Popular in Japan as "the unsinkable ship" — she was the only Kagero-class destroyer to survive WWII — Yukikaze (or "Snowy Wind") served the Imperial Japanese Navy in the battles of Midway, Santa Cruz, Leyte Gulf and the Philippine Sea. Early in the war, she took part in the invasions of the Philippines and the Dutch East Indies. Yukikaze was also enlisted for Guadalcanal troop runs and naval battles around the island. The destroyer survived Operation Ten-Go, the abortive attack on American forces landing on Okinawa; in the same battle, the Yamatowas sunk. Yukikaze spent the final months of WWII on security duty in Japanese harbors, and after the war brought Japanese military forces back home who were still abroad. Of the 82 Japanese destroyers built before WWII, only two — Yukikaze and Hibiki — survived.