Japanese cruiser Tsushima
![]() Tsushima in 1905
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History | |
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Name | Tsushima |
Ordered | Fiscal Year of 1897 |
Builder | Kure Naval Arsenal |
Laid down | 1 October 1901 |
Launched | 15 December 1902 |
Completed | 14 February 1904 |
Stricken | 1936 |
Fate | Expended as a torpedo target, 1944 |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | Niitaka-class cruiser |
Displacement | 3,366 long tons (3,420 t) |
Length | 102 m (334 ft 8 in) w/l |
Beam | 13.44 m (44 ft 1 in) |
Draft | 4.92 m (16 ft 2 in) |
Installed power | 9,500 kW ) |
Propulsion |
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Speed | 20 kn (23 mph; 37 km/h) |
Complement | 287–320 |
Armament |
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Armor |
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Tsushima (対馬) was a
Background
The Niitaka-class cruisers were ordered by the Imperial Japanese Navy under its 2nd Emergency Expansion Program, with a budget partly funded by the
Design
In terms of design, Tsushima was very conservative in layout and similar to, but somewhat larger than the earlier Japanese-designed
In terms of armament, it is noteworthy that Tsushima was not equipped with
The Niitaka-class cruisers were fitted with 16
Service history
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c2/Japanese_cruiser_Tsushima_1904.jpg/220px-Japanese_cruiser_Tsushima_1904.jpg)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c9/Japanese_cruiser_Tsushima_in_1905.jpg/220px-Japanese_cruiser_Tsushima_in_1905.jpg)
Russo-Japanese War
Tsushima was commissioned during the middle of the
On 15 August, Tsushima and Chitose pursued the Russian cruiser Novik, which she fought at the Battle of Korsakov.[4] During the duel, Tsushima scored 14 hits on Novik, but was holes under her waterline by a shot from Novik and was forced to stop for repairs. She did, however, assist in the rescue of Russian sailors off Novik after the battle. At the crucial final Battle of Tsushima on 27 May 1905, Tsushima was part of the Japanese squadron attacking the Russian cruisers Oleg, Aurora and Zhemchug as well as the already heavily damaged battleship Knyaz Suvorov.[4] Tsushima took six hits during the engagement, which killed four crewmen and a senior officer. On 28 May 1905, Tsushima took part in the final combat of the battle against the cruiser Dmitrii Donskoi.
After the war, Tsushima was assigned patrol duties off of the China coast.
World War I
At the start of World War I, Tsushima was initially assigned to patrol of the sea lanes between Borneo and Timor against German commerce raiders as part of Japan's contribution to the Allied war effort under the Anglo-Japanese Alliance. However, she was reassigned to the First Southern Expeditionary Squadron based in Fiji from December 1914 to protect British shipping around Australia and New Zealand from German commerce raiders and U-boats. The First Southern Expeditionary Squadron also consisted of the battlecruiser Kurama, two destroyers, and later the cruisers Chikuma, Yahagi and Ikoma. Together with the Japanese-American Expeditionary Squadron (which included the cruisers Izumo and Asama, and the battleship Hizen), she engaged in the pursuit of the Imperial German Navy Admiral Graf Maximilian von Spee's German East Asia Squadron.[5]
During the February 1915 Singapore Mutiny by Indian Sepoy troops against the British in Singapore, the Japanese government helped suppress the uprising by sending 158 marines from the cruisers Otowa, Niitaka and Tsushima.
From mid-1915 to 1918, Tsushima and her sister ship Niitaka were permanently based at the Cape Town, assisting the Royal Navy in patrolling the sea lanes linking Europe to the east.[5]
Post-war career
After the end of World War I, Tsushima was part of the Japanese fleet participating in the
On 1 September 1921, Tsushima was re-designated a 2nd class
Tsushima was partially disarmed in 1930 and was used as a training vessel. She was struck from the
Notes
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)
References
- David C. Evans; Mark R. Peattie (1997). Kaigun: Strategy, Tactics, and Technology in the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1887–1941. Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-0-87021-192-8.
- Chesneau, Roger (1979). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905. Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-133-5.
- Howarth, Stephen (1983). The Fighting Ships of the Rising Sun: The Drama of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1895–1945. Atheneum. ISBN 0-689-11402-8.
- Jane, Fred T. (1904). The Imperial Japanese Navy. Thacker, Spink & Co.
- Jentsura, Hansgeorg (1976). Warships of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1869–1945. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-893-X.
- Mauch, Peter (2011). Sailor Diplomat: Nomura Kichisaburo and the Japanese-American War. Harvard University Asia Center. ISBN 978-0-674-05599-5.
- Roberts, John (ed). (1983). 'Warships of the world from 1860 to 1905 - Volume 2: United States, Japan and Russia. Bernard & Graefe Verlag, Koblenz. ISBN 3-7637-5403-2.
- Schencking, J. Charles (2005). Making Waves: Politics, Propaganda, And The Emergence Of The Imperial Japanese Navy, 1868–1922. Stanford University Press. ISBN 0-8047-4977-9.
- Tucker, Spencer C (2005). Encyclopedia of World War I: A Political, Social, And Military History. ABC-Clio Inc. ISBN 1-85109-420-2.
- Warner, Dennis & Peggy (1974). The Tide at Sunrise; A History of the Russo-Japanese War, 1904–1905. Charterhouse. ISBN 0-7146-8234-9.
- Watts, Anthony; Gordon, Brian (1971). The Imperial Japanese Navy. Macdonald. ISBN 0356030458.