Japanese battleship Kawachi

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Japanese battleship Kawachi (1910)

Career

Builder:

Yokosuka Naval Yards, Japan

Plan:

1907 Fiscal Year

Laid down:

1 April 1909

Launched:

15 Oct 1910

Completed:

31 March 1912

Stricken:

2 Sept 1918

Fate:

Sunk by magazine explosion, 12 July 1918

General Characteristics

Displacement:

20,823 tons (normal)

Length:

160.6 meters

Beam:

25.6 meters

Draught:

28.2 meters

Propulsion:

Two shaft Curtiss turbine engines; Miyabara 16 boilers, 25,000 hp (19 MW)

Speed:

20 knots (37 km/h)

Fuel:

2300 tons coal; 400 tons oil

Complement:

986

Armament:

• 4 × 305 mm / 50 cal guns
• 8 × 305 mm / 45 cal guns
• 10 × 152 mm guns
• 8 × 120 mm guns
• 4 × 80 mm guns
• 5 × 450 mm torpedo tubes

Armor:

• belt:	102–300 mm
• turret:	280 mm
• conning tower:	150 mm
• deck:	30 mm

The Kawachi (河内) was a dreadnought type battleship of the Imperial Japanese Navy. She was built in Yokosuka and launched in 1910.

The name Kawachi comes from Kawachi Province, now a part of Osaka prefecture. The Kawachi had a sister ship, the Settsu, which had a clipper bow as opposed to the straight bow of the Kawachi.

The Kawachi was a modified version of the IJN Aki initially designed with six dual 12 inch / 50 caliber guns, but completed as a "semi-dreadnought" with a mixed main battery of 12" / 50 caliber and 12" / 45 caliber guns due to worldwide shortages of 12" / 50 caliber guns. Construction was also delayed by a severe world economic depression. The 12 inch guns were acquired from Great Britain, but the 25.000shp Brown-Curtis turbine engines were built under license by Kawasaki.

The Kawachi participated WW-1, patrolling the sea lanes south of Japan, in the South China Sea and the Yellow Sea, and assisting at the Battle of Tsingtao.

The Kawachi was sunk by an explosion caused by spontaneous ignition of instable cordite in its ammunition magazine on 12 July 1918, in Tokuyama Bay, with the loss of 621 officers and crew out of a complement of 1059 men. Stricken on 2 September 1918, its hulk was later salvaged and scrapped.