Yutaro Kida, a worker at the Sasebo Naval Arsenal, volunteers for the navy but finds himself a cook's mate in the galley of a gunboat. But his dream is eventually realized when he is transferred to the new and powerful destroyer Yukikaze which he helped to build. When the Pacific War breaks out Yukikaze performs valiantly in the South Pacific, and while on shore leave, Kida meets and falls in love with Yukiko, younger sister of his commander. As the war intensifies, Kida's younger brother Yuji becomes a naval flier and is killed in action. Yukiko dies in an air-raid. The war ends. Yukikaze, miraculously afloat, is transferred as reparations to the Chinese Navy. On the day of departure, her commander, Kida and others assemble at the port and, with tears in their eyes, sadly watch their beloved ship steam away over the horizon.