, the second Imperial Japanese Navy destroyer of the name, was the lead ship of six s built under the Circle One Program (). Three were laid down in JFY 1931 and the next three in JFY 1933. The remaining six ships in the plan were built as the . History Construction of the advanced Hatsuharu-class destroyers was intended to give the Imperial Japanese Navy smaller and more economical destroyers than the previous and destroyers, but with essentially the same weaponry. These conflicting goals proved beyond contemporary destroyer design, and the resulting ships were top-heavy design, with severe stability problems and with inherent structural weaknesses. After the "Tomozuru Incident" of 1934 and "IJN 4th Fleet Incident" in 1935, Hatsuharu underwent extensive modifications on completion to remedy these issues. Hatsuharu-class destroyers used the same 50 caliber 12.7 cm gun as the Fubuki class, but all turrets could elevate to 75° to give the main guns a minimal ability to engage aircraft . The 61 cm Type 90 torpedo was mounted in triple tube Type 90 Model 2 launchers It was traversed by an electro-hydraulic system and could traverse 360° in twenty-five seconds. If the backup manual system was used the time required increased to two minutes. Each tube could be reloaded in twenty-three seconds using the endless wire and winch provided. Hatsuharu was laid down on 14 May 1931, launched on 22 February 1933 and commissioned on 30 September 1933. Operational history At the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor, Hatsuharu was assigned to Destroyer Division 21 of Destroyer Squadron 1 of the IJN 1st Fleet together with her sister ships , , and , and remained in Japanese home waters on anti-submarine patrol. From the end of January 1942, she deployed with the invasion force for the Netherlands East Indies, covering landing operations at Kendari on Sulawesi as part of "Operation H" on 24 January. On 25 January, she was damaged in a collision with the cruiser and had to withdraw to Davao for emergency repairs. Once repairs were completed by 11 February, she escorted tankers to Balikpapan, Tarakan and Makassar, rejoining her squadron on 26 February and returning with her squadron to Sasebo at the end of March for maintenance. From May 1942, Hatsuharu was reassigned to northern operations, and deployed from Ōminato Guard District with as part of "Operation AL" in support of Admiral Boshiro Hosogaya's Northern