Katsuragi-class corvette

Katsuragi in 1897
Class overview
Name	Katsuragi class
Operators	Imperial Japanese Navy
Built	1883–1888
In commission	1887–1935
Completed	3
Lost	0
Scrapped	1
General characteristics
Type	Steam corvette
Displacement	1,500 t (1,476 long tons)
Length	62.78 m (206 ft 0 in)
Beam	10.7 m (35 ft 1 in)
Draft	4.6 m (15 ft 1 in)
Installed power	1,622 ihp (1,210 kW)
Propulsion	1 × horizontally mounted reciprocating steam engine 6 boilers, 2 × screws
Sail plan	Barque-rigged sloop (3 × masts)
Speed	13 kn (24 km/h; 15 mph)
Capacity	132 t (146 short tons) coal
Complement	231
Armament	2 × 170 mm (6.7 in) Krupp breech-loading guns 5 × 120 mm (4.7 in) Krupp breech-loading guns 1 × 80 mm (3.1 in) Krupp QF gun 4 × quadruple 1-inch Nordenfelt guns 2 × 380 mm (15 in) torpedo tubes

The Katsuragi class (葛城型スループ, Katsuragi-gata suru-pu) was a three-ship class of composite hulled, sail-and-steam corvettes of the early Imperial Japanese Navy.^[1]

Design and description

The Katsuragi vessels were designed as iron-ribbed, wooden-hulled, three-masted

wood. The Katsuragi-class ships had an overall length of 61.37 metres (201.3 ft), a beam of 10.76 metres (35.3 ft), and a normal draught of 4.65 metres (15.3 ft). They displaced 1,502 long tons (1,526 t) at normal load.^[2] The crew numbered about 231 officers and enlisted men.^[2]

Propulsion was by a coal-fired double-expansion reciprocating

The Katsuragi-class ships were armed with two Krupp 170 mm (6.7 in) Krupp breech-loading guns, five 120 mm (4.7 in) Krupp breech-loading guns, one 80 mm (3.1 in) Krupp QF gun, four quadruple 1-inch Nordenfelt guns and 380 mm (15 in) torpedo tubes. A major improvement over previous Japanese corvette designs was the use of recessed gun ports, which allowed the two forward guns to fire on a forward arc instead of only on a broadside.^[2]

The design for the Katsuragi-class ships was by British-educated Japanese

). In late 1900, the ships were extensively refitted, during which time their sail rigging was removed, and armament changed to eight QF 2.5 pdr guns and six quadruple

Japanese home islands

.

In 1907, the armament was changed again, this time to four 3-inch and two 2.5-inch guns, and the ships were reclassified as

.

Ships

Ship	Builder	Laid down	Launched	Completed	Fate
Katsuragi	Yokosuka Naval Arsenal, Japan	18 August 1883 [3]	31 March 1885[3]	4 November 1887[3]	Broken up, 4 November 1913
Yamato	Onohama Shipyards, Kobe	23 November 1883[3]	1 May 1885[3]	16 November 1887[3]	decommissioned 1 April 1935 sank in typhoon 18 September 1945
Musashi	Yokosuka Naval Arsenal, Japan	1 October 1884 [3]	30 March 1886[3]	9 February 1888[3]	Decommissioned 1 April 1928 Broken up, 4 November 1913

Notes

References

• 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
  .
• 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
  .

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sloops-of-war of Japan.

• Nishida, Hiroshi. "Materials of IJN". Imperial Japanese Navy. Retrieved 14 February 2020.