Kaede (楓, "maple") was one of 18 Matsu-class destroyers built for the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) during the final stages of World War II.

After escorting one convoy to southern China, she joined two other destroyers tasked to evacuate Japanese airmen from the Philippines.

Mid-year the destroyer was turned over to the Republic of China; renamed Heng Yang she became a training ship and remained in service until the 1960s when she was scrapped.

Designed for ease of production, the Matsu class was smaller, slower and more lightly armed than previous destroyers as the IJN intended them for second-line duties like escorting convoys, releasing the larger ships for missions with the fleet.

There Kaede joined her sister Ume and the destroyer Shiokaze on a voyage to the Aparri area of the island of Luzon in the Philippines to evacuate stranded aircrew on 30 January.

Kaede was set on fire and badly damaged by a bomb hit that killed forty men and injured thirty.

[9][10] The ship was turned over to Allied forces at Kure at the time of the surrender of Japan on 2 September and was stricken from the navy list on 5 October.