Ibuki-class armored cruiser
A postcard of Kurama at anchor, 1913
| |
Class overview | |
---|---|
Name | Ibuki |
Builders | |
Operators | Imperial Japanese Navy |
Preceded by | Tsukuba class |
Succeeded by | Kongō class |
Subclasses | Ibuki |
Built | 1905–1911 |
In service | 1909–1921 |
Completed | 2 |
Scrapped | 2 |
General characteristics (Kurama) | |
Type | Armored cruiser (later reclassified as battlecruiser) |
Displacement |
|
Length | |
Beam | 75 feet 6 inches (23.0 m) |
Draft | 26 feet 1 inch (8.0 m) |
Installed power |
|
Propulsion |
|
Speed | 21.25 knots (39.36 km/h; 24.45 mph) |
Complement | 817 |
Armament |
|
Armor |
The Ibuki class (伊吹型, Ibuki-gata), also called the Kurama class (鞍馬型, Kurama-gata), was a
Both ships played a small role in World War I as they unsuccessfully hunted for the German East Asia Squadron and the commerce-raider SMS Emden and protected troop convoys in the Pacific Ocean shortly after the war began. The ships were sold for scrap in 1923 in accordance with the terms of the Washington Naval Treaty.
Design and description
The Ibuki-class ships were originally ordered during the Russo-Japanese War, on 31 January 1905, as
These ships were given battleship-grade armament to overpower existing armored cruisers and were intended to fight in the battleline with battleships, much as had the two Kasuga-class armored cruisers had done in the Battles of the Yellow Sea and Tsushima during the Russo-Japanese War. While more powerful than existing armored cruisers, the appearance of the British Invincible class in 1908 with their armament of eight 12-inch (305 mm) guns and speed of 25 knots (46 km/h; 29 mph) rendered these ships obsolete before they were commissioned.[2] They were reclassified as battlecruisers in 1912.[3]
The ships had an
Propulsion
Both ships were intended to be powered by vertical
Ibuki was equipped with two turbine sets, each driving one shaft, which developed a total of 24,000 shaft horsepower (18,000 kW), intended to give a maximum speed of 22.5 knots (41.7 km/h; 25.9 mph). They used steam provided by 18 mixed-firing, superheater-equipped Miyabara water-tube boilers, with a working pressure of 17 kg/cm2 (1,667 kPa; 242 psi), that sprayed fuel oil on the coal to increase its burn rate. Performance during Ibuki's initial sea trials on 12 August 1909 was unsatisfactory as she only reached 20.87 knots (38.65 km/h; 24.02 mph) despite the turbines exceeding their power rating with 27,353 shp (20,397 kW). The turbines were subsequently modified and the propellers were changed in an attempt to rectify the problem, but with only limited success. The ship ran her full-power trials again on 23 June 1910 and reached a speed of 21.16 knots (39.19 km/h; 24.35 mph) from 28,977 shp (21,608 kW).[8]
Kurama used the traditional pair of four-cylinder reciprocating steam engines with a power rating of 22,500 indicated horsepower (16,800 kW), 2,000 indicated horsepower (1,500 kW) more than the older ships. She used the same type of boiler as Ibuki and derived the additional power from the addition of four boilers, for a total of 28, which required an additional funnel.[9] The ships carried a maximum of 2,000 long tons (2,032 t) of coal and an additional 215 long tons (218 t) of fuel oil although their range is unknown.[5]
Armament
The Ibuki-class armored cruisers were armed with four 45-
Defense against
Armor
Armor in the Ibuki class was improved compared to the earlier ships. The waterline armor
The primary gun turrets were protected by armor plates 9 inches (229 mm) thick and they had a 1.5-inch (38 mm) roof. The armour for the eight-inch turrets was six inches thick. The main barbettes were protected by seven inches of armour and the secondary barbettes by five inches, although the armor for those thinned to 2 inches (51 mm) behind the upper armor belt. The thickness of the armored decks was two inches throughout the ship. The sides of the forward conning tower were eight inches thick and its communications tube to the main deck was seven inches in thickness.[18]
Ships
Ship | Namesake | Builder[19] | Laid down[19]
|
Launched[19] | Completed[19] | Fate |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Ibuki | Mount Ibuki[20] | Kure Naval Arsenal | 22 May 1907 | 21 November 1907 | 1 November 1909 | Scrapped, 1923 |
Kurama | Mount Kurama[21] | Yokosuka Naval Arsenal | 23 August 1905 | 21 October 1907 | 28 February 1911 |
Construction and service
Construction of both ships was delayed by a lack of facilities at their shipyards, a shortage of appropriately trained workers and their low priority for building. Kurama's lengthy building time at Yokosuka Naval Arsenal was due to priority given to the building of the battleships
Ibuki sailed to Thailand in 1911 to represent Japan during the coronation ceremony of King Rama VI Vajiravudh.[23] When World War I began in August 1914, she was commanded by
Kurama attended the
Notes
- ^ "Cwt" is the abbreviation for hundredweight, 12 cwt referring to the weight of the gun.
Footnotes
- ^ Itani, Lengerer & Rehm-Takahara, p. 60
- ^ Itani, Lengerer & Rehm-Takahara, pp. 55, 60
- ^ a b c d e Preston, p. 194
- ^ Itani, Lengerer & Rehm-Takahara, p. 54
- ^ a b Jentschura, Jung & Mickel, p. 78
- ^ Itani, Lengerer & Rehm-Takahara, p. 57
- ^ Itani, Lengerer & Rehm-Takahara, pp. 73–75
- ^ Itani, Lengerer & Rehm-Takahara, pp. 73, 76, 78
- ^ Itani, Lengerer & Rehm-Takahara, pp. 59, 73, 76
- ^ Itani, Lengerer & Rehm-Takahara, pp. 64, 67, 79
- ^ Friedman, p. 272
- ^ Itani, Lengerer & Rehm-Takahara, pp. 67–68
- ^ Friedman, p. 275
- ^ a b c Itani, Lengerer & Rehm-Takahara, p. 64
- ^ Friedman, p. 278
- ^ Friedman, p. 279
- ^ Itani, Lengerer & Rehm-Takahara, pp. 72–73
- ^ Itani, Lengerer & Rehm-Takahara, pp. 67–68, 72–73
- ^ a b c d Gardiner & Gray, p. 233
- ^ Silverstone, p. 330
- ^ Silverstone, p. 333
- ^ Itani, Lengerer & Rehm-Takahara, pp. 59–60, 79
- ^ Bullard, Steven (2008). "The Heavy Cruiser Ibuki" (PDF). Wartime (41). Australian War Memorial: 31.
- ^ Schencking, p. 132
- ^ Corbett, p. 299
- ^ Hirama, p. 142
- ^ a b Corbett, p. 409
- ^ "Japan Replacement Table". Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States: 1922, Vol. 1. United States Department of State. 6 February 1922. pp. 247–66. Retrieved 31 March 2013.
- ^ a b Gibbs, p. 217
- ^ "Great War Ships Pass in Review". The Washington Herald. 25 June 1911. p. 6. Retrieved 30 March 2013.
- ^ Corbett, p. 290
- ^ Halpern, p. 89
- ^ Sondhaus, p. 110
References
- ISBN 0-89839-256-X.
- Friedman, Norman (2011). Naval Weapons of World War One. Barnsley, South Yorkshire, UK: Seaforth. ISBN 978-1-84832-100-7.
- Gardiner, Robert & Gray, Randal, eds. (1985). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-907-3.
- Gibbs, Jay (2010). "Question 28/43: Japanese Ex-Naval Coast Defense Guns". Warship International. XLVII (3): 217–218. ISSN 0043-0374.
- Hirama, Yoichi (2004). "Japanese Naval Assistance and its Effect on Australian-Japanese Relations". In Phillips Payson O'Brien (ed.). The Anglo-Japanese Alliance, 1902–1922. London and New York: RoutledgeCurzon. pp. 140–58. ISBN 0-415-32611-7.
- Itani, Jiro; Lengerer, Hans & Rehm-Takahara, Tomoko (1992). "Japan's Proto-Battlecruisers: The Tsukuba and Kurama Classes". In Gardiner, Robert (ed.). Warship 1992. London: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-603-5.
- Jentschura, Hansgeorg; Jung, Dieter & Mickel, Peter (1977). Warships of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1869–1945. Annapolis, Maryland: United States Naval Institute. ISBN 0-87021-893-X.
- Lengerer, Hans & Ahlberg, Lars (2019). Capital Ships of the Imperial Japanese Navy 1868–1945: Ironclads, Battleships and Battle Cruisers: An Outline History of Their Design, Construction and Operations. Vol. I: Armourclad Fusō to Kongō Class Battle Cruisers. Zagreb, Croatia: Despot Infinitus. ISBN 978-953-8218-26-2.
- Preston, Antony (1972). Battleships of World War I: An Illustrated Encyclopedia of the Battleships of All Nations 1914–1918. New York: Galahad Books. ISBN 0-88365-300-1.
- Schencking, J. Charles (2004). "Navalism, Naval Expansion and War: The Anglo-Japanese Alliance and the Japanese Navy". In Phillips Payson O'Brien (ed.). The Anglo-Japanese Alliance, 1902–1922. London and New York: RoutledgeCurzon. pp. 122–39. ISBN 0-415-32611-7.
- Silverstone, Paul H. (1984). Directory of the World's Capital Ships. New York: Hippocrene Books. ISBN 0-88254-979-0.
External links
- New Japanese Armoured Cruiser Ibuki Contemporary discussion with specifications, photo & armor plan.
- Media related to Ibuki class battlecruiser at Wikimedia Commons