The second ship of the Nagara Cruisers. She was launched on October 29, 1921 and was commissioned on August 15, 1923. Her speed is 36 knots and armed with seven 5.5 inch naval guns, two 25mm anti-aircraft guns, six 13mm machine guns, eight 24 inch torpedo tubs, and carries 48 naval mines.
During the attack of Pearl Harbor, her first assignment was on the 15th Escort Squadron which supported the invasion of British held Hong Kong. After the Japanese controlled the whole Southeast Asia. The 15th Escort Squadron was deactivated, Isuzu was assigned to the CruDiv 16 and participated several operations in the Dutch East Indies and Indian Ocean.
During the Solomons Campaign, she relief Jintsuu as the new flagship of the DesRon 2, divisions 15, 24 and 31. She also assisted Haruna and Kongou for the bombardment of Henderson Field. She's also present on the engagement in Santa Cruz Island and the second naval battle of Guadalcanal.
After her remodel, which boosted her AA capabilities, she was assigned on CruDiv 14 together with Naka which supported the invasion of Nauru and to reinforce the troops in Shanghai, there they encountered USS Shad SS-235, Shad fired ten torpedoes but all torpedoes miss.
During the engagements in the Southern Pacific, she was attacked by Yorktown CV-10 and Lexington CV-16 but manage to return to Yokosuka for repairs and another modification. She was fitted with even more anti-aircraft guns, replaced her naval guns, and becomes an AA cruiser.
On the Battle of Leyte Gulf, she was assigned to the Northern Force and escorted the carriers for the decoy mission. She attempted to tow the damage Chitose but somehow failed then she rescued Chiyoda's crew. She also suffered from moderate damage from the engagement. After the war she was assigned to transport troops to Manila and Brunei. And again she was attacked by another submarine, USS Hake SS-256 fired six torpedoes. one destroyed her rudder making her stay in Singapore for temporary repairs.
Her last assignment was to transport troops to Sumbawa Island, she was attacked by ten B-25 Mitchell Bombers which dropped 60 bombs. Isuzu was slightly damaged from all the near misses. Then she was spotted by a group of three submarines, USS Charr, USS Besugo and USS Gabilan. Besugo fired the first batch of torpedoes, all miss, then Gabilan fires another, one manage to hit Isuzu, then Charr fired the finishing blow. While another submarine from the Royal Navy HMS Spark witnessed her sinking.
Irony huh? A sub-hunter was actually sunk by a submarine.
Not so much really, she was in good company on that front.
Unlike what happened in the Atlantic US Submarines were not particularly afraid of Japanese destroyers. In fact there were directives that called specifically for hunting and destroying them to stretch convoy ops even thinner when it started becoming clear the Japanese could not replace them effectively. Japan had something like 170 DD during the course of war (this number can be slightly higher or lower depending on if you classify certain things as a DD or not) there were about 30 survivors by the end of it so around 140 sunk. US subs accounted for like 38 of those or a bit shy of 30% of all destroyer sinking.
It's even more awful when you consider that during the entire war the US lost a total of I think 44 submarines to probable enemy action of all kinds not just surface vessels. Meaning US submarines almost certainly killed more DD then Japanese DDs ever sank US subs. In a very real sense the destroyer weren't hunting subs, the submarines were hunting them.
After her second modification, Isuzu became the AA boss. In reality, without participating in anti submarine operations, Isuzu joined the Leyte Campaign together as part of the destroyer squadron and took part in anti air defence.Built in the Taishou era, Isuzu is already an old lady when the war starts, so she received various improvements. But because of the worsening situations, the other Nagara class girls never received these modifications.When talking about Isuzu, of course it's about modifications.
First modification that gave her the precious radar, and
Second modification that gave her that fabulous boobs and anti-air capability.And in the end, of all thing she's sunk by the subs.
Isuzu-chan can't win against submarines.