Japanese cruiser Naniwa
Naniwa in 1887
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History | |
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Empire of Japan | |
Name | Naniwa |
Namesake | Naniwa-ku, Osaka |
Ordered | 1883 Fiscal Year |
Builder | Armstrong Mitchell, South Tyneside |
Laid down | 27 March 1884 |
Launched | 18 March 1885 |
Completed | 15 February 1886 |
Stricken | 5 August 1912 |
Fate | Wrecked, 26 June 1912, and sold for scrap, 26 June 1913 |
General characteristics (as built) | |
Class and type | Naniwa-class protected cruiser |
Displacement | 3,727 long tons (3,787 t) |
Length | 320 ft (97.5 m) ( o/a ) |
Beam | 46 ft (14 m) |
Draught | 20 ft 3 in (6.2 m) ( full load ) |
Installed power |
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Propulsion | 2 shafts; 2 compound-expansion steam engines |
Speed | 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph) |
Range | 9,000 nmi (17,000 km; 10,000 mi) at 13 knots (24 km/h; 15 mph) |
Complement | 338 |
Armament |
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Armour |
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Naniwa (浪速) was the
After the war the ship was relegated to auxiliary roles and served as a
Design and description
The Naniwa-class cruisers were designed by
The
Naniwa's armament frequently changed over her career and the first such was the replacement of her slow-firing 15-centimeter guns with Armstrong's
The protection of the Esmeralda had been much criticized by the
Construction and career
Naniwa was ordered from Armstrong Mitchell on 22 March 1884 as Japan lacked the ability to build the Naniwa-class ships itself.
Naniwa arrived at
After taking part in the April 1890 Great Maneuvers with the
First Sino-Japanese War
During the
After the Japanese ships arrived at Kunsan, Tsuboi's First Flying Squadron with Naniwa, and the protected cruisers Akitsushima and Yoshino, was detached from the Combined Fleet to rendezvous at
Battle of Pungdo
On the morning of 25 July, the protected cruiser
At about 08:30 Jiyuan passed Kowshing, but the Chinese cruiser did not inform Kowshing of the battle and Kowshing's crew misidentified the cruiser as a Japanese vesel. Tōgō ordered the British ship to heave to at 09:15 and
Two days after the battle, Naniwa and the gunboat
Battle of the Yalu River
The Flying Squadron led the rest of the Combined Fleet northwest on 16 September to investigate the anchorage at Haiyang Island. Finding it empty the following morning, Itō ordered his ships to head northeast and search the area around the Yalu River estuary. At 11:23 lookouts aboard Yoshino spotted the Chinese ships some 21.5 nmi (39.8 km; 24.7 mi) away. Knowing that his ships were faster than the Chinese ones, Itō intended to cross the T of the Beiyang Fleet and then concentrate his fire on the weakly protected ships of the Chinese right wing.[23]
Ding's ships had been caught by surprise, but were able to
Subsequent activities
Ding's surviving ships were able to disengage in the growing darkness and they steered to Port Arthur for repairs. Itō believed that the Chinese ships would head for Weihaiwei and briefly searched that area the following morning before returning to the Yalu where the wreck of the Yangwei was destroyed. The Combined Fleet then returned to Kunsan to recoal. Itō sent Naniwa and Akitsushima on a reconnaissance mission to Port Arthur (modern
After the battle, the Combined Fleet escorted troop convoys through the Korea Bay to Chinese territory at the base of the Liaodong Peninsula and supported the IJA's advance down the length of the peninsula towards Port Arthur. This allowed the Beiyang Fleet to sail from Port Arthur to Weihei in early November without being detected. Itō sent Takachiho and Yoshino to see if the Chinese ships were still at Port Arthur on 8 November and only located them at Weihaiwei a week later. The Combined Fleet cruised off the Chinese port on 16–17 November, but Ding was under orders to refuse battle, and the Japanese ships departed to begin the blockade of Port Arthur in support of the IJA's impending successful assault on the port.[27]
The Japanese landed troops near Weihaiwei in January 1895 and gradually encircled the city. Itō was unwilling to commit his lightly armored ships to attacks on the formidable fortifications defending the port as he had to be prepared to defeat the Chinese ships if they attempted to break through the blockade.[28] Successful night attacks by his torpedo boats in early February sank or damaged the larger ships and the morale of the Chinese crews continued to decline. Ding failed to make his own nocturnal torpedo attacks against the blockaders, but the Chinese torpedo boats sortied on the morning of 7 February and unsuccessfully attempted to escape by steaming west along the coast towards Zhifu. Pursued by the First Flying Squadron, all of them were either destroyed or captured. It is unclear whether Ding ordered them to breakout or if they deserted before the Chinese surrender on 12 February.[29][30] Tōgō was promoted to rear admiral and became commander of the First Flying Squadron four days later[31] and Captain Kataoka Shichirō replaced him as the captain of Naniwa.[32]
The Japanese wanted to take the
Naniwa returned to Japan on 20 October and was reduced to reserve on 10 November. She received a lengthy refit and modernization in 1896. The ship made a training cruiser to the new Republic of Hawaii from 20 April – 26 September 1897. Naniwa was reclassified as a second-class cruiser on 21 March 1898 and saluted Rear Admiral Prince Heinrich of Prussia, commander of the German East Asia Squadron on 29 June 1899 in Yokohama. During the Boxer Rebellion, the cruiser was being rearmed in early 1900 and then patrolled the Yellow Sea from December 1900 to May 1901.[25][35]
Russo-Japanese War
On 28 December 1903, Naniwa and Takachiho were assigned to the Fourth Division of Vice Admiral
Chiyoda rendezvoused with Uryū's ships on the morning of 8 February and reported that the Russian protected cruiser
After the battle, the Fourth Division was tasked to protect the Korean coast between Chemulpo and Asan and to cover the movement of IJA reinforcements through the former port. On 10 March the division ineffectually bombarded what the Japanese believed to be a naval mine control station on an island near Port Arthur. The following month, raids by the Russian cruisers based in Vladivostok under the command of Rear Admiral Karl Jessen caused Tōgō to task Kamimura with the defense of the Sea of Japan and the Tsushima Strait, for which task he was reinforced with the Fourth Division. At the end of April Kamimura took his ships to lay minefields off Vladivostok.[39] Uryū attempted to intercept the Russian cruiser squadron after it sank three transports on 15 June, but could not locate them in stormy weather. During another raid by the Russians at the end of the month, Kamimura's ships spotted the enemy ships, but lost contact with them after nightfall.[40]
Battle off Ulsan
The Russian
Naniwa arrived around 06:00 and Takachiho an hour after that, but Uryū kept his lightly armored ships away from the more heavily armored Russian cruisers until Jessen had abandoned the badly damaged armored cruiser Rurik around 08:30. The sisters opened fire at 08:42 at a range of 7,100 yards (6,500 m) and continued until 10:05 when Uryū ordered them to cease fire after they had expended over 650 six-inch shells between them. The senior surviving Russian officer ordered Rurik scuttled shortly afterwards and the Japanese ships began rescuing survivors. Each of the sisters had been hit once during the battle [42] and Naniwa's crew had lost two dead and four injured crewmen.[43]
Battle of Tsushima
On 21 May 1905 Naniwa was still the flagship of Uryū's Fourth Division. Tōgō tasked the division with attacking the Russian cruisers and other smaller ships trailing the battleships once the battle began. Accordingly Uryū opened fire on the protected cruisers Oleg and Aurora and the elderly armored cruisers Vladimir Monomakh and Dmitrii Donskoi around 14:45 on 27 May at ranges between 6,600–7,100 yards (6,000–6,500 m) in poor visibility. About 17:00 Naniwa was struck by a large shell that caused some flooding which forced her out of formation to make repairs. She was able to rejoin the Fourth Division later that day and ceased firing at 18:50.[44][45]
The following morning the Combined Fleet was widely dispersed with the Fourth Division trailing Tōgō's main body by 30 nmi (56 km; 35 mi). At 05:20 the Fifth Division, some 60 nmi (110 km; 69 mi) south of Tōgō, reported spotting the bulk of the Russian survivors and Uryū was ordered was ordered to maintain contact with them at 06:00, although he had just relayed the Fifth Division's report. The Fourth Division then turned east-southeast on what Uryū estimated to be an interception course. About an hour later, Uryū's ships encountered the crippled protected cruiser
Final years and loss
Naniwa was assigned to the Second Fleet in March–November 1906 and cruised off the coasts of China and Korea. The ship was transferred to the South China Fleet in May 1907 and was relieved of that assignment on 23 June 1908. The sisters participated in that year's Grand Maneuvers in October and Naniwa was reduced to reserve the following year. The cruiser served as a survey and fisheries protection ship in the North Pacific in March–October 1911. She resumed those duties on 1 April 1912, but struck a
Notes
- ^ Milanovich 2004, p. 34.
- ^ Jentschura, Jung & Mickel 1977, p. 95.
- ^ Evans & Peattie 1997, p. 15.
- ^ a b c d e Brook 1999, p. 58.
- ^ Milanovich 2004, p. 37.
- ^ Milanovich 2004, p. 51.
- ^ Milanovich 2004, pp. 34, 39–41, 44.
- ^ Milanovich 2004, p. 44.
- ^ Milanovich 2004, p. 39.
- ^ a b Milanovich 2004, p. 36.
- ^ Milanovich 2004, pp. 46–47.
- ^ Milanovich 2004, p. 47.
- ^ Todaka 2020, p. 228.
- ^ Milanovich 2004, pp. 47–48.
- ^ Duus 2005, p. 82.
- ^ Wright 2000, p. 86.
- ^ Olender 2014, pp. 58–63.
- ^ Olender 2014, p. 63.
- ^ Wright 2000, p. 88.
- ^ Olender 2014, pp. 70–72, 74.
- ^ Olender 2014, p. 66, fn4.
- ^ Olender 2014, pp. 63, 81, 83–86, 93.
- ^ Olender 2014, pp. 93, 100–101.
- ^ Wright 2000, pp. 90–91.
- ^ a b Milanovich 2004, p. 49.
- ^ Olender 2014, p. 115.
- ^ Olender 2014, pp. 123–131, 133–134, 146–147.
- ^ Olender 2014, pp. 169–170.
- ^ Wright 2000, pp. 100–104.
- ^ Lengerer 2017, p. 36.
- ^ Olender 2014, p. 213.
- ^ Dupuy 1992, p. 392.
- ^ Lengerer 2017, pp. 39–40.
- ^ Olender 2014, pp. 213–214, 218.
- ^ Todaka 2020, p. 229.
- ^ Corbett 2015a, pp. 76–77.
- ^ Corbett 2015a, pp. 85, 109.
- ^ Corbett 2015a, pp. 111–118.
- ^ Corbett 2015a, pp. 126–127, 142, 150–151, 189, 195–196.
- ^ Corbett 2015a, pp. 285–290, 320–325.
- ^ Corbett 2015a, pp. 432–435.
- ^ Corbett 2015a, pp. 443–445, 448.
- ^ Brook 2000, p. 45.
- ^ Corbett 2015b, pp. 217, 274–276, 279.
- ^ Milanovich 2004, pp. 49–50.
- ^ Corbett 2015b, pp. 313–315, 317–325, 328–329.
- ^ Wright 1976, p. 144.
- ^ Corbett 2015b, pp. 329–330, 338, 341, 354.
- ^ a b Milanovich 2004, p. 50.
- ^ Jentschura, Jung & Mickel 1977, p. 96.
References
- Brook, Peter (2000). "Armoured Cruiser vs. Armoured Cruiser: Ulsan 14 August 1904". In ISBN 0-85177-791-0.
- Brook, Peter (1999). Warships for Export: Armstrong Warships 1867-1927. Gravesend: World Ship Society. ISBN 0-905617-89-4.
- Corbett, Julian S. (2015a) [1914]. Maritime Operations in the Russo-Japanese War, 1904–1905. Vol. 1. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1-59114-197-6.
- Corbett, Julian S. (2015b) [1915]. Maritime Operations in the Russo-Japanese War, 1904–1905. Vol. 2. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1-59114-198-3.
- ISBN 1-85043-569-3.
- Duus, Masayo (2005). The Japanese Conspiracy: The Oahu Sugar Strike of 1920. Berkeley, California: University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-20485-9.
- Evans, David C. & ISBN 0-87021-192-7.
- 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 (March 2017). Ahlberg, Lars (ed.). "Naval Operations in the Sino-Japanese War – Part III: Weihaiwei and the End of the War". Contributions to the History of Imperial Japanese Warships (Paper XIV): 28–44.(subscription required)(contact the editor at [email protected] for subscription information)
- Milanovich, Kathrin (2004). "Naniwa and Takachiho: Elswick-built Protected Cruisers of the Imperial Japanese Navy". In ISBN 0-85177-948-4.
- Olender, Piotr (2014). Sino-Japanese War 1894–1895. Maritime Series. Vol. 3105. Sandomierz, Poland: Stratus. ISBN 978-83-63678-30-2.
- Todaka, Kazushige, ed. (2020). Cruisers: Selected Photos from the Archives of the Kure Maritime Museum; the Best from the Collection of Shizuo Fukui's Photos of Japanese Warships. Japanese Naval Warship Photo Album. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1-59114-635-3.
- Wright, Christopher C. (1976). "Imperial Russian Cruisers, Part 3". Warship International. XIII (2): 123–147. ISSN 0043-0374.
- Wright, Richard N. J. (2000). The Chinese Steam Navy 1862–1945. London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 1-86176-144-9.