Shigure (時雨, ”Drizzle”)[1] was the second of ten Shiratsuyu-class destroyers, and the first to be built for the Imperial Japanese Navy under the Circle One Program (Maru Ichi Keikaku).

With the start of 1937, Shigure and the rest of destroyer division 9 were detached from Hiei, where they embarked on a series of peace time patrols and training duty.

On 10 August, Shigure arrived at the battle of Shanghai, and immediately saw use conducting shore bombardment to cover the invading Japanese troops from Chinese counterattack.

The only action came on 5 August 1938 when Shigure, Shiratsuyu, Ariake and the gunboat Futami conducted shore bombardment on attacking ground troops while operating in the Yangtze River.

A series of patrol and training duties ensued until the start of 1941 when Shigure served in a blockade with the intend to persuade a ceasefire in relation to the Franco Thai war.

[7][page needed] During the Battle off Horaniu on 17–18 August, she again engaged United States Navy destroyers without damage while covering a troop transport mission to Vella Lavella.

At the end of August, she made two troop evacuation runs to Rekata Bay, one of which was aborted, and one mission to Tuluvu and to Buka, Papua New Guinea in September.

She suffered heavy damage in an air raid on Truk by United States Navy aircraft, taking a direct bomb hit to her No.2 gun turret, killing 21 crewmen and wounding 45 others.

She was withdrawn to Palau for emergency repairs, and returned to Sasebo on 22 March, where her damaged turret was removed and replaced by two triple Type 96 anti-aircraft gun mounts.

From 19–20 June, Shigure was at the Battle of the Philippine Sea as part of Admiral Takatsugu Jōjima’s “Force B”, and assisted in the rescue of survivors from the aircraft carrier Hiyō.

In July, she was assigned to escort a troop convoy from Kure to Okinawa, and in August accompanied the cruiser Kinu on a transport mission from Singapore to Brunei, Manila and Palau, returning via Cebu.

On 24 January 1945, while escorting a convoy from Hong Kong to Singapore, Shigure was torpedoed and sunk by the submarine USS Blackfin in the Gulf of Siam, approximately 160 miles (260 km) east of Kota Bharu, Malaya at position (06°00′N 103°48′E / 6.000°N 103.800°E / 6.000; 103.800).