Japanese minesweeper No. 7 (1938)

Japanese warship For other ships with the same name, see Japanese minesweeper W-7.

History
Minesweeper No. 7 near Singapore, September 23, 1942
Japan
Name	W-7
Builder	Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding
Laid down	27 October 1937
Launched	16 June 1938
Out of service	10 June 1944
Homeport	Sasebo, Nagasaki
Fate	Sunk at 11°34'N, 93°08'E.
General characteristics
Class and type	W-7-class minesweeper
Displacement	750 tons
Length	72.2 m (236 ft 11 in)
Height	7.9 m (25 ft 11 in)
Depth	2 m (6 ft 7 in)
Installed power	3,850 hp (2,870 kW)
Propulsion	Steam
Speed	20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph)
Range	2,000 nmi (3,700 km; 2,300 mi)
Complement	88
Armament	2 × 120 mm (4.7 in)/45 cal guns 9 × 25 mm (0.98 in) AA guns 36 depth charges

No.7 (第七号掃海艇, Dai Nana Gō Sōkaitei), also sometimes called W-7 was a No.7-class minesweeper for the Imperial Japanese Navy. It was laid down on 27 October 1937, and completed on 16 June 1938.

Background

W-7 was laid down on 27 October 1937. On 16 June 1938, the ship was launched, and numbered W-7. On 25 December, it was attached to the Sasebo Naval District. On 1 June 1941, it was assigned to MineSweepDiv 21 with W-8, W-9, W-10, W-11 and W-12.

The Philippines

On 27 November 1941, W-7 departed from Sasebo, and arrived at Peleliu on 4 December. On 8 December, it departed Peleliu and joined the Fourth Surprise Attack Unit. On 12 December, W-7 participated in the successful invasion of Legaspi. On 19 December 1941, after assisting briefly with operations in Borneo, came back to the Philippines to do some minesweeping. On the way to the Philippines, W-7 and W-8 helped escort a convoy to Lamon Bay, in the Philippines. The convoy arrived at Lamon Bay late at night, and conducted mine-sweeping operations. Two days later, W-7 and W-8 left Lamon Bay, and arrived at Davao on 31 December.

On 7 January, W-7 and MineSweepDiv 21's remaining ships, W-8, W-9, W-11 and W-12 (W-10 having been sunk

during actions off Vigan) departed from Davao and arrived at nearby Magunaga Bay.

Borneo

On 17 December, W-7, along with support from W-8, provided cover for the cruisers Kumano and Suzuya, light cruisers Yura and Kinu, seaplane tender Kamikawa Maru, destroyers Fubuki, Shirakumo, Murakumo, Shinonome, and Sagiri, the troop transport Hiyoshi Maru and a few subchasers during the invasion of Miri.

Dutch East Indies

On 9 January 1942, MineSweepDiv 21's remaining ships left Magunaga Bay, with the light cruiser Nagara, the submarine chasers CH-1, CH-2, and CH-3, and patrol boats P-1, P-2, and P-34. On 11 January, the convoy reached the city of Kema, and landed on Madano an hour later. On 20 January, MineSweepDiv 21 left Mandano, and on 21 January, conducted minesweeping operations around the area of Kendari. On 23–24 January, MineSweepDiv 21, along with other ships, helped escort the Kendari invasion force. On 29 January, W-7 helped escort the Ambon Seizure Convoy, and on 31 January, assists in the invasion. On 3 February, W-7 and W-8 left Ambon Island, heading back towards Staring Bay, in Kendari. It arrived there on 5 February. On 6 February, W-7 assisted in escorting the Makassar Occupation Force, and escorted the Kupang Seizure Convoy. On 14 February, W-7 and W-8 departed Makassar, and assisted in operations off Timor between 17 and 20 February. On 25 February, W-7 and W-8 departed from Kendari, and helped escort to Surabaya. After its operations in the Dutch East Indies, W-7 was assigned a series of escort and minesweeping jobs.

Fate

After over two years of safe escorting and minesweeping operations (between 25 February 1942 and 15 April 1944), W-7 was spotted by the British submarine HMS Storm while escorting a merchant ship from Port Blair, Andaman Islands. Storm fired two torpedoes at the merchant ship, but both missed, and at least one hit W-7. After hitting W-7, Storm went after the merchant vessel. After some time, a submarine chaser and an aircraft arrived on the scene and picked up survivors from W-7. Almost an hour after being hit, W-7 "emitted a huge sheet of flames and slowly sank", according to HMS Storm's log. On 10 June W-7 was removed from the Navy's list.

References

Budge, Kent G. "W-7 Class, Japanese Fast Minesweepers". The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia. Retrieved 22 April 2014.
"W-7 (+1944)". wrecksite.eu. Retrieved 22 April 2014.
^ Hackett, Bob; Cundall, Peter. "IJN Minesweeper W-7: Tabular Record of Movement". combinedfleet.com. Retrieved 22 April 2014.
"HMS Storm (P 233)". uboat.net. Retrieved 23 April 2014.

v t e Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding
Products	Abukuma-class destroyer escort Etorofu-class escort ship Hiuchi-class support ship JS Hiuchi Mitsui 56 series Ōsumi-class tank landing ship Shimushu-class escort ship W-7 Class minesweeper (W-7)

v t e Shipwrecks and maritime incidents in April 1944
Shipwrecks	2 Apr: U-360 3 Apr: U-288 4 Apr: I-169 6 Apr: U-302, U-455 7 Apr: I-2, U-856 8 Apr: U-2, U-962 9 Apr: U-515 10 Apr: USS SC-497, U-68 11 Apr: Akigumo, U-108 12 Apr: I-174 13 Apr: Ikazuchi 14 Apr: Bärenfels, Fort Stikine, U-448 15 Apr: No. 7 16 Apr: U-550 17 Apr: U-342, U-986 18 Apr: USS Gudgeon, Pan-Pennsylvania 19 Apr: U-974 20 Apr: USS Lansdale, Paul Hamilton, Voorbode 21 Apr: M 553 22 Apr: U-311 23 Apr: Amagiri 26 Apr: V 606 Fladengrund, I-180, U-488, Yoshida Maru No. 1 27 Apr: U-803, Yūbari 28 Apr: USS LST-507 29 Apr: HMCS Athabaskan, I-183, USS PT-346, Sirène, U-421 30 Apr: Ro-45 Unknown date: U-193, U-355
Other incidents	2 Apr: I-46, Ro-46 10 Apr: USS Holder 11 Apr: USS Cero 13 Apr: USS Bashaw 14 Apr: Bombay explosion, HMHS Chantilly 16 Apr: Pan-Pennsylvania 20 Apr: Bergen explosion 24 Apr: LST-407 27 Apr: USS Etamin 29 Apr: USS Seahorse
1943 1944 1945 March 1944 May 1944

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