Tanikaze

"Admiral, I'm Tanikaze! I'll be in your care from now on."

Tanikaze (谷風?, Valley Wind) was a Kagero-class destroyer of the Imperial Japanese Navy.

In June 1942 the ship participated in the Battle of Midway where she was damaged by air attacks.

On June 5, the day after the main battle of Midway, the Tanikaze, was sent by Admiral Nagumo to ensure the last IJN Carrier Hiryu had actually sunk, to scuttle it if necessary, and collect any survivors.

The Tanikaze had the unfortunate luck of being seen by 61 US Dauntless Dive Bombers sent to destroy the Hiryu if it was still afloat.

After they were unable locate the Hiryu (It had sunk about an hour earlier), the Dive bombers turned back to simultaneously attack the hapless Japanese Destroyer, since their bombs needed to be jettisoned before landing anyway.

Miraculously, through aggressive maneuvering (zig zagging) by the Ship's Captain Motomi Katsumi, not one of the 61 Dive bombers managed a direct hit.

The log of the Tanikaze reported "Medium damage from air attack with 6 dead on June 5", but it survived.

Later that year she was busy with transport missions to Guadalcanal and in first months of 1943 she helped in the evacuation of Japanese forces from Guadalcanal. On 9 June 1944, Tanikaze was torpedoed and sunk by USS Harder (SS-257) in Sibutu Passage near Tawitawi, 90 miles (170 km) southwest of Basilan (05°42′N 120°41′E). 114 crew members were killed, while 126 survivors, including her commander Lieutenant Commander Ikeda, were rescued by Urakaze, which five months later would be sunk by USS Sealion (SS-315) with all hands, including all survivors from Tanikaze.

Appearance
She (like her sisters and division mates from the 17th Destroyer Division) wears a short-sleeved white and blue button-up serafuku with a yellow scarf (similar to Yukikaze) on top of a Kagerou-class standard pleated skirt along with white thighhighs. On her back is her rigging, with an attached Depth Charge. Like most of the Kagerou-class, she wears white gloves. She wields two pistol-like guns, one resembles the standard 12.7 cm twin gun, the other resembles an Anti-Air gun.

She has short black hair with a white hairband.

Personality
She speaks like a stereotypical Edokko despite being built in Osaka. Thus, she is the opposite to Ryuujou (who speaks in Kansai-ben but was built in Yokohama, just nearby Tokyo). Also, because of her accent, she is sometimes shown sprouting Burontisms.

Trivia

 * Participated in the Battle of Midway, transport missions to Guadalcanal and evacuation from Guadalcanal.
 * Sunk in action, June 9, 1944 in Sibutu Passage, Tawi-Tawi, Philippines (05°42′N 120°41′E).
 * Her name means "valley wind".