Chapter 10 explores the retreat of the Imperial Japanese Navy after Leyte Gulf toward the home and the sinking of the battleship Kongo off Taiwan. Once in home waters, Yukikaze escorted the super-carrier Shinano when she was torpedoed and sunk by U.S. Navy submarine Archerfish.

Chapter 6 explores the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal and Yukikaze’s role in the epic naval battle. Yukikaze was involved in a failed effort to save the battleship Hiei, which became the first Japanese battleship lost in the war. Eventually, Yukikaze and other destroyers evacuated Imperial Army troops from Guadalcanal, a turning point in the war.

Chapter 8 analyzes the rapid collapse of Japan’s Absolute National Defensive Sphere as the Pacific War progressed, shifting the struggle from the Salomon Islands to the Bismarck Sea and the Mariana Islands, culminating in the Battle of the Philippine Sea around Saipan. Yukikaze engaged in oiler escort duties and anti-submarine warfare during the battle.

Chapter 2 investigates the global development of the torpedo and its influence on the Imperial Japanese Navy. The Battle of Savo Island, near Guadalcanal, evidenced Japanese proficiency with destroyers, cruisers, and torpedo tactics during World War II.

Chapter 12 investigates Yukikaze’s activities after the sinking of Yamato and during Japan’s surrender to the Allies. Yukikaze was transferred to the Republic of China in 1947, where she defended Taiwan during the crises in the Taiwan Strait. The chapter concludes with Yukikaze’s enduring legacy in Japanese culture.

Chapter 1 explores vessel-naming practices in the Imperial Japanese Navy and their connections to classical Japanese poetry. This connection linked navy vessels with a past aesthetic rooted linked to the Emperor and rooted in notions of Japan as a divine land.

Chapter 7 explores the life on the water for Japanese sailors, and their tenuous connections to the Japanese home islands. Japanese society was mobilized for total warfare, which meant letter-writing campaigns for Japanese school children. Japanese society valorized the Imperial Japanese Navy, the pride of the nation, particularly after such Japanese victories at the Battle of Kolombangara.

Chapter 11 explores Operation Ten-Go, the battleship Yamato’s suicide mission to defend Okinawa from Allied invasion. Yukikaze escorted Yamato and witnessed her destruction. By this juncture, a kamikaze spirit permeated the Imperial Japanese Navy, which had become consumed by its legacies in the eyes of history, rather than strategic successes.

Chapter 5 explores the Battle of Midway from the perspective of Yukikaze and the Imperial Army landing forces that converged on the Midway Atoll from the south. The U.S. Navy sunk four carriers at Midway, which refocused Japanese efforts around Guadalcanal.

Chapter 9 investigates the Battle of Leyte Gulf and its aftermath by focusing on the Battle Off Samar, where Yukikaze saw action. A cultural turning point, the Imperial Japanese Navy demonstrated new suicidal tactics at Leyte, evidencing the emergence of a new culture of sacrifice in the navy. After Leyte Gulf, the Imperial Japanese Navy’s conduct became less about strategic success and more about honor in the eyes of Japan’s martial history.