Japanese cruiser Tsukushi
 Japanese cruiser Tsukushi
| |
| History | |
|---|---|
 Chile | |
| Name | Arturo Prat |
| Builder | Armstrong |
| Laid down | 10 February 1879 |
| Launched | 11 August 1880 |
| Fate | Purchase cancelled, incomplete hull sold to Japan |
 Empire of Japan | |
| Name | Tsukushi |
| Ordered | 1883 Fiscal Year |
| Commissioned | 18 June 1883 |
| Stricken | 26 May 1906 |
| Fate | Scrapped 1910 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | Tsukushi-class cruiser |
| Displacement | 1,350 long tons (1,370 t) |
| Length | 64 m (210 ft) |
| Beam | 9.7 m (31 ft 10 in) |
| Draught | 4.4 m (14 ft 5 in) |
| Propulsion |
|
| Speed | 16.5 knots (19.0 mph; 30.6 km/h) |
| Range | 300 tons coal |
| Complement | 186 |
| Armament |
|
Tsukushi (筑紫) was an early
.Background
The design for Tsukushi was advertised by its designer British
British Admiralty was very skeptical of the idea, and had concerns over the seaworthiness of the design in the North Sea, and did not order any of the design for the Royal Navy. Armstrong turned to overseas clients instead; however, rapid technological advances in ship design and naval artillery (with the advent of large calibre quick-firing guns
) rendered the design with its weak armor and small guns obsolete within a few years.
Design
Tsukushi had an all-steel construction with waterproof bulkheads, a single smokestack, and twin masts, which could also be used for sails. The
10-inch Armstrong cannons, one on the bow and one on the stern, mounted in stationary gun shields. The ship also had four 5.1-inch guns (two to each side), two 57-mm long guns, and one Gatling gun, as well as two torpedo tubes
.
Service record
Tsukushi was laid down as Arturo Prat on 10 February 1879 for the Chilean Navy and launched on 11 August 1880. However, in the middle of construction, the Chilean-Peruvian War ended, and Chile cancelled the order. The Imperial Japanese Navy picked up the contract for the semi-completed vessel. Tsukushi arrived in Japan after its shakedown cruise from England on 16 June 1883.
Tsukushi did not see combat in the
Dairen and Weihaiwei in a reserve capacity in the Western Fleet. It was assigned as a flagship for gunboat squadrons used to support ground troops, and in this capacity led the gunboats Banjō, Maya, and Chōkai up the Taedong River in Korea in September 1894 to provide support for the Battle of Pyongyang. After the war, Tsukushi was designated a first-class gunboat
.
The ship was rearmed in 1898, with its Armstrong cannon replaced by four 120 mm (4.7 in) quick-firing guns, and its lighter weaponry replaced by one 76-mm, and two 27-mm guns, and two machine guns.
During the Japanese concessions
.
During the
Korean Peninsula. It was present as the Battle of Tsushima. Afterwards, Tsukushi was assigned to the Kure Naval District and served as a guard ship at the Port of Kobe
.
After the war, Tsukushi was used briefly as a torpedo training vessel, and was struck from the
navy list
on 25 May 1906. It was scrapped in 1910.
Notes
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Tsukushi (ship, 1880).
- Edward James Reedas her designer (e.g. Conway's... p.233).
References
- Jentschura, Hansgeorg; Jung, Dieter & Mickel, Peter (1977). Warships of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1869–1945. Annapolis, Maryland: United States Naval Institute. ISBN 978-0-87021-893-4.
- Watts, A. J. (1979). "Japan". In Chesneau, Roger & Kolesnik, Eugene M. (eds.). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905. Greenwich: Conway Maritime Press. pp. 216–239. ISBN 0-8317-0302-4.
 Imperial Japanese Navy |
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 Chilean Navy | |
 Imperial Chinese Navy | |
| Cruisers |
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Major Japanese naval combatants of the First Sino-Japanese War  | |
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| Protected cruisers | |
| Armored corvettes | |
| Ironclad warship | |
| Gunboats | |