the ship a total of twenty-four light AA barrels. Torpedo reloads were omitted entirely, while depth charge equipment was increased to three thrower sets and two rails, coupled with an improved hydrophone and sonar sytem. The ship recieved a more advanced gun director fitted with a Type4RCA fire-control radard, plus a Type22 surface search and two TypeR2FA radars. Sannyo also had an internal degaussing cable and less portholes on her hull compared to her other sisters. She was finally commissioned in March 1944.
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Just over a month after Sannyo finally joined her sisters, another Carrier battle took place, the indecisive confrontation off Laysan Atoll on may 15th 1944. Things went very different four months later, in September of the same year, during the second battle of Midway: not only the disastrous loss of two light and one fleet carrier, but also that of Eika, the first ship of the class to be lost during the war.
With the carrier fleet inactive, repairing damage, replacing losses and training new aircrews, the nine remaining ships led patrol and supply runs between Koko and Midway islands, while being refitted one after another between October 1944 and April 1945. Portholes were sealed, sonar installed, depth charge armament increased, torpedo reload landed. Anti air amrmement was increased to eight triple, one twin and nine single 25mm machine guns for a total of thirty-five barrels. Radar and electronics were upgraded, with the addition of a Type33-kai surface search, TypeR2FA, Type24 Mod3 air-search and Type R12CAD fire-control radars, Type64 IFDF, IFF set and TypeA8TR jammer. Similar modification were made on Sanny as well, but she retainer her two TypeR2FA radars and did not recieve the Type24 array. All were given the same two-tone blue camouflage scheme of the carriers before the Battle of the Philippine Sea in June 1945. By August 1945 all had four of the triple 25mm pieces replaced by four of the new 40mm/60 guns, while Sannyo paintscheme was slightly modified with the extension of the lighter blue on her forecastle.
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In this final configuration the ships took part in the massive oepration Sho-Go, the disatrous attempt by the Kokoan and Japanese to stop Us and allied landing in the Philippines. Between October 25 and 26 1945, the combinet carrier fleet was annihiliated off Cape Engano. Tsukasa and Saki were sunk by enemy planes, while Keiki was crippled by torpedoes of the USS Jallao while trying to rescue survivors from the IJN Tama -which Jallao had sunk earlier- and finished with gunfire by the USS Wichita when its burning and drifting hulk was intercepted by TF38 the next day.
Of the six surviving ships, Takane was scuttled in Toumachi harbor when Koko uprising started and loyalist tried to take control of the ship. Kataka and Yachie fell into loyalist hands while Urumi, Mayumi and Sannyo managed to take the sea and reach Hoshiguma, where they joined the rebels. The two ships under Loyalist control will suffer extra damage when they got bombed by rebels during the fights to liberate Toumachi. After the uprisings ended and the armistice with the Allies was signed all ships, regardless of their previous service, had their name in western lettering painted ontheir side along with a Kokoan flag and sailed to Midway to be interned there unil the end of the war.
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With hostilities over all around the Pacific the five ships finally returned home. Kataka and Yachie were immediately decommissioned, while Urumi, Mayumi and Sannyo operated as repatriation ships until late 1947 when they were retired for good according to surrendering terms. All were scrapped during the next few years.

Ships in class: (laid down-launched-commissioned - fate)

Tsukasa 1937 1938 1939 - Sunk 1945
Eika 1937 1938 1938 - Sunk 1944
Urumi 1938 1940 1940 - Decommissioned 1947
Kataka 1938 1940 1940 - Decommissioned 1946
Yachie 1938 1939 1940 - Decommissioned 1946
Mayumi 1939 1940 1941 - Decommissioned 1947
Keiki 1939 1940 1941 - Sunk 1945
Saki 1939 1939 1940 - Sunk 1945
Takane 1940 1940 1942 - Scuttled 1945
Sannyo 1941 1942 1944 - Decommissioned 1947

Wow! Another excellent, beautifully drawn and splendidly backstoried series!

Aozuki Class Destroyer:

Koko no Kaigun's Interest for an anti-air focused destroyer started to rise in the late 1930s to provide escort to the newborn carrier fleet. After going through a few domestic preliminary designs, the Naval Staff approached the IJN in 1940 showing interest in the Akizuki class, which had recently been funded and approved for construction. After a positive evaluation Koko aptly recieved blueprints to license build the type by the end of the year. With twleve ships ordered for construction at Toumachi Naval Arsenal work on the first hull started in mid-1941. Compared to the Japanese Akizukis they had a redesigned stern, different foremast and internal degaussing cable, larger midship anti-air platforms and and increased depth charge armament. Otherwise, they featured the same excellent eight 100mm DP guns in four twin turrets, one quadruple 610mm torpedo tube with reloads and two twin 25mm machine guns for light anti-air defense. Their affinity for the Akizuki class was reflected in their naming as well, as all ships departed for the usual -mostly- female names convention koko no Kaigun had used for the last 20 years.
The first ship, Aozuki, was completed by early 1943 and recieved a Type 21 air search radar upon commissioning. Sogizuki followed by the end of the same year.
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By that time, six more ships had been ordered (two at kousaten and four at Kumoi), with all but the first three reordered to a modified design. Kurozuki was the last of the original batch to be finished, completed in early 1944 with the addition of a Type13 air search and a Type4RCA fire control radar, reduced number of portholes, sonar and and triple 25mm machine guns instead of twins.
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Given how the wartime situation had changed while they were under construcion, the Aozukis almost never served as their intended carrier escorts role but were deployed to the Solomons to support and provide anti-air defense for troop and supply convoys in the area. Both Aozuki and Sogizuki were lost there to air attacks in 1944, which prompted surviving Kurozuki anti-air armament to be increased to five triple and fifteen single 25mm machine guns.
Eight ship of the revised design -or batch two- to be laid down, Kamizuki was actually the first to be completed in December 1944. She had a straight bow, larger bridge, revised boiler ventilation trunks, larger RDF room and smaller aft deckhouse, modified aft tripod and reduced number of portholes. Other than being the first Kokoan ship to be fitted with the newer TypeR12CAD anti-air fire control radar. She also had an IFF set, Type2RFA air search radar, depth charge armament increased by a third and a light anti-air suite made up by five triple and eighteen 25mm guns, for a total of 33 barrels.
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Kozuki was the last ship to be completed in early 1945, with the other two survivors refitted by mid 1945 to similar standards. By that time torpedo reloads were not carried anymore and anti-air armement had been further increased with the installation of three twin 40mm machine guns in addition to four triple and twenty-three 25mm ones. Electronic had been upgraded with the addition of Type24 air search and Type33-kai surface search and fire control radars, Type64 HFDF and Type A8TR jammer. All ships recieved all-blue camouflage scheme.
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Kurozuki, Kozuki and Kamizuki all took part in the Battle of Surigao Strait, escaping with various amounts of damage suffered, Kurozuki getting the worst of it with peppered deckhouses, high casualties and both aft gun mounts knocked out of action.
When Koko uprisings started, in November 1945, all three ships took the side of the rebels and survived to the armistice without suffering further damage. Kozuki and Kamizuki joined Amagi squadron during co-belligerant operations at Okinawa, recieving USN Measure22 camouflage and IFF set.
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Of the other ships, Shozuki, Chizuki and Kumozuki were all in various stages of fitting out, Ginzuki had just been launched. Five more were still in the yards and another four unnamed ships had yet to be laid down. All were canceled and scrapped at the end of the war.
Kurozuki, Kozuki and Kamizuki instead Joined the reformed Koko Kaijou and recieved a series of upgrades and modernizations in the subsequent years. Light anti-air armament was removed and replaced by five quadruple 40mm bofor mounts. A new sonar system was fitted, depth charge racks and rails replaced as well -increasing the overall stowage of warheads to 80- and two hedgehog launchers were added, side-by-side in front of the bridge. All electronics with the exception of the DP fire-control radar were replaced by US ones and all portholes were sealed.
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Kurozuki was the first to be retired, in 1962, followed by Kamizuki in 1964. Kozuki, which was in better material conditions, was kept in service for longer. During her extra years she had her five 40mm bofors replaced by four twin 76mm guns, she landed her 610mm torpedoes and replaced them with one Type102 533mm triple launcher. She recieved a tripod mast aft, SPS-6 and SPS-10 radars, built domestically under license and designated KMS-1 and KMS-2.
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Kozuki was decommissioned in 1970. She was left in the mothball fleet until 1991 before being paid off and scrapped.

Ships in class: (laid down-launched-commissioned – fate)

Aozuki 1941-1942-1943 - Sunk 1944
Kurozuki 1942-1943-1944 - Decommissioned 1962
Sogizuki 1942-1943-1943 - Sunk 1944
Kozuki 1943-1944-1945 - Decommissioned 1970
Shozuki 1943-1944-/ - Not completed
Chizuki 1943-1945-/ - Not completed
Kumozuki 1943-1944-/ - Not completed
Owarizuki 1944-/-/ - Not completed
Ginzuki 1944-1945-/ - Not completed
Shinzuki 1944-/-/ - Not completed
Kamizuki 1944-1944-1944 – Decommissioned 1964
Tozuki 1945-/-/ - Not completed
Kawazuki 1945-/-/ - Not completed
Mokuzuki 1945-/-/ - Not completed
4 unnamed ships - Canceled before being laid down in 1946

Excellent. Great to see You back with new works.

Well done once again! Always love seeing new posts up for Koko

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