IJN Shimkaze

A reliable rite of passage for most captains entering into the destroyer playbook – the embodiment of the torpedo focused strategy

Written by

Captn_Thatch

IJN Shimakaze: "Island Wind"

Stealthy
Excellent Torpedoes
Agile

Scope:

On a continuation of Legendary Tier Reviews during v 3.10 the campaign yielding HMS Minotaur, this review focuses on Imperial Japanese Navy Legendary Tier Destroyer, Shimakaze. Shimakaze compliments previous review, Gearing, as one of the oldest Legendary Tier Destroyers. Infamous for her torpedo focused playstyle, Shimakaze is a GOOD ship, with a MODERATE skill floor, with a HIGH skill ceiling.

As a reminder, Legendary Tier ships are not considered Premium Ships and as such are subject to balance changes.

Captains, you will see the current customized LT metric which includes a pair of lists, one short featuring just LT, and a larger list which incorporates LT and Tier VII.

Shimakaze is one of the older legendary tier ships found in the game and is quite common. Statistically speaking, she has been unchanged for some time. I acquired Shimakaze after completing her Bureau Project some time ago, she was not given to me by Wargaming for review purposes.

Rating Matrix:

[BAD, WEAK, AVERAGE, GOOD, GREAT]
{LOW, MODERATE, HIGH, EXTREME}

History:

Based on an experimental design capable of carrying 15 of the vaunted 610mm Type 93 Oxygen (Long Lance) Torpedo and as a testbed for a new, larger experimental steam turbine boiler capable of pushing 39 knots. The design incorporated the same Type 3 (127mm) Naval Gun found on the preceding Yugumo Class, in the same one forward and two super firing aft found on the typical destroyer designs of the era.

The design was laid down in August 1941, launched July 1942, and was commissioned into the Imperial Japanese Navy during May 1943. During trials, the ship proved capable of 40.9 knots and was then considered to be the future lead of the "Type C" Destroyer class.

Shimakaze played a limited role in her involvement during World War 2, which varied from service in Truk, Saipan, the Aleutian Islands and Leyte Gulf. Shimakaze subsequently became overloaded with survivors from the now sunk Musashi and Maya and was unable to use her torpedoes.

Shimakaze was sunk 11 November 1944, when she was spotted, strafed, disabled and sunk by US aircraft from Task 38.

Strengths:

15 Torpedoes
Excellent Concealment
Agile
Best Torpedo Alpha
Quick

Weaknesses:

Weak AA
Low EHP
Long Torpedo Reload
Long Torpedo Reaction
Frail

The Basics:

Subsurface nukes go boom.

Shimakaze has a well-known penchant for her 15 excellent torpedoes, of which, just a couple will reliably end the battle for the receiving target. Paired with strong concealment values and wonderful agility, Shimakaze is adept at ambush tactics that will cripple anything found in the wrong place at the wrong time.

She's fairly simple, and though adequately described as a One Trick Pony: Shimakaze likes to stay hidden and ambush her targets with a wall of torpedoes. Shimakaze will not fare well in most gunfights, shy of targets that are significantly wounded. While Shimakaze does have gunnery that can be described as comfortable, she lacks potential damage values and features weak HP/EHP values that will deplete quickly when under focus. Furthermore, Shimakaze weaponry and propulsion systems are quite frail, and is prone to losing modules or weapons.

Offense:

GOOD

This break down is going to start with the gunnery and work into the torpedoes. Shima is a fun little boat in the sense that she is extremely derpy in almost all the worst ways. Her torpedoes will Donkey-Punch unprepared targets into heaps of pure salt. Shimakaze herself is quite frail but is similarly quite agile and is able to stay out of the way of most threats, exclude carriers and radar.

Main Battery Range

Khabarovsk: 12.3
Kleber: 11
Gearing: 10.7
Shimakaze: 10.7

Tied with Gearing, Shimakaze has the same main battery range. Though, ironically Shimakaze has more useable ballistics.

Main Battery Range

Khabarovsk: 12.3
Hsienyang: 11.5
Paolo Emilio: 11.4
Udaloi: 11
Le Fantasque: 11
Kleber: 11
Akizuki: 11
Tashkent: 10.9
Friesland: 10.9
ZF-6: 10.8
Lightning: 10.8
Lo Yang: 10.8
Shimakaze: 10.7
Yudachi: 10.7
Gearing: 10.7
Z-23 15cm: 10.6
Kagero: 10.6
Fletcher: 10

10.7km isn't that bad for a destroyer that does not typically fire off a lot of shells. What's better, is that this is useable range, and Shimakaze has comfortable ballistic performance which allows her to reliably access this range.

Shell Diameter

Kleber: 139
Khabarovsk: 130
Gearing: 127
Shimakaze: 127

Shimakaze is equipped with the standard destroyer 127mm

Main Battery Reload

Gearing: 3
Khabarovsk: 5
Shimakaze: 6.5
Kleber: 7

This is one of the main reasons that tends to shun gunboat Shima builds. 6.5s stock reload handcuffs Shima to a very select pool of targets that she can reach their Time to Kill values before she is in turn killed off.

Ricochet Angles (o) Potential/Guaranteed

Gearing: 45/60
Shimakaze: 45/60
Khabarovsk: 45/60
Kleber 45/60

Shimakaze like the rest of the destroyers currently in the tier has normal normalization/ricochet values.

Muzzle Velocity

Shimakaze: 915m/s
Khabarovsk: 900m/s
Kleber: 840m/s
Gearing: 792m/s

This is kind of where the fun begins and why so many players try to run a more gun focused build. Shima has excellent muzzle velocity and comfortable dispersion values. This facilitates firing at any range to be quite comfortable and reliable.

Fuse Time (s)

Gearing: 0.01
Shimakaze: 0.01
Khabarovsk: 0.01
Kleber: 0.025

Though stock with a normal fuse time, this allows Shima to get a little cheeky when she can afford the gamble. However, its generally more advisable to stay concealed and allow those torpedoes to end the match for your opponents.

Shells per Minute

Gearing: 120
Khabarovsk: 96
Kleber: 69
Shimakaze: 55

This is one of the reasons that kills the whole gunboat Shimakaze idea, she fires off a weak 55 shells/min with an average nearer to 75, Shimakaze will fire off far less shells than the average destroyer.

Shells per Minute

Akizuki: 160
Friesland: 133
Gearing: 120
Fletcher: 100
Khabarovsk: 96
Lightning: 80
ZF-6: 75
Hsienyang: 73
Lo Yang: 73
Tashkent: 72
Kleber: 69
Shimakaze: 55
Kagero: 53
Le Fantasque: 50
Udaloi: 48
Z-23 15cm: 45
Paolo Emilio: 45
Yudachi: 44

What's worse, while Shimakaze has excellent ballistics and a mediocre reload resulting in weak shells/min, Shima has abysmal turret traverse.

180***^(o)*** Turret Traverse (s)

Fletcher: 5.3
Lo Yang: 5.3
Hsienyang: 5.3
Gearing: 7
Friesland: 7.2
Lightning: 9
Udaloi: 9
Khabarovsk: 9
Kleber: 10
Akizuki: 11.3
Kagero: 15
Yudachi: 15
Le Fantasque: 18
Paolo Emilio: 18
Tashkent: 18.6
Z-23 15cm: 22.5
Shimakaze: 23

Furthermore, Shimakaze has below average HE alpha.

HE Alpha

Z-23 15cm: 2200
Yudachi: 2150
Le Fantasque: 2000
Kleber: 2000
Gearing: 2000
Paolo Emilio: 1950
Fletcher: 1900
Tashkent: 1900
Udaloi: 1900
Lo Yang: 1900
Hsienyang: 1900
Khabarovsk: 1900
Shimakaze: 1800
Kagero: 1800
Friesland: 1750
Lightning: 1700
ZF-6: 1450
Akizuki: 1200

And, as such, Shimakaze firing 6 guns has the weakest HE broadside of any of the LT DDs.

HE Broadside

Kleber: 16,000
Khabarovsk: 15,200
Gearing: 12,000
Shimakaze: 10,800

Unsurprisingly, Shimakaze also has very weak HE DPM, the magic number to really make any kind of gunnery work on terms of a hybrid in most situations, is about 18k HP/130k HE DPM. Generally, as Shima will run Fragile Threat and Subsurface Venture, Shimakaze will hover around 16k EHP/85k HE DPM.

This means Shima is about 2k HP, and 45k HE DPM short of being a true hybrid destroyer.

HE Damage per Minute

Gearing: 240,000
Friesland: 233,333
Akizuki: 192,000
Fletcher: 190,000
Khabarovsk: 182,400
Lo Yang: 138,182
Hsienyang: 138,182
Kleber: 137,143
Tashkent: 136,800
Lightning: 136,000
ZF-6: 108,750
Le Fantasque: 100,000
Shimakaze: 99,962
Z-23 15: 98,507
Kagero: 95,290
Yudachi: 94,853
Udaloi: 91,200
Paolo Emilio: 89,477

With 21mm of HE pen, Shima with her 127mm has access to the typical spread of targets found in her tier spread.

HE Penetration (mm)

Kleber: 23
Gearing: 21
Shimakaze: 21
Khabarovsk: 21

HE Penetration (mm)

ZF-6: 32
Z-23 15cm: 25
Le Fantasque: 23
Kleber: 23
Paolo Emilio: 22
Yudachi: 21
Gearing: 21
Fletcher: 21
Khabarovsk: 21
Tashkent: 21
Udaloi: 21
Lo Yang: 21
Shimakaze: 21
Hsienyang: 21
Kagero: 21
Akizuki: 20
Lightning: 20
Friesland: 20

Shimakaze, with a 7% fire chance, has a better than average fire chance which can allow her to opportunistically take advantage of her comfortable gunnery. Though, Shima is better safely undetected than shelling out a rather sub-par number of shells.

Fire Chance

Kleber: 10
Khabarovsk: 8
Shimakaze: 7
Gearing: 5

I guess you can call 2200 AP Alpha strike average.

AP Alpha

Z-23 15cm: 3700
Paolo Emilio: 3000
ZF-6: 2950
Le Fantasque: 2700
Kleber: 2700
Khabarovsk: 2600
Udaloi: 2600
Tashkent: 2500
Gearing: 2300
Shimakaze: 2200
Yudachi: 2200
Fletcher: 2200
Lo Yang: 2200
Hsienyang: 2200
Kagero: 2200
Lightning: 2200
Friesland: 2100
Akizuki: 1700

Unsurprisingly, Shima has a light AP broadside.

AP Broadside Weight

Kleber: 21,600
Khabarovsk: 20,800
Gearing: 13,800
Shimakaze: 13,200

Furthering that unsurprising-ness of the above, Shima has weak AP DPM.

AP Damage per Minute

Gearing: 276,000
Khabarovsk: 249,000
Kleber: 185,143
Shimakaze: 121,846

Now, Shimakaze mains can take a sigh of relief as we dive into some very ferocious torpedo armament. Both choices are included, as Shimakaze can equip her Type 93 Mod 3 torpedoes with different settings. Mod 1 will refer to the first choice, which represents the shorter-range, faster torpedo with lower alpha strike, and the second choice which is designated Mod 3 represents the longer-range, higher alpha strike torpedo. Which you choose is generally up to the captain, just realize the shorter-range torpedo will have better DPM, but the longer-range torpedo will outrange even those pesky 11.7km Russian Radars.

Torpedo Alpha

Shimakaze: 23,767 (Mod 3)
Paolo Emilio: 23,767
Shimakaze: 21,367 (Mod 1)
Yudachi: 20,967
Kagero: 20,967
Akizuki: 20,967
Khabarovsk: 19,500
Kleber: 18,400
ZF-6: 18,400
Le Fantasque: 18,400
Gearing: 17,900
Hsienyang: 17,000
Fletcher: 16,633
Lightning: 15,533
Udaloi: 15,100
Tashkent: 14,400
Z-23 15cm: 14,400
Lo Yang: 11,600
Friesland: 0

Individually, Shimakaze packs generally the heaviest (or among) punch, and unlike Paolo, is able to fire 3 more torpedoes, and all along either broadside rather than splitting her torpedoes.

Torpedo Range

Gearing: 16.5
Shimakaze: 11 (Mod 3)
Shimakaze: 8 (Mod 1)
Khabarovsk: 6
Kleber: 6

While nowhere near as long ranged as the Gearing, Khaba/Kleber dream of those extra couple Km Shima has. There are merits to either torpedo.

Torpedo Range:

Gearing: 16.5
Shimakaze: 11 (Mod 3)
Kagero: 10
Akizuki: 10
Lightning: 10
Yudachi: 10
Z-23 15cm: 9.5
Fletcher: 9.2
Lo Yang: 9.2
Hsienyang: 9
Le Fantasque: 8.3
Shimakaze: 8 (Mod 1)
Tashkent: 8
Udaloi: 8
ZF-6: 8
Kleber: 6
Paolo Emilio: 6
Khabarovsk: 6
Friesland: 0

This 11km base range is more than adept in terms of range and really ensures a flexible enough playstyle, while encompassing the typical norms of the ship. 8km will sacrifice some minor things but will often offer the same answers to the essential question at hand. Boom.

Torpedo Damage per Minute

Kleber: 172,003
Shimakaze: 146,796 (Mod 1)
Shimakaze: 139,749 (Mod 3)
Khabarovsk: 117,000
Gearing: 77,205

Shimakaze has an absolutely brutal torpedo reload, but despite that, has excellent torpedo alpha strike which bumps up her DPM substantially. Both choices are fairly similar in reload with the edge leaning on the shorter-range torps.

Torpedo Reload Time (s)

Shimakaze: 153 (Mod 3)
Shimakaze: 131 (Mod 1)
Gearing: 136
Khabarovsk: 100
Kleber: 77

1.7km concealment is slightly worse than normal, or even worse with 1.8. When your torps do 80, it doesn't matter as much as commander skills will cut down that reaction time by increasing the torpedoes speed.

Torpedo Concealment (Km)

Khabarovsk: 0.6
Gearing: 1.4
Shimakaze: 1.7 (Mod 3)
Shimakaze: 1.8 (Mod 1)
Kleber: 1.8

The longer-range torpedo has middle of the pack speed, compensated by well above average range and top tier alpha strike. The shorter-range torpedo is brutally fast, especially after commander skills will hover near the 80knot mark.

Torpedo Speed

Shimakaze: 76 (Mod 1)
Kleber: 75
Shimakaze: 67 (Mod 3)
Gearing: 66
Khabarovsk: 58

Reaction time is an important metric, the long-range torpedoes will have an abysmal reaction time, but will sweep anything that can't get out of the way. The faster torpedo is arguably more effective, but lack on the range to deal with some longer-range radar systems.

Torpedo Reaction Time (s)

Khabarovsk: 3.98
Gearing: 8.16
Shimakaze: 9.11 (Mod 1)
Kleber: 9.23
Shimakaze: 12.0 (Mod 3)

Shimakaze has comfortable, but slow gunnery, and the choice of the best torpedoes in the game. After commander skills factor, this is a ship capable of carrying 15 torpedoes that travel 80 knots and reload every 2 minutes with a 4.8km concealment ring, and a 42-knot top speed. In terms of offense, this is a ship which pack in every advantage into her torpedoes and targeting anything unfortunate enough to wander into her torpedoes.

1-2 torpedo will sink or significantly incapacitate any destroyer. (20-40k)
2-3 torpedoes will sink or significantly incapacitate any cruiser. (40-60k)
3-4 torpedoes will sink or significantly incapacitate any battleship. (60-80k)

Some ships have torpedo reduction, and saturation mechanics which factor into how much real damage is accrued. These numbers are factored in a perfect and stock vacuum. Shima carries 15 torpedoes, of which, a single launcher will reliably sink any ship you encounter.

This system works very much strategically (and eerily so) like a tank autoloader, and the damage potential is about the same as a heavy battleship broadside. Yamato's AP broadside is roughly 130k and reloads in roughly 30s. One of Shima's Torpedo Launchers hovers around the 106k (Mod 1) and 123k (Mod 3) yet take 131s and 151s to reload, respectively. (Who really takes the cake here on damage potential per minute, BB Mains?)

Shimakaze players must be careful not to dispense all of their torpedoes at once, otherwise they will face a hefty reload which her extreme damage potential numbers are muted. While yes, the effects can be devastating to the ship caught in her weaponry, an unplanned attack without a proper getaway can be equally devastating for the Shimakaze. While her gunnery can be effective and is quite comfortable to fire, her gunnery just simply is incapable of putting up the HP/DPM values needed to meet the true bar of being an effective hybrid destroyer. However, once dedicated, Shimakaze is inarguably one of the best torpedo destroyers in the game.

Defense:

AVERAGE

Shimakaze relies on concealment, agility, and smoke for defense. Granted, yes, she is very well concealed, she has very average armor for a destroyer coupled with low HP, meaning she will start to feel getting shot at very quickly. This is a ship that is pretty adept at getting away shy of radar or aircraft, and as such she jumps up in defensive rankings, where otherwise she is considered quite weak defensively.

Base HP

Khabarovsk: 22,500
Kleber: 21,900
Gearing: 19,400
Shimakaze: 17,900

With 17,900 base HP Shima has the lowest health pool of any LT DD.

Stock Base HP

Paolo Emilio: 24,400
Khabarovsk: 22,500
Kleber: 21,900
Tashkent: 21,500
Akizuki: 20,400
Z-23: 19,500
Gearing: 19,400
Udaloi: 18,800
Le Fantasque: 18,500
Shimakaze: 17,900
Friesland: 17,600
ZF-6: 17,000
Fletcher: 16,700
Lo Yang: 16,100
Lightning: 15,900
Hsienyang: 15,500
Kagero: 15,100
Yudachi: 13,200

The fun part here, is the 17.9k HP hovers near more hybridized destroyers of a tier lower. Factor in the change of HP/DPM values of T7, and yes, then Shima has the capability to meet the criteria.

Effective Health Pool

Khabarovsk: 28,772
Gearing: 22,600
Kleber: 21,900
Shimakaze: 16,100

However, to get to her nasty concealment values that allow her to pull significant shenanigans. Couple with commander skills like Fragile Threat, and Shimakaze starts to hide easily.

Effective Health Pool

Khabarovsk: 28,772
Tashkent: 27,500
Udaloi: 24,000
Kleber: 21,900
Gearing: 19,400
Shimakaze: 16,100

Coupled in with the other DDs of T7 with a heal, Shimakaze has a pretty weak HP value when all is said and done for her tier. She can kind of hang in gunfights against smaller destroyers, but her primary weaponry is undoubtedly her torpedoes. Firing her guns will often allow Shima's predators to find and hunt her.

Armor Profile

Khabarovsk: 19 plating, 25 deck, 50 cheeks, 50 belt.
Gearing: 19 plating, 21mm belt
Shimakaze: 19
Kleber: 19

Shimakaze has a basic toolkit of answers to dealing with threats that are trying to end her, mainly agility and concealment. She does have access to the standard speed boost and smoke screen to help, however, is still quite vulnerable to radar, sonar and aircraft. Once spotted, there is little to protect Shimakaze from being sunk.

Anti-Air Suite:

Weak

Shimakaze has better AA than her predecessors, but that's really not saying much, and Shima's AA aura really just exists to get you spotted. Like most IJN DDs, Shimakaze is incredibly allergic to Carriers and Aircraft.

Anti-Air Damage per Second

Gearing: 149
Khabarovsk: 130
Kleber: 102
Shimakaze: 72

Anti-Air Damage per Second

Friesland: 286
Akizuki: 158
Gearing: 149
Fletcher: 135
Khabarovsk: 130
ZF-6: 110
Kleber: 102
Tashkent: 86
Udaloi: 84
Lo Yang: 80
Lightning: 79
Hsienyang: 77
Z-23 15cm: 73
Shimakaze: 72
Le Fantasque: 68
Paolo Emilio: 63
Kagero: 36
Yudachi: 11

72/s isn't as awful as some others, but you're just not putting up a crazy amount of AA. Shima can shoot down planes, but she is quite vulnerable to detection, and is quite frail. Often, just being detected by aircraft is enough to get Shimakaze killed without the aircraft even striking.

Anti-Air Range

Khabarovsk: 5.2
Gearing: 5
Shimakaze: 5
Kleber: 4.5

5km AA range is enough to get Shima spotted, without offering any reasonable AA in terms of defense.

Maneuverability:

GOOD

Shimakaze is fairly agile, and she can be quite quick.

Turn Radius (m)

Paolo Emilio: 810
Khabarovsk: 760
Kleber: 740
Akizuki: 730
Tashkent: 730
Le Fantasque: 690
Shimakaze: 690
Z-23: 680
ZF-6: 670
Kagero: 640
Gearing: 640
Friesland: 620
Udaloi: 610
Lightning: 590
Yudachi: 570
Lo Yang: 570
Fletcher: 560

690 is a little on the wide side, but it's not so unbearable that Shima can't work around it. Just know, that if Shima gets into a gun fight with something larger, often this wide turn radius will keep her side exposed long enough to be punished for it.

Rudder Shift (s)

Shimakaze: 3
Gearing: 3.3
Kleber: 4.8
Khabarovsk: 11.1

The nice thing here, is that Shima is very agile in terms of her quick 3s rudder shift.

Base Top Speed

Kleber: 44
Khabarovsk: 43
Shimakaze: 39
Gearing: 36

Base Top Speed

Kleber: 44
Paolo Emilio: 43.5
Khabarovsk: 43
Le Fantasque: 42.7
Tashkent: 42.5
Shimakaze: 39
Udaloi: 38
Lo Yang: 38
Hsienyang: 38
Z-23 15cm: 37
Fletcher: 36.5
Gearing: 36
Lightning: 36
Friesland: 36
Kagero: 35
Yudachi: 35
ZF-6: 35
Akizuki: 33

39 knots is quite strong in the sense of a base speed. Shima is quick enough to outrun most, but should be noted, can be caught by most things designed to out-gun her. Yes, statistically, Shimakaze is GOOD in terms of maneuverability, but will readily be caught and out gunned by larger and faster destroyers.

Concealment:

GREAT

Like most destroyers, concealment is a lifeline. Shimakaze arguably abuses this meta the most of all, owing to commander skills which lower her concealment to sub 5km at the cost of HP.

Stock Concealment (Km)

Khabarovsk: 7.7
Gearing: 7.1
Kleber: 6.9
Shimakaze: 6.7

Stock Concealment (Km)

Khabarovsk: 7.7
Tashkent: 7.6
Udaloi: 7.6
Gearing: 7.1
Paolo Emilio: 7
Fletcher: 7
Hsienyang: 7
Le Fantasque: 6.9
Kleber: 6.9
Lightning: 6.9
Friesland: 6.9
Akizuki: 6.8
Z-23 15cm: 6.8
Shimakaze: 6.7
Lo Yang: 6.6
Kagero: 6.6
ZF-6: 6.5
Yudachi: 6.3

Max Air Concealment (Km)

Khabarovsk: 3.3
Gearing: 3.0
Kleber: 2.7
Shimakaze: 2.6

Fortunately, Shimakaze has great air concealment values.

Max Concealment (Km)

Khabarovsk: 5.7
Gearing: 5.2
Kleber: 5.0
Shimakaze: 4.8

Max Concealment (Km)

Khabarovsk: 5.7
Tashkent: 5.6
Udaloi: 5.6
Friesland: 5.3
Paolo Emilio: 5.2
Gearing: 5.2
Fletcher: 5.2
Lightning: 5.1
Le Fantasque: 5.0
Kleber: 5.0
Hsienyang: 5.0
ZF-6: 4.9
Z-23 15cm: 4.9
Akizuki: 4.9
Lo Yang: 4.9
Shimakaze: 4.8
Kagero: 4.8
Yudachi: 4.7

It's this 4.8km surface concealment value at max with the right skills that allows Shimakaze to nope things out of existence. Without it, Shimakaze is extremely vulnerable.

Consumables:

AVERAGE

Equipped with the standard run of the mill speed boost and smoke screen, Shimakaze is pretty average.

Speed Boost

Kleber: 20% boost, 120s duration. 180s reload x2
Gearing: 8% boost 120s duration. 180s reload x2
Shimakaze: 8% boost 120s duration. 180s reload x2
Khabarovsk: 8% boost 120s duration. 180s reload x2

Smoke Generator

Gearing: 28s duration with 124s dispersion. 240s reload x2
Shimakaze: 20s duration with 89s dispersion. 240s reload x2
Khabarovsk: 20s duration with 89s dispersion. 240s reload x2
Kleber: —

Repair Party

Khabarovsk: 112/s-28s. 80sr x2 (6,272)
Gearing: —
Shimakaze: —
Kleber: —

Main Battery Reload Booster

Gearing: —
Shimakaze: —
Khabarovsk: —
Kleber: -50% to reload,15s duration. 150s reload x1

Hydro-Acoustic Search

Gearing: —
Shimakaze: —
Khabarovsk: —
Kleber: —

Commanders:

GREAT

There are 7 applicable commanders for Shimakaze, ranging in merit from nope-nope-nope, to straight nope, and then onto outright evil. For me, the obvious choices are Raizo Tanaka or Space Fishy paired with max concealment inspirations from Eric Bey and Jersey Swirski. There are some builds here like Abe Hellsinger which skirt the hybrid zone, but still, be wary on the lower end of that magical 19k EHP/135k DPM magic bar. Everyone has a unique torpedo/hybrid build, so I won't name them all but rather how I would build each commander and why.

Tanaka Raizo: Generally, I'm torn between Raizo and Fishy, they are near identical builds with one key difference, one focuses on torpedo speed, and the other, torpedo alpha. Raizo focuses on the punch, and his base inspiration makes the Mod 3 Torpedo the scariest torpedo in the water. Raizo is free, and quite capable for the entire IJN Torpedo (Kagero) Destroyer Line. I'd rank this build almost straight evil, for its ability to hide in plain sight and absolutely decimate anything right next to it.

Hull Crusher: +5% Torpedo Alpha
Subsurface Venture: +4knot Torpedo Speed, -12% Torpedo Reload, +10% Gun Reload
Fragile Threat: -8% Concealment, -10% HP
Torpedo Safari: +16% Torpedo Range, -7% Gun Range
Destroy or be Destroyed: +7% Destroyer Speed, -10% Destroyer Sigma
Unstoppable: -15% Engine Repair Time, Gain reduced mobility with disabled Engine/Rudder

Heihachiro Togo: one of the nope-nope-nope builds. Togo is just out of phase from Shimakaze.

Good Consumer: -5% Consumable Reload
Contact is Imminent: +4 Knot Torpedo Speed
Look at Me Now: -6% Concealment
Velocious: +5% Speed
Steer Clear: -7% Rudder Shift/Repair
Will to Rebuild/Fully Packed: -5% Consumable Reload, +1 Consumables

Kurita Takeo: Takeo hovers more on the hybrid side, though I wouldn't say this build is my favorite, it is more capable than the torpedo focused builds, at a cost of a higher skill floor.

The Quickening: -6% Engine Boost Reload
Observant Rage: -8% Gun Reload, +15% Torpedo Detection, +10% Rudder Shift
Mortar: +10% AP/HE Alpha, +4% Concealment
Perceptive: -5% Incoming Damage, +5% Torpedo Detection, Direction of Closest Enemy
Smoke on the Water: +8% Smoke Deployment and Dispersion
Unstoppable: -15% Engine Repair, Gain reduced mobility with disabled Engine/Rudder

Abe Hellsinger: Abe lives more on the cusp of the hybrid side like Kurita, but absent Unstoppable this commander is a hard pass. NOPE NOPE NOPE. Lacking the cure for Sitting Duck Syndrome is generally regarded as a fatal flaw for the IJN Torpedo Destroyer Line.

Exhaust Fumes: +20% Smoke Screen Radius
Observant Rage: -8% Gun Reload, +15% Torpedo Detection, +10% Rudder Shift
Mortar: +10% AP/HE Alpha, +4% Concealment
Perceptive: -5% Incoming Damage, +5% Torpedo Detection, Direction of Closest Enemy
Destroy or be Destroyed: +7% Destroyer Speed, -10% Destroyer Sigma
Leviathan: +10% HP, -3% Speed

Space Fishy: EVIL. This build is evil. It took the already high evil bar found on Tanaka, slammed it on the ground and threw a worthy temper tantrum in the middle of the store checkout aisle. 84 knot Torpedoes and ridiculous concealment. Plus, Fishy has this weird synergy with his 4th row skill and the torpedo reload, meaning, Shima begins to fly in on a speed boost and run away, just in time for the speed boost and torpedoes to reload in sync next time around. Or forgo it because why not, and then have access to a Shimakaze running around doing 43 knots herself with access to 84 knot torpedoes. The only consolation here is that Shima is armored by discount wholesale tissue paper and has an HP bar smaller than the attention span of the common goldfish.

Space Speed: +4 knot Torpedo Speed
Subsurface Venture: +4 knot Torpedo Speed, -12% Torpedo Reload, +10% Gun Reload
Fragile Threat: -8% Concealment, -10% HP
Torpedo Safari: +16% Torpedo Range, -7% Gun Range
Breakneck Speed: -60% Engine Boost Reload, +2 Engine Boost Charges, -50% Boost Duration
Unstoppable: -15% Engine Repair Time, Gain reduced mobility with disabled Engine/Rudder

Chihaya Gunzo: Gunzo might be the only NOPE on the market today. Why, you ask? because there are builds that are just worse in all the wrong ways while there are builds viler and eviler that become far more appealing. His gimmick rests heavily on firing off a lot of torpedoes, while this is fine and dandy, doesn't quite match up to making them faster or hurt more; in fact, he makes them hurt less.

Hold My Gear: +10% Torpeo Survivability, -10% Torpedo Repair, -2% Torpedo Reload
Subsurface Venture: +4knot Torpedo Speed, -12% Torpedo Reload, +10% Gun Reload
Fragile Threat: -8% Concealment, -10% HP
Torpedo Bundle: -16% Torpedo Reload, -10% Torpedo Alpha
Destroy or be Destroyed: +7% Destroyer Speed, -10% Destroyer Sigma
Unstoppable: -15% Engine Repair Time, Gain reduced mobility with disabled Engine/Rudder

Nobusada Sano: I think the nicest way to put this build is that it's pretty much the Tanaka and Fishy build that lost the aggression dial shortly after purchase. If you want your Shimakaze to do its best Paolo Emilio impression, Nobusada is your guy.

Blur: +2% Destroyer Speed, +2% Incoming Fire Dispersion
Subsurface Venture: +4 knot Torpedo Speed, -12% Torpedo Reload, +10% Gun Reload
Fragile Threat: -8% Concealment, -10% HP
Sprint Master: +8 knot Torpedo Speed, -30% Torpedo Range
Destroy or be Destroyed: +7% Destroyer Speed, -10% Destroyer Sigma
Unstoppable: -15% Engine Repair Time, Gain reduced mobility with disabled Engine/Rudder

Upgrades:

Shimakaze is capable of choosing between her 610mm Type 93 Mod 1 (8km; 21.3k Alpha) or Mod 3 Torpedoes (11km; 23.7k Alpha).

Modifications:

Slot 1: Aiming Systems Mod 1 (-7% Dispersion, +20% Torpedo Tube Traverse)

All around goodness, the obvious choice for most situations.

Slot 2: Propulsion Mod 2 (-50% Acceleration to Full Power)

Shima has a good rudder shift, it's more her wide turn radius that hampers her. Take propulsion mod for the speed jockey maneuver.

Slot 3: Concealment System Mod 1 (-10% Concealment, -5% Incoming Fire Dispersion)

The only choice.

Slot 4: Main Battery Mod 3 (-12% Gun Reload, -13% Gun Traverse)

-15% to torpedo reload is compelling, being turned into a worse Gearing is not. I tend to avoid running Torpedo Reload Mod for the risk of incapacitation, and instead lean on the Gun Reload to help give Shima that extra edge when she does need to fire her gunnery.

Research:

Shimakaze is not currently used in any Research Bureau Projects.

Summary:

GOOD

Shimakaze is good because she's fun. Shy of this, competitively is a ship which will struggle to deter ships focused on hunting and ending her. While Shimakaze is capable of laying alot of damage potential, this damage is easy to mitigate with adequate maneuvering around it and would outright deplete Shimakaze for a while after trying to ensure her targets' demise. A vulnerable Shimakaze is easily preyed upon and is unable to answer most situations without her precious torpedoes.

Granted, this is a ship that has comfortable performance buffers on most of her weapon's systems, the overall ship is quite frail and is prone to losing critical systems. Shimakaze is fun for randoms but will arguably lose out to more capable ships in competitive circuits, as she is more frequently hunted than the hunter, though don't let this deceive you, one missed step will cause 20k HP to vanish at the drop of a hat.

Shimakaze is a reliable rite of passage for most captains entering into the destroyer playbook. She is in essence the embodiment of the torpedo focused strategy, and as such will be frequently found among most seasoned players ports. She is timelessly reliable and prone to successfully ambushing her targets. The stronger the skill of the captain, the more enduring Shimakaze becomes as a force in the battle. Capable like most destroyers in map control, Shimakaze is similarly adept at ending the match for those who are unaware of her lurking in the shadows.

While I can't say she is excellent in the face of so many capable predators in her tier, she is reliably able to catch them off guard too. Shimakaze perhaps, is more so able to bait her own traps and ensnare her own targets with stunning lethality than her contemporaries.