Namikaze (波風, Wave Wind)[1] was the second ship of the Nokaze sub-class, an improvement to the Minekaze-class 1st class destroyers built for the Imperial Japanese Navy following World War I.

[3] On completion, Namikaze was teamed with sister ships Nokaze, Numakaze, and flagship Kamikaze at the Yokosuka Naval District to form Destroyer Division 1 (第一駆逐隊).

In July she was assigned temporarily to the IJN 5th Fleet for the mission to evacuate surviving Japanese forces from Kiska, but only performed backup duties.

She was slightly damaged in a collision with the coastal patrol vessel Manei Maru No.7 at the entry to Otaru port, Hokkaidō on 6 November 1943.

She returned to Ōminato to resume the Hokkaidō-Chishima patrols from March 1944 On 21 August 1944, Namikaze was torpedoed by the submarine USS Seal north of Iturup.

From 16 June 1945, Namikaze was based at Ube in the Inland Sea, and was used primarily as a minesweeper searching for mines dropped by B-29 Superfortress bombers.