Japanese cruiser Niitaka
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 The Japanese cruiser Niitaka in November 1922 |
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| Career |  |
|---|---|
| Built: | Yokosuka Naval Yards, Japan |
| Ordered: | 1897 Fiscal Year |
| Laid down | January 7 1902 |
| Launched: | November 15 1902 |
| Completed: | January 27 1904 |
| Fate: | Wrecked April 1 1923 |
| General Characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 3,366 tons |
| Length: | 102.0 meters at waterline |
| Beam: | 13.44 meters |
| Draught: | 4.92 meters |
| Propulsion: | 2-shaft, 16 boilers, 9500 HP |
| Speed: | 20 knots |
| Fuel: | 600 tons coal |
| Complement: | 320 |
| Armament: |
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| Armor: |
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The Niitaka (新高) was an protected cruiser of the Imperial Japanese Navy, designed and built in Japan by the Yokosuka Naval Yards. It was the sister ship of the Tsushima. The Niitaka is named after Mount Niitaka in Taiwan, at the time, the tallest mountain in the Japanese Empire.
The Niitaka was commissioned just in time for the Russo-Japanese War and saw combat at the Battle of Chemulpo Bay and the Battle of the Yellow Sea. After the war, it was assigned to patrol duties off of the China coast, off of Manila and along the northern Korean peninsula. In WW-1, it took part in the Battle of Tsingtao, and was later based at Singapore, to protect British shipping around Australia and New Zealand from German attack. While at Singapore in February 1915, 158 marines from the cruisers Otowa and Niitaka helped suppress a mutiny by Indian Sepoys.
From mid-1915 to 1918, Tsushima and the Niitaka were permanently based at the Cape of Good Hope, assist the Royal Navy in patrolling the sea lanes in the Indian Ocean, linking Europe to the east.
From September – July 1920, the Niitaka assisted in the landings of Japanese forces in Petropavlovsk under the Siberian Expedition to help the White Russian forces against the Bolsheviks.
On 01 September 1921, the Niitaka was re-designated as 2nd Class Coastal Defense Vessel. On 01 April 1924, she ran aground and sank in a typhoon off the coast of Karafuto, with the loss of 284 members of her crew. There were only 15 survivors.
Imperial Japanese Navy  |
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