Akebono (曙, "Daybreak")[1] was the eighteenth of twenty-four Fubuki-class destroyers, built for the Imperial Japanese Navy following World War I.

Construction of the advanced Fubuki-class destroyers was authorized as part of the Imperial Japanese Navy's expansion program from fiscal 1923, intended to give Japan a qualitative edge with the world's most modern ships.

At the end of April, Akebono escorted Myōkō and Haguro to Truk, and subsequently joined Admiral Takeo Takagi's force at the Battle of the Coral Sea.

On 14 July, Akebono was reassigned to the Combined Fleet, and escorted the battleship Yamato and aircraft carrier Taiyō at the Battle of the Eastern Solomons on 24 August.

However, as the situation continued to deteriorate for Japan in the Philippines, she was reassigned to Admiral Kiyohide Shima's Diversionary Force at the Battle of Surigao Strait on 24 October.

A direct bomb hit set both ships ablaze, and the following day a large explosion on Akishimo blew a hole in Akebono, which sank upright in shallow water at position 14°35′N 120°55′E / 14.583°N 120.917°E / 14.583; 120.917, with 48 crewmen killed and 43 wounded.