Arashi played a vital role in World War II by inadvertently guiding US attack planes to the Japanese carrier fleet at the Battle of Midway.

Arashi had become separated from the Japanese carrier force while attempting to destroy an American submarine, USS Nautilus.

Arashi spent the rest of January escorting the fleet, and on February 15 she conducted shore bombardment to cover Japanese troop landings on the Dutch East Indies.

The next day, Arashi along with Nowaki and the heavy cruiser Maya tracked down the British destroyer HMS Stronghold and opened fire.

Finally on March 4, Arashi with Nowaki and the heavy cruisers Maya, Takao, and Atago engaged an allied convoy departing for Australia.

During the action, Arashi helped to sink the British oil tanker Francol, then assisted Atago in capturing the Dutch freighter Tjisaroea.

Having kept Nautilus down long enough that she no longer was a threat, the captain of Arashi finally broke off the attack and steamed north to rejoin the carrier group.

As two squadrons of dive bombers from Enterprise searched above for the Japanese Task Force, Arashi was spotted making great speed to the north.

The ship's speed created a long wake, which acted as a direction arrow to the American aviators, guiding them to the Japanese carriers.

Several hours, after main battle, Arashi took on sailors from Akagi, then helped to scuttle the destroyed carrier with torpedo hits.

According to Admiral Chūichi Nagumo's battle report, the airman died the day following his recovery and was buried at sea.

Naval investigation after the war interviewed witnesses who reported that after his interrogation Osmus had been taken to the stern of Arashi and struck in the back of the neck with a fire axe.

Afterwards she covered a troop transport mission to Guadalcanal where she was damaged by bomb near misses from US aircraft, forcing her to undergo repairs for 2 days.

[7] Main Article: Battle of Vella Gulf On August 6 1943, Arashi again departed in an attempt to land reinforcements through a troop transport mission along with the destroyers Hagikaze, Kawakaze, and Shigure transiting through Kolombangara.

Arashi's crew watched in horror as a torpedo hit and blew up Kawakaze's engine room and sank her.