[2] Following the Battle of Midway in June 1942, downed American aircrew SBD Ensign Frank W. O'Flaherty[5] and AMM1c Bruno Gaido[6] were pulled from the water by Makigumo.

After an interrogation, the crew tied weights around the feet of O'Flaherty and Gaido and threw them into the Pacific to drown, instead of keeping them prisoner until they reached Japan.

Makigumo's crew thought of it as payback for the loss in the battle of Midway of the aircraft carriers Akagi, Kaga, Sōryū, and Hiryū, which had formed two-thirds of the Kidō Butai Pearl Harbor attack force.

Shortly after the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands during the early hours of 27 October 1942, Makigumo along with the destroyer Akigumo sank the heavily damaged and abandoned aircraft carrier USS Hornet.

The destroyer Yūgumo removed 237 survivors, including Cdr Isamu Fujita, and scuttled Makigumo with a torpedo, 3 miles (4.8 km) south-southwest of Savo Island (09°15′S 159°47′E / 9.250°S 159.783°E / -9.250; 159.783).