Japanese battleship Asahi
Asahi at anchor about 1906
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Class overview | |
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Operators | Imperial Japanese Navy |
Preceded by | Shikishima class |
Succeeded by | Mikasa |
Built | 1897–1900 |
In commission | 1900–1942 |
Completed | 1 |
Lost | 1 |
History | |
Name | Asahi |
Namesake | A stanza of waka |
Ordered | 1897 Naval Programme |
Builder | John Brown & Company, Clydebank |
Laid down | 1 August 1898 |
Launched | 13 March 1899 |
Commissioned | 28 April 1900 |
Reclassified |
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Stricken | 15 June 1942 |
Fate | Torpedoed and sunk by USS Salmon, 25/26 May 1942 |
General characteristics (as built) | |
Type | Pre-dreadnought battleship |
Displacement | 15,200 long tons (15,400 t) (normal) |
Length | 425 ft 3 in (129.6 m) |
Beam | 75 ft (22.9 m) |
Draught | 27 ft 3 in (8.3 m) |
Installed power |
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Propulsion | 2 shafts, 2 triple-expansion steam engines |
Speed | 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph) |
Range | 9,000 nmi (17,000 km; 10,000 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph) |
Complement | 773 |
Armament |
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Armour |
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Asahi (朝日, Morning Sun) was a
Reclassified as a
Background
Combat experience in the
Design and description
Asahi's design was a modified version of the Formidable-class battleships of the Royal Navy, with two additional 6-inch (152 mm) guns.[5] The ship had an overall length of 425 feet 3 inches (129.6 m), a beam of 75 feet (22.9 m), and a normal draught of 27 feet 3 inches (8.3 m). She displaced 15,200 long tons (15,400 t) at normal load.[6] Asahi had a complete double bottom with 55 watertight compartments. Her hull was also subdivided into 223 watertight compartments. She was fitted as a flagship and her crew numbered about 773 officers and enlisted men, including the admiral's staff.[7]
The ship was powered by two
Asahi's
The ship's
The
Asahi, like all the other Japanese battleships of the time, was fitted with four
Construction and career
Asahi, meaning "rising sun", a poetic name for Japan from a stanza of
At the start of the Russo-Japanese War, Asahi, commanded by
The ship participated in the action of 13 April, when Tōgō successfully lured out a portion of the Pacific Squadron, including
During the Battle of the Yellow Sea on 10 August, Asahi, now commanded by Captain Tsunaakira Nomoto, was second in line of the column of Japanese battleships, behind Mikasa, and was one of the primary targets of the Russian ships. She was only hit by a single 12-inch shell that wounded two crewmen. Both guns in her aft 12-inch gun turret, however, were disabled by shells that detonated prematurely in their barrels. In turn she concentrated most of her fire upon the battleships
Battle of Tsushima
At the Battle of Tsushima on 27 May 1905, Asahi again followed the battleship Mikasa into combat, this time against the Second and Third Pacific Squadrons. Mikasa opened fire at the battleship Knyaz Suvorov, the Russian flagship, at 14:10, and was joined by Asahi and the armoured cruiser Azuma shortly afterwards. Within an hour the Japanese ships had started a serious fire aboard the Russian ship, badly wounded the fleet commander, Vice Admiral Zinovy Rozhestvensky, knocked out her rear 12-inch gun turret, and jammed Knyaz Suvorov's steering so that she fell out of formation. The Russian ships were concentrating their fire on Mikasa during the early part of the battle and Asahi was not damaged during this time. Tōgō was able to cross the T of the Russian squadrons. Knyaz Suvorov's steering was later repaired, but she blundered between the Japanese and Russian fleets several times later in the battle and was heavily damaged. Asahi seems to have mostly engaged the battleships Borodino and Oryol in the late stages of the battle, although Fuji fired the shots that caused the Borodino's magazines to explode and sink her. Asahi fired more twelve-inch shells, 142, than any other ship during the battle. In total, the ship was hit six times during the battle, but none of them damaged her significantly.[26] Asahi lost 1 officer and 6 men, 5 men seriously wounded, 1 officer and 18 men lightly wounded.[27] In total, the Japanese only lost 110 men killed and 590 wounded to all causes during the battle. The battle was a total Japanese victory with four Russian battleships captured and incorporated into the IJN.[28]
Captain W. C. Pakenham, the Royal Navy's official military observer under the Anglo-Japanese Alliance, took notes of the battle's progress from a deck chair on Asahi's exposed quarterdeck. His report confirmed the superiority of Japanese training and tactics and publicized the victory in the West.[3]
Later career
In 1908, Asahi was part of the Japanese fleet that escorted the American
The navy decided to convert Asahi into a submarine salvage ship and she began the first stage of her conversion with the installation of specialized salvage equipment from February to August 1925.[4] From 1926 to October 1927, the ship's 25 Belleville boilers were replaced with four Kanpon Type RO boilers at Kure Naval Arsenal. One of her two funnels was also removed,[3] and two large lifting frames were installed[6] as part of the second stage of her conversion. The ship conducted experiments in submarine rescue using the old German submarine 0-1 (ex-U-125). In May 1928, Asahi was fitted with a 62-foot-4-inch (19 m) compressed-air aircraft catapult on her forecastle and successfully launched an E2N1 Type 15 seaplane. After repeated accidents, the catapult was replaced by one powered by gunpowder. On the completion of testing in 1928, Asahi was placed in reserve.[3]
Reclassified as a repair ship on 16 August 1937,
From 13 March 1942, Asahi was stationed at Singapore, and in April her crew performed repairs on the light cruiser
Notes
- ^ "Cwt" is the abbreviation for hundredweight, 12 cwt referring to the weight of the gun.
- ^ 敷島の やまと心を 人問わば 朝日ににほう 山ざくら花 Shikishima-no Yamatogokoro-wo Hito-Towaba Asahi-ni-niwou Yamazakurabana by Motoori Norinaga.
- ^ Now Mũi Dinh 11°22′0″N 109°1′0″E / 11.36667°N 109.01667°E, Vietnam
Footnotes
- ^ Evans & Peattie, pp. 15, 57–60
- ^ Brook, p. 125
- ^ a b c d e f g h Hackett & Kingsepp
- ^ a b c d e f g h Lengerer 2008, p. 30
- ^ a b Preston, p. 189
- ^ a b c d e f Jentschura, Jung & Mickel, p. 18
- ^ Lengerer 2009, pp. 26, 52
- ^ Lengerer 2008, pp. 22, 24, 26
- ^ a b c Lengerer 2008, p. 27
- ^ Lengerer 2009, p. 50
- ^ Brook, p. 126
- ^ Lengerer 2009, p. 26
- ^ Friedman, pp. 270–71
- ^ Friedman, pp. 275–76
- ^ Chesneau & Kolesnik, p. 222
- ^ Friedman, p. 114
- ^ Lengerer 2009, p. 28
- ^ Friedman, pp. 118–19
- ^ a b Campbell, p. 47
- ^ Lengerer 2009, p. 25
- ^ Forczyk, p. 28
- ^ Silverstone, p. 326
- ^ Forczyk, pp. 24, 41–44
- ^ Forczyk, pp. 45–46
- ^ Forczyk, pp. 48–53
- ^ Campbell, pp. 128–35, 260, 262
- ^ "Battle of the Sea of Japan as seen from Battleship Asahi" page 105 Imperial Japanese Navy Records, 1905 (in Japanese) https://dl.ndl.go.jp/info:ndljp/pid/774142/97?tocOpened=1
- ^ Warner & Warner, p. 519
- ^ Head, p. 58
- ^ Hackett, Sander & Cundall
References
- Brook, Peter (1999). Warships for Export: Armstrong Warships 1867–1927. Gravesend, Kent, UK: World Ship Society. ISBN 0-905617-89-4.
- Campbell, N.J.M. (1978). "The Battle of Tsu-Shima". In ISBN 0-87021-976-6.
- Chesneau, Roger & Kolesnik, Eugene M., eds. (1979). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905. Greenwich, UK: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-8317-0302-4.
- Evans, David & Peattie, Mark R. (1997). Kaigun: Strategy, Tactics, and Technology in the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1887–1941. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-192-7.
- Forczyk, Robert (2009). Russian Battleship vs Japanese Battleship, Yellow Sea 1904–05. Oxford, UK: Osprey. ISBN 978-1-84603-330-8.
- ISBN 978-1-84832-100-7.
- Hackett, Bob & Kingsepp, Sander (2010). "IJN Repair Ship Asahi: Tabular Record of Movement". Kido Butai. Combinedfleet.com. Retrieved 2 August 2012.
- Hackett, Bob; Kingsepp, Sander & Cundall, Peter (2013). "IJN Subchaser CH-9: Tabular Record of Movement". Kusentei!. Combinedfleet.com. Retrieved 10 November 2013.
- Head, Michael (2019). "Siberia". Warship International. LVI (1): 55–74. ISSN 0043-0374.
- 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 (September 2008). Ahlberg, Lars (ed.). "Japanese Battleships and Battlecruisers – Part II". Contributions to the History of Imperial Japanese Warships (Paper V): 6–32.(subscription required)(contact the editor at [email protected] for subscription information)
- Lengerer, Hans (March 2009). Ahlberg, Lars (ed.). "Japanese Battleships and Battlecruisers – Part III". Contributions to the History of Imperial Japanese Warships (Paper VI): 7–55.
- 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.
- Silverstone, Paul H. (1984). Directory of the World's Capital Ships. New York: Hippocrene Books. ISBN 0-88254-979-0.
- Warner, Denis & Warner, Peggy (2002). The Tide at Sunrise: A History of the Russo-Japanese War, 1904–1905 (2nd ed.). London: Frank Cass. ISBN 0-7146-5256-3.