Yūgiri (夕霧, "Evening Mist")[1] was the fourteenth of twenty-four Fubuki-class destroyers, built for the Imperial Japanese Navy following World War I.

Construction of the advanced Fubuki-class destroyers was authorized as part of the Imperial Japanese Navy's expansion program from fiscal 1923, intended to give Japan a qualitative edge with the world's most modern ships.

From 1940, she was assigned to patrol and cover landings of Japanese forces in south China, and subsequently participated in the Invasion of French Indochina.

At the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor, Yūgiri was assigned to Destroyer Division 20 of Desron 3 of the IJN 1st Fleet, and had deployed from Kure Naval District to the port of Samah on Hainan Island, escorting Japanese troopships for landing operations in the Battle of Malaya.

[7] Yūgiri subsequently was part of the escort for the heavy cruisers Suzuya, Kumano, Mogami and Mikuma in support of "Operation L", the invasion of Banka, Palembang and the Anambas Islands in the Netherlands East Indies.

In July 1942, Yūgiri sailed from Amami-Ōshima to Mako Guard District, Singapore, Sabang and Mergui for a projected second Indian Ocean raid.

During this operation, she was struck by a direct hit near her bridge by a bomb from a United States Marine Corps SBD Dauntless dive bomber from Henderson Field, killing 32 crewmen, including the commander of Destroyer Division 20, Captain Yamada Yuji.