Japanese battleship Tango

Career
Russian battleship Poltava, which later became the Japanese battleship Tango
Builder:	New Admiralty Shipyards, Saint Petersburg, Russia
Laid down:	1 May 1892
Launched:	6 November 1894
Commissioned:	1898 (Russia): 22 August 1905 (Japan)
Fate:	Returned to Russia 4 April 1916
Struck:	1922
General Characteristics
Displacement:	10,960 tons (normal); 11,400 tons (max)
Length:	111.9 meters
Beam:	21.0 meters
Draught:	7.8 meters
Propulsion:	Three Shaft Reciprocating Vertical Triple Expansion (VTE) Engines; 30 boilers, 14,500 shp
Fuel:	2056 tons coal; Range: 10,000 nm @ 10 knots
Speed:	18 knots
Complement:	668
Armament:	4 × 305 mm guns, 10 × 152 mm guns, 16 × 80 mm guns, 4 × 450 mm torpedos
Armor:	belt 100-230mm; deck 60mm; gun mount 127mm; casemate 127mm; turret 150-250mm; conning tower 100-150mm

IJN Tango (丹後) was one of eight Russian pre-dreadnought battleships captured by the Imperial Japanese Navy during the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905. It was built as the Russian Petropavlovsk Class battleship Poltava, and was commissioned into the Imperial Russian Navy in 1898. It was one of three ships in its class: its sister ships Petropavlovsk and Sevastopol were both sunk during the Russo-Japanese War.

[edit] History

The Poltava fought in the Battle of the Yellow Sea, but failed to escape and was scuttled during the Siege of Port Arthur. Salvaged after the war in October 1905, she was refloated, repaired, and taken into service as the Tango, taking her name from the ancient Japanese province of Tango, now a part of Kyoto-fu.

On 28 August 1912, the Tango was re-classified as a 1st class Coastal Defense Vessel.

During World War I, Japan and Russia became allies, and the Tango was returned to the Russian navy on 4 April 1916, where she was renamed the Chesma, and transferred to the Arctic. Captured by the British during the Allied invasion of northern Russia during the Russian Civil War and damaged beyond repair, she was scrapped in 1923.