Japanese gunboat Hashidate

300px Hashidate in Osaka Bay, June 1940
History
Name:	Hashidate
Namesake:	Japanese cruiser Hashidate
Ordered:	1937
Builder:	Osaka Iron Works
Laid down:	February 20, 1939
Launched:	December 23, 1939
Completed:	June 30, 1940
Struck:	July 10, 1944
Fate:	Sunk on May 22, 1944
General characteristics
Type:	gunboat
Displacement:	993 long tons (1,009 t)
Length:	78.5 m (258 ft)
Beam:	9.7 m (31 ft 10 in)
Draught:	2.45 m (8 ft 0 in)
Propulsion:	>4,600 hp (3,400 kW) geared turbine
Speed:	19.5 knots (22.4 mph; 36.1 km/h)
Range:	2,500 nmi / 14 kn
Complement:	158
Armament:	3 × Type 3 120 mm 45 caliber naval gun (1 × 2, 1 × 1) 2 × Type 96 25 mm AT/AA Guns

Hashidate (橋立) was the lead vessel in the Hashidate-class gunboats in the Imperial Japanese Navy, that operated in China during the 1940s.

History

Hashidate was authorized under the Maru-3 Naval Expansion Budget of 1937. She was laid down at Osaka Iron Works on February 20, 1939 and launched on December 23, 1939, and was commissioned into the Imperial Japanese Navy as on June 30, 1940 .

She was intended initially for support of combat operations by the Imperial Japanese Army in the Second Sino-Japanese War off the coast of China. At the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor, Hashidate was assigned to the China Area Fleet as part of the 2nd China Expeditionary Fleet’s 15th Escort Group. With the start of the Pacific War, she was assigned to ”Operation C” – the invasion of Hong Kong. She remained based from Hong Kong for most of the war. At some point in 1943, five additional Type 96 25 mm AT/AA Guns were added, along with depth charges in 1944.

On May 22, 1944, she was torpedoed by USS Picuda (SS-382) in the South China Sea south of the Pratas Islands while towing the crippled merchant passenger/cargo ship Tsukuba Maru at position .