Numakaze (沼風, Marsh Wind)[1] was third and final vessel in the Nokaze sub-class, an improvement to the Minekaze-class 1st class destroyers, built for the Imperial Japanese Navy immediately following World War I.

In 1938-1939, the Division was assigned to patrols of the northern and central China coastlines in support of Japanese combat operations in the Second Sino-Japanese War At the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor, Numakaze was based at the Ōminato Guard District in northern Japan, and was assigned to patrols of the Hokkaidō and Chishima Islands coastlines.

During the Battle of Midway in May 1942, Numakaze was assigned to the reserve force for the Aleutian Islands Operation, which did not leave Japanese waters.

Afterwards, she returned to patrol and escort duties based out of Ōminato through July 1943, when the ship was assigned temporarily to the IJN 5th Fleet for the mission to evacuate surviving Japanese forces from Kiska.

However, on 18 December 1943, Numakaze, while chasing the wake of the submarine USS Grayback, was hit by a torpedo, blew up and sank east-northeast of Naha, Okinawa at position 26°29′N 128°26′E / 26.483°N 128.433°E / 26.483; 128.433.