Japanese ironclad Fusō

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For other ships with the same name, see Japanese ship Fusō.

Fusō as completed
History
Japan
NameFusō (Japanese: 扶桑)
NamesakeClassical name for Japan
Ordered24 September 1875
BuilderSamuda Brothers, Cubitt Town, London
Laid down24 September 1875?
Launched17 April 1877
CompletedJanuary 1878
Reclassified
Coast defense ship
, December 1905
Stricken1 April 1908
FateSold for scrap, 1909
General characteristics (as built)
Type
ironclad
Displacement3,717 long tons (3,777 t)
Length220 ft (67.1 m)
Beam48 ft (14.6 m)
Draft18 ft 5 in (5.6 m)
Installed power
  • 3,500 ihp (2,600 kW)
  • 8 cylindrical
    boilers
Propulsion2 shafts, 2
trunk steam engines
Sail planBarque rigged
Speed13 knots (24 km/h; 15 mph)
Range4,500 nmi (8,300 km; 5,200 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph)
Complement295
Armament
  • 4 × 240 mm (9.4 in) Krupp guns
  • 2 × 17 cm RK L/25 (6.8 in) Krupp guns
  • 4 × long 75 mm (3.0 in) guns
  • 2 × short 75 mm (3.0 in) guns
Armor

Fusō (扶桑) was a

Navy List in 1908 and sold for scrap
the following year.

Background

Tensions between Japan and China heightened after the former launched its

Edward Reed, formerly the Chief Constructor of the Royal Navy. Reed would also supervise the construction of the ships for an honorarium of five percent of the construction cost. The Prime Minister's office approved the revised proposal on 2 May and notified the Japanese consul, Ueno Kagenori, that navy officers would be visiting to negotiate the contract with Reed.[3]

Commander Matsumura Junzō arrived in London on 21 July and gave Reed the specifications for the ships. Reed responded on 3 September with a proposal that exceeded the amount allocated in the budget. Ueno signed the contracts for all three ships on 24 September despite this issue because Reed was scheduled to depart for a trip to Russia and the matter had to be concluded before his departure. Ueno had informed the Navy Ministry about the costs before signing, but Kawamura's response to postpone the order for the armored frigate did not arrive until 8 October. The totals for all three contracts came to £433,850 or ¥2,231,563 and did not include the armament. These were ordered from Krupp with a 50 percent down payment of £24,978. The government struggled to provide the necessary money even though the additional expenses had been approved by the Prime Minister's office on 5 June 1876, especially as more money was necessary to fully equip the ships for sea and to provision them for the delivery voyage to Japan.[4]

Description

The design of Fusō was based on a scaled-down version of

China Station from 1871 to 1875.[5] The ship was 220 feet (67.1 m) long between perpendiculars and had a beam of 48 feet (14.6 m).[6] She had a forward draft of 17 feet 9 inches (5.4 m) and drew 18 feet 5 inches (5.6 m) aft.[7] She displaced 2,248 long tons (2,284 t) and had a crew of 26 officers and 269 enlisted men.[8]

Propulsion

Fusō had a pair of two-cylinder, double-expansion

boilers provided steam to the engine at a working pressure of 4.09 bar (409 kPa; 59 psi). The engines were designed to produce 3,500 indicated horsepower (2,600 kW) to give the ships a speed of 13 knots (24 km/h; 15 mph).[9] During her sea trials on 3 January 1878, she reached a maximum speed of 13.16 knots (24.37 km/h; 15.14 mph) from 3,824 ihp (2,852 kW).[10] The ship carried a maximum of 350 long tons (360 t) of coal,[8] enough to steam 4,500 nautical miles (8,300 km; 5,200 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph).[6] The three-masted ironclad was barque-rigged and had a sail area of 17,000 square feet (1,579 m2).[7] To reduce wind resistance while under sail alone, the funnel was semi-retractable.[11]

The ship was modernized at

forced draught which increased their working pressure to 6.13 bar (613 kPa; 89 psi). The space made available by removal of the boilers was used to increase her coal storage by 36 long tons (37 t).[12]

Armament and armor

Fusō was fitted with four 20-

gun ports that allowed them to act as chase guns, firing fore and aft, as well as on the broadside. The ship also carried four long and two short 75-millimeter (3.0 in) guns, the latter intended for use ashore or mounted on the ship's boats.[13]

The

muzzle. The 132.3-pound (60 kg) 17-centimeter shell had a muzzle velocity of 1,510–1,600 ft/s (460–487 m/s) and could penetrate 10.3–11.4 inches (262–290 mm) of armor. The only data available for the 75-millimeter guns is their muzzle velocities of 1,550 ft/s (473 m/s) and 960 ft/s (292 m/s) for the long and short-barreled guns respectively.[14]

During the 1880s the armament of Fusō was augmented several times. In June 1883 seven quadruple-barreled 25.4-millimeter (1.0 in) Nordenfelt machine guns were added for defense against torpedo boats. Five were positioned on the upper deck and one each in the fighting tops. Three years later two quintuple-barreled 11-millimeter (0.4 in) Nordenfeldt machine guns were mounted in the fighting tops. Slightly earlier, Fusō became the first ship in the IJN to mount 356-millimeter (14.0 in) torpedo tubes for Schwartzkopff torpedoes when two above-water, traversable tubes, one on each broadside, were added in late 1885. She first fired these weapons on 14 January 1886 although further testing revealed that the torpedoes were often damaged by the impact with the water. Upon the recommendation of the prominent French naval architect Louis-Émile Bertin, a "spoon" was added to the ends of the tubes to make the torpedoes strike the water horizontally which better distributed the shock of impact. The modifications were made and successful tests were conducted before the end of the year.[15]

When the ship was being refitted from 1891 to 1894, her anti-torpedo boat armament was reinforced by the replacement of three 25.4-millimeter Nordenfelt guns by a pair of

quick-firing (QF) 12-centimetre (4.7 in) gun was mounted there as the stern chase gun. Another such gun was mounted on the forecastle as the forward chase gun and the two 17-centimeter guns were replaced by another pair of 12-centimeter quick-firers. In addition twelve 3-pounder Hotchkiss guns were added and the 11-millimeter guns were replaced by 25.4-millimeter Nordenfelts. In March 1900 the 12-centimeter chase guns were superseded by two QF 15-centimetre (5.9 in) guns and the former chase guns were shifted to make room for them. The final change to Fusō's armament was made in July 1906 when her obsolete 24-centimeter guns were replaced by two QF 15-centimeter guns and two more 3-pounders were added.[16]

Fusō had a

amidships that tapered to 6.4 inches (162 mm) at the ends of the ship.[8] The sides of the central battery were 9 inches thick and the transverse bulkheads were 8 inches (203 mm) thick.[7][8][Note 1]

Construction and career

Given a

Meiji Emperor and many senior government officials. The ship was then opened for tours by the nobility, their families and invited guests for three days after the ceremony. Beginning on 14 July, the general public was allowed to tour the ship for a week.[21]

Fusō was assigned to the

Sasebo, and Etajima.[22] From November 1891 to July 1894, Fusō was extensively refitted and partially modernized at Yokosuka Naval Arsenal.[11]

Fusō at anchor after her reconstruction

During the Battle of the Yalu River on 17 September 1894, Fusō was assigned to the rear of the Japanese main body and was heavily engaged by the Chinese ships. Although hit many times by 6-inch (152 mm) shells, not one penetrated her armor; of her crew only five were killed and nine wounded.[23] During the battle her crew fired twenty-nine 24 cm, thirty-two 17 cm, one hundred thirty-six 75 mm, one hundred sixty-four 2.5- and 3-pounder shells and over fifteen hundred shells from her machine guns.[24] The ship was present during the Battle of Weihaiwei in January–February 1895,[25] although she did not see any significant combat.[26] On 29 October 1897, Fusō's anchor chain broke during a strong gale off Nagahama, Ehime and she collided with the ram of the protected cruiser Matsushima at 16:30. She then struck Matsushima's sister ship, Itsukushima, and sank at 16:57.[25] Re-classed as a second-class battleship on 21 March 1898 and refloated on 7 July,[25] Fusō was repaired at Kure Naval Arsenal and ran her trials on 8 April 1900.[5]

Fusō served as the

coast defense ship in December 1905, and stricken on 1 April 1908. Relegated to the status of a "miscellaneous service craft", she was assigned to the Yokosuka Harbor Master until she was ordered to be sold on 15 February 1909. Yokosuka reported her sale on 30 November, but provided no information on the date of sale or the name of the winning bidder.[25]

Notes

  1. ^ A number of sources say that the armor of the ship's battery was 8 inches thick and that of the transverse bulkheads was 7 inches (178 mm) thick and even Lengerer himself quotes both sets of figures in different places.[6][17][18]

Footnotes

  1. ^ Lengerer, Pt. I, pp. 40–41
  2. ^ Evans & Peattie, pp. 13–14
  3. ^ Lengerer, Pt. I, pp. 41–42
  4. ^ Lengerer, Pt. I, pp. 43–46
  5. ^ a b c Japanese Ironclads Fuso and Hiei, p. 201
  6. ^ a b c Jentschura, Jung & Mickel, p. 13
  7. ^ a b c Japanese Ironclads Fuso and Hiei, p. 202
  8. ^ a b c d e Lengerer, Pt. III, p. 50
  9. ^ Lengerer, Pt. II, p. 41
  10. ^ Lengerer, Pt. I, p. 48
  11. ^ a b Lengerer, Pt. II, p. 35
  12. ^ Lengerer, Pt. II, pp. 35, 43
  13. ^ Lengerer, Pt. II, pp. 33–34
  14. ^ Lengerer, Pt. II, p. 39
  15. ^ Lengerer, Pt. II, pp. 34–35
  16. ^ Lengerer, Pt. II, pp. 35–38
  17. ^ Bogart, p. 277; Chesneau & Kolesnik, p. 219; Jane, p. 44; Silverstone, p. 308
  18. ^ Lengerer, Pt. II, p. 40
  19. ^ Silverstone, p. 328
  20. ^ Lengerer, Pt. I, pp. 43, 46–47
  21. ^ Lengerer, Pt. I, pp. 49–52
  22. ^ Lengerer, Pt. III, pp. 45–46
  23. ^ Jane, pp. 132, 148
  24. ^ Lengerer, Pt. II, p. 36
  25. ^ a b c d Lengerer, Pt. III, p. 46
  26. ^ Wright, pp. 100–04
  27. ^ Lengerer, Pt. II, pp. 37–38

References

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