Asama-class cruiser

Asama in 1900
Class overview
Name	Asama class
Builders	Armstrong Whitworth, United Kingdom
Operators	Imperial Japanese Navy
Preceded by	None
Succeeded by	Izumo class
Built	1897–1899
In commission	1899–1945
Completed	2
Scrapped	2
General characteristics
Type	Armored cruiser
Displacement	9,514–9,557 long tons (9,667–9,710 t)
Length	442 ft 0 in (134.72 m) (o/a)
Beam	67 ft 2 in (20.48 m)
Draft	24 ft 3 in – 24 ft 5 in (7.4–7.43 m)
Installed power	18,000 ihp (13,000 kW) 12 Cylindrical boilerss
Propulsion	2 Shafts 2 triple-expansion steam engines
Speed	21 knots (39 km/h; 24 mph)
Range	10,000 nmi (19,000 km; 12,000 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph)
Complement	676
Armament	2 × twin 20.3 cm/45 Type 41 naval guns 14 × single QF 6 inch /40 naval guns 12 × single QF 12 pounder 12 cwt naval guns 8 × single QF 3 pounder Hotchkiss guns 5 × single 457 mm (18.0 in) torpedo tubes
Armor	Waterline belt: 89–178 mm (3.5–7.0 in) Deck: 51 mm (2.0 in) Gun Turret : 160 mm (6.3 in) Barbette: 152 mm (6.0 in) Casemate: 51–152 mm (2.0–6.0 in) Conning tower: 356 mm (14.0 in) Bulkhead: 127 mm (5.0 in)

The Asama-class cruisers (浅間型装甲巡洋艦, Asama-gata sōkōjun'yōkan) were a pair of

Asama continued to make training cruises until she ran aground again in 1935, after which she became a stationary

The 1896 Naval Expansion Plan was made after the First Sino-Japanese War of 1894–95 and included four armored cruisers in addition to four more battleships, all of which had to be ordered from foreign shipyards as Japan lacked the capability to build them itself. Further consideration of the Russian building program caused the IJN to believe that the battleships ordered under the original plan would not be sufficient to counter the Imperial Russian Navy. Budgetary limitations prevented ordering more battleships and the IJN decided to expand the number of more affordable armored cruisers to be ordered from four to six ships. The revised plan is commonly known as the "Six-Six Fleet".^[1] These ships were purchased using the £30,000,000 indemnity paid by China after losing the First Sino-Japanese War.^[2] Unlike most of their contemporaries which were designed for commerce raiding or to defend colonies and trade routes, these cruisers was intended as fleet scouts and to be employed in the battleline.^[3]

In June 1896, Sir Andrew Noble, then in Japan, telegraphed Armstrong Whitworth to lay down two stock cruisers. Work then began on a preliminary design based on an improved version of the earlier Chilean cruiser O'Higgins. Several iterations of the design were made before the IJN approved the final design on 21 August. This was over 1,000 long tons (1,016 t) larger, more heavily armed, and slightly faster the Chilean armored cruiser.^[4] The first ship of the class was laid down in October although the Japanese did not order the ships until 6 July 1897.^[5]

Description

The ships were 442 feet 0 inches (134.72 m) long

The

All of the "Six-Six Fleet" armored cruisers used the same armor scheme with some minor differences, with the Asama class using Harvey armor. The waterline belt ran the full length of the ships and its thickness varied from 7.0 inches (178 mm) amidships to 3.5 inches (89 mm) at the bow and stern. The thickest part of the belt covered the middle of the ship for a length of 284 feet 2 inches (86.62 m). It had a height of 7 feet 0 inches (2.13 m), of which 4 feet 11 inches to 5 feet 0 inches (1.51 to 1.52 m) was normally underwater. The upper strake of belt armor was 5.0 inches (127 mm) thick and extended from the upper edge of the waterline belt to the main deck. It extended 214 feet 8 inches (65.42 m) from the forward to the rear barbette. The Asama-class ships had a single transverse 5-inch armored bulkhead that closed off the forward end of the central armored citadel.^[15]

The barbettes, gun turrets and the front of the casemates were all 6 inches thick while the sides and rear of the casemates were protected by 51 millimeters (2.0 in) of armor.

Before the start of the Russo-Japanese War in 1904, Tokiwa supported Japanese forces during the

In early March Tokiwa was reassigned to the 3rd Division and Asama joined her shortly afterwards.[22] They participated in the action of 13 April when Tōgō successfully lured out two battleships of the Russian Pacific Squadron. During this action, the sisters engaged the Russian cruisers that preceded the battleships before falling back on Tōgō's battleships.^[23] When the Russians spotted the five battleships of the 1st Division, they turned back for Port Arthur and the battleship Petropavlovsk struck a minefield laid by the Japanese the previous night. The ship sank in less than two minutes after one of her magazines exploded.^[24]

Tokiwa rejoined the 2nd Division a few days later and the division was tasked to contain the Russian armored cruisers based at Vladivostok. It failed to do so until 13 August^[25] when the latter tried to rendezvous with the ships that attempted to breakout from Port Arthur. Unbeknownst to the Russians, Tōgō had defeated the ships from Port Arthur during the Battle of the Yellow Sea on 10 August and the Russian squadron from Vladivostok was intercepted off Ulsan, Korea by the 2nd Division. The steering of the Russian cruiser Rurik was damaged early in the battle and the Russians made several attempts to prevent the Japanese from concentrating fire on her, but were ultimately forced to abandon her to her fate. Kamimura left Rurik to the tender ministrations of his reinforcements and pursued the two remaining Russian ships for a time before breaking off pursuit prematurely based on an incorrect report that his flagship had expended most of her ammunition. Tokiwa only suffered three men wounded during the battle.^[26]

In the meantime, Asama remained on blockade duty off Port Arthur and participated in a minor way in the Battle of the Yellow Sea. She was coaling when the Pacific Squadron sortied and took some time to intercept the Russian ships. The battle was almost over by then and the ship only engaged them for the last hour or so of the battle.^[27] After the battle, the sisters were refitted and assigned to different units, escorting troop convoys to northern Korea and blockading the Tsugaru Strait until the Russian ships from the Baltic Fleet approached Japan in mid-1905.^[28]

Battle of Tsushima

The Russian 2nd and 3rd Pacific Squadrons were spotted on the morning on 27 May 1905 and Tōgō ordered his ships to put to sea. Asama and Tokiwa were assigned to the 2nd Division in anticipation of this battle and Kamimura's ships confirmed the initial spotting later that morning before joining Tōgō's battleships. Together with most of the Japanese battleships, the division opened fire at 14:10 on the Russian battleship Oslyabya. Shortly afterwards, Asama was damaged by a shell that knocked out her steering that forced her to fall out of formation. Around 15:35, the Russian battleship Knyaz Suvorov suddenly appeared out of the mist at short range. Kamimura's ships engaged her for five minutes before she disappeared back into the mists. Asama rejoined the division at 15:50, but further hits caused serious flooding that again caused her to fall out of formation about 20 minutes later. She finally caught up to the division at 17:05. Shortly afterwards, Kamimura led his division in a fruitless pursuit of some of the Russian cruisers around 17:30. He abandoned his chase around 18:03 and encountered the Russian battleline about a half-hour later. He stayed at long range and his ships fired when practicable before ceasing fire at 19:30.^[29]

The surviving Russian ships were spotted the next morning and the Japanese ships opened fire and stayed beyond the range at which the Russian ships could effectively reply. Rear Admiral

While entering Puerto San Bartolomé in Baja California in early 1915, Asama struck an uncharted rock and was badly damaged. It took months to refloat her and to make her partially seaworthy. The ship was given temporary repairs at the British naval base at Esquimalt, British Columbia, before arriving back in Japan in December^[35] where permanent repairs were not completed until March 1917.^[32] Asama was assigned to the Training Squadron later that year and made another cadet training cruise in 1918.^[36]

Tokiwa supported Japanese forces during the

Asama made a training cruise in 1921^[36] before her armament was modified in 1922. All of her main deck guns, six 6-inch and four 12-pounder guns, were removed and their casemates plated over. In addition all of her QF 2.5-pounder guns were removed and a single 8 cm/40 3rd Year Type AA gun was added.^[40] After the refit, she resumed her training cruises, generally at two-year intervals, until she ran aground in 1935. The damage to her bottom was severe enough that the IJN decided make her a stationary training ship in 1938.^[41]

Tokiwa's

Makin Raid.^[42]

The ship returned home in 1943 and began to lay defensive minefields in 1944. She was moderately damaged by a mine in April 1945 and struck an American mine two months later. By this time, her armament had been augmented with approximately ten 25 mm Type 96 AA guns in single mounts and 80

Type 3, Mark 1, Model 3 and Type 2, Mark 2, Model 1 air search radars.^[46] While in northern Japan a few days before the end of the war, Tokiwa was severely damaged by American carrier aircraft and had to be beached by her crew lest she sink.^[42]

Asama was reclassified as a training ship in 1942 and became a gunnery training ship later that year. She was disarmed at some point during the war, only retaining several 8 cm/40 3rd Year Type anti-aircraft guns.[47] The ship survived the war intact and she and Tokiwa were stricken from the navy list in November 1945. Asama was scrapped in 1946–47 while Tokiwa was refloated in 1947 and scrapped that same year.^[42][48]

Notes

1. ^ "Cwt" is the abbreviation for hundredweight, 12 cwt referring to the weight of the gun.

Footnotes

1. ^ Evans & Peattie, pp. 57–62
2. ^ Brook 1999, p. 125
3. ^ Milanovich, p. 72
4. ^ Brook 1999, pp. 107–09
5. ^ ^{a b} Milanovich, p. 73
6. ^ Milanovich, pp. 74, 80
7. ^ ^{a b c d} Jentschura, Jung & Mickel, p. 72
8. ^ Milanovich, p. 81
9. ^ ^{a b c d e f} Brook 1999, p. 109
10. ^ Milanovich, pp. 76–77
11. ^ ^{a b} Milanovich, p. 78
12. ^ Friedman, p. 276; Milanovich, p. 78
13. ^ Friedman, p. 114
14. ^ ^{a b} Milanovich, p. 80
15. ^ Milanovich, pp. 80–81
16. ^ ^{a b c} Chesneau & Kolesnik, p. 225
17. ^ Brook 1999, p. 107
18. ^ Dix, p. 307
19. ^ Kowner, p. 465
20. ^ Warner & Warner, pp. 188–95
21. ^ Forczyk, pp. 42–43
22. ^ Corbett, I, pp. 127, 142
23. ^ Warner & Warner, pp. 236–38
24. ^ Forczyk, pp. 45–46
25. ^ Corbett, I, pp. 188–89, 191–96, 283–89, 319–25, 337–51
26. ^ Brook 2000, pp. 43, 45
27. ^ Corbett, I, pp. 389, 397–98, 417
28. ^ Corbett 1994, II, pp. 47, 52, 97, 104, 153, 159–60, 176–77, 217
29. ^ Campbell 1978, Part 2, pp. 128–32; Part 3, pp. 186–87
30. ^ Corbett 1994, II, pp. 319–20
31. ^ ^{a b} Campbell 1978, Part 4, p. 263
32. ^ ^{a b} Brook, p. 110
33. ^ Watts & Gordon, p. 109
34. ^ Corbett, II, pp. 356, 363–65, 377–80
35. ^ ^{a b} Estes
36. ^ ^{a b} Lacroix & Wells, p. 657
37. ^ Burdick, pp. 235, 241
38. ^ Saxon
39. ^ Campbell 1985, pp. 197–98
40. ^ Jentschura, Jung & Mickel, p. 73
41. ^ Lacroix & Wells, pp. 657–59
42. ^ ^{a b c d} Hacket & Kingsepp
43. ^ Chesneau, p. 207
44. ^ Campbell 1985, p. 200
45. ^ Rohwer, p. 123
46. ^ Fukui, p. 13
47. ^ Fukui, p. 53
48. ^ Lacroix & Wells, p. 659

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