Yukikaze's War: The Unsinkable Japanese Destroyer and World War II in the Pacific

by Brett L. Walker

Only one elite Imperial Japanese Navy destroyer survived the cruel ocean battlefields of World War II. This is her story. Brett Walker, historian and captain, delves into questions of mechanics, armaments, navigation, training, and even indoctrination, illustrating the daily realities of war for Yukikaze and her crew. By shifting our perspective of the Pacific War away from grand Imperial strategies, and toward the intricacies of fighting on the water, Walker allows us to see the war from Yukikaze's bridge during the most harrowing battles, from Midway to Okinawa. Walker uncovers the ordinary sailor's experience, and we see sailors fight while deep-running currents of Japanese history unfold before their war-weary eyes. As memories of World War II fade, Yukikaze's story becomes ever more important, providing valuable lessons in our contemporary world of looming energy shortfalls, menacing climate uncertainties, and aggressive totalitarian regimes.

Genres: World War II

311 pages, Hardcover

Published June 6, 2024

Reviews

[Shrike58 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Trying to judge this book by its cover, I'll admit that I was a bit confused, in that the Cambridge University Press is as rigorous in presenting an academic facade as they come, whereas this cover had something of a "pulpy" tone.

Having gotten around to reading this, yes, Walker does give you the story of a ship and her men, but the real point in telling this story is that Walker gives you layer after layer of cultural, social, and economic context to explain why this ship, and the naval force she was a component of, were part of the great holocaust that was the "Pacific War."

I found this all to be great stuff, as someone who has read more than their share of Japanese history, and way more than is necessary about warships and naval warfare. That said, I have a few small points to ding Walker on, most relating to all the digressions from the narrative of the career of "Yukikaze." These were always insightful, but they created a little too much redundancy at times.

Also, I found a number of mistakes that stuck out like the proverbial sore thumbs, particularly since Walker got so much else right. The Jutland Peninsula is not part of Norway. The name of the American submarine "Harder" got corrupted into "Hardin." It was B-29s, not B-17s that would be flying from the conquered Japanese Mandate Islands to deliver destruction to Japanese cities. Commodore Perry's flagship "Missouri," that he sailed into Edo harbor in 1853, was a stream frigate, not a battleship; though Perry's flag WAS part of the presentation at the Japanese surrender ceremony on the "Missouri" of 1945.

Walker ends his book with some of the cultural echoes of the legend of the "Yukikaze," including a bemused examination of the whole "Kancolle" phenomena ("ship girls"), before ending on the meditation that the Imperial Japanese Navy essentially fought for access to oil, and if the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force finds itself in its own "hot" war, it will also largely be in regards to oil.

Highly recommended.

[Hikari · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Imperial Japanese Navy is not something that I know much about so I hoped I’d come away with a better grasp of matters from reading this book. This book delivers that by focussing on one ship which was not sunk (somehow! we had plenty of chances…) during WW2 then panning out to set our little destroyer, Yukikaze, in the wider context.

What came through very clearly was that the Naval HQ lived in cloud cuckoo land rather than reality which meant they used the wrong tactics, built the wrong ships and ultimately lived (or should that be died?) so that the ancestors would not be dishonoured in defeat. This meant that whilst the Imperial Japanese Army rampaged through SE Asia, the Navy was never going to be able to support them as they wouldn’t be able to hold the vital shipping lanes. The “Greater East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere” (AKA the Japanese Empire, what a euphemism) was therefore always doomed to failure once it extended south of China.

There were lots of details that I’m sure I missed (lots and lots of ship names and I gave up trying to remember all the classes of ship) but a good read nonetheless and one I’d re-read, probably at a slower pace and in hard copy so I could flick around in it.

I received an advance review copy (ebook) for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[William Harris · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am very pleased to be able to report on my read of Brett L. Walker's "Yukikaze's War: The Unsinkable Japanese Destroyer and World War II in the Pacific", provided to me in the form of an ARC by Cambridge University Press. The Japanese Destroyer which provides the linchpin for this thoroughly entertaining survey of the Imperial Japanese Navy's experience in World War II was one of the very few survivors of the conflict at the time of Japan's surrender, and she was famous for her good luck as she was present for much of the most intensive fighting in the Pacific theater of operations yet seldom received more than relatively minor damage. The key to examining this book, which surprised me, is understanding that the combat record of the ship in the title is not really the point; this book is so much more than this. It is a rather sympathetic but accurate account of the Japanese Navy's development and employment in the context of Japanese history since the Meiji Restoration until the end of World War II. The author's depth of knowledge and ability to draw many different complex cultural and social features of Imperial Japan and its history and show how they played out in the naval campaigns of World War II is an absolute tour de force. I am not easily impressed, but this work should be mandatory reading for anyone seeking to understand the role played by the Japanese Navy in World War II. Battles, technology, personalities, strategy and tactics all seem to blend seamlessly in the author's account. I recommend the book without reservation. It is outstanding!

[CL Chu · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a softcore Kancolle fan, a Taiwanese, and a fledgling historian, reading the book is such a guilty pleasure.

On the one hand, it is an engrossing account of the ship (and, in my imagination, the character Yukikaze and her afterlife as Tan Yang) entangled with an amazing range of contexts - environmental history of oil & water, the cultures of warships, naval warfares, and ship names, and the long shadow of empire & colonialism for contemporary geopolitics. Though the analysis can be too culturalist/essentialist sometimes, those simplifications are useful and artistically admirable.

On the other hand, the book tells an all too familiar story. The struggle of soldiers/survivor in a complex, violent world, which make me wonder - why? Why things end up like what they are? Who should be responsible? And what should we do? Perhaps these are not the right question to ask. Yet I want to find those accounts where people's life seems to contradict the ideology and moves beyond the inevitability of history (plus the empire's defeat).

What's happening to the top decision makers is not the aim of the book, certainly. And it does a great job indicating the need to tell other stories. Time to read about how institutions make war become people's everyday life and then destroy it.

Salute to Tan Yang, the flagship of a military that I briefly served.

[Ron Baumer · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting read, however, I found it to be mis-leading from the title. The book inferred it would focus on the ship, while most of the book really centered on Japan, the politics, and history instead. Additionally, the author would start to mention one battle or event, and then launch back into a different discission and finally back to the event. It led to a difficult read. While I enjoyed the stories and the rich history of the ship, I found myself distracted from what felt like rambling by the author.

Thank you to #NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

[Chet Slonina · Rating 4 out of 5]

A intelligent and well written book not only about a 'Unsinkable" as well as very lucky Japanese destroyer but the battle in the Pacific won by strategy, determination and an overabundance of Allied war material. The Imperial Navy was the scourge of the Pacific knowingly attacking the United States to awaken the Sleeping Giant and that was the start of Japan's downfall. It was only a matter of time that Japan would lose but the fierceness they exhibited was startling. A great read for World War II buffs interested in the Pacific Naval Theatre of Operations.

[Daniel House · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book was good overall, and very refreshing to read about the pacific war from the lens of the Japanese navy. Really wanted to give it 5 stars… but had to drop one due to frustration with the author constantly jumping back and forth in time and repeating himself. A little bit more editing could have polished this book into a true gem