Hatsutaka (初鷹, First Hawk)[1] was the lead vessel in the Hatsutaka-class of medium-sized minelayers of the Imperial Japanese Navy, which was in service during World War II.
Under the Maru-3 Supplemental Naval Amaments Budget of 1937, the Imperial Japanese Navy authorized a two vessels of a new class of minelayer (Project number H12) primarily for coastal duties.
After the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, Hatsutaka was assigned to ”Operation T”, (the invasion of Sumatra), escorting 11 transports with the IJA 229th Infantry Regiment from French Indochina to Bangka and Palembang on 11 February, and the Imperial Guards Division from Singapore to northern Sumatra on 10 March.
This mission was followed by ”Operation D” (the invasion of the Andaman Islands at the end of March, with Hatsutaka escorting a convoy from Singapore to Port Blair and Rangoon in Burma.
[2] On 15 July 1943 Hatsutaka rendezvoused with German submarine U-511, carrying Vice Admiral Nomura Naokuni, Japan's representative to the Axis Tripartite Commission in Berlin since 1941, and Major Sugita Tamotsu of the IJA Medical Service, Dr. Ernst Wörmann, ambassador to Wang Jingwei's pro-Japanese Reorganized National Government of China and Martin Spahn, leader-designee of the NSDAP (Nazi) party in Japan and three engineers from U-boat builder AG Weser at Bremen[3] Hatsutaka escorted the German submarine to Penang.
4.7 inch appeared to be both common and fused, as it was ricochetting [sic] alongside and over the stern as well as bursting overhead which was thought at first to be starshells.
At 1147, Hatsutaka sighted the periscope of Cobia, and launched nine depth charge runs, causing severe damage.
At 0523 on 16 May in rainy weather, USS Hawkbill fired six torpedoes at Hatsutaka, two of which hit, flooding her engine room.
Hatsutaka opened fire, but one torpedo struck amidships, causing an explosion, which broke her in half.
On March 28, 2008 northwest of Pulau Tenggol, Malaysia a team of divers located Hatsutaka about one kilometer off shore.