Momi Class Destroyer - Initial Design

Initial Design

The Momi-class was a development of the Enoki second-class destroyers, relying on the same basic hull. They were quite small, comparable to Royal Navy corvettes. The design incorporated features discovered on German destroyers captured during World War I, including a lengthened forecastle with a break forming a well deck immediately forward of the bridge. This arrangement, apparently derived from contemporary torpedo boat practice, offered the advantage of a low, semi protected area for the forward torpedo tubes albeit at the cost of becoming awash in heavy seas. Initial problems with stability during high speed turns were later corrected by widening the beam and bringing up the waterline.

When compared with the Minekaze-class, the smaller size necessitated a reduction from four boilers to three and the adoption of lighter-weight Parsons direct-drive turbines, resulting in a drop from 38500hp in Minekaze-class to 21,500 hp (16,000 kW) in Momi-class. In addition, bunkerage was lowered to 275 tons oil fuel.

As gear turbine technology was not yet perfected, the navy experimented with a variety of power plants on the Momi-class:

As with the Minekaze-class, the Type 3 120 mm 45 caliber naval guns were mounted high, with the Q gun removed, and as opposed to the Minekaze, only one set of double of torpedo tubes fitted aft.