Japanese gunboat Unyo
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Unyo (Japanese:雲揚), was a Japanese gunboat of the 19th century. She was famously involved in an incident with Korea when she was sounding the waters of the coast of Ganghwa Island. Korea coastal protection forces fired at the ship, to which the Captain of the Unyo, Inoue Yoshika, responded by firing cannons and sending a landing force. The force destroyed Korean positions, before returning to their ship.
The incident led to a diplomatic row between Korea and Japan, with Japan asking for apologies. As these were not forthcoming, on February 1876 Japan sent a force of warships from the nascent Imperial Japanese Navy in a show of force. The result was the Treaty of Ganghwa, which opened Korean to Japanese and foreign trade.
The incident created by the Unyo was apparently an attempt at provoking a Korean reaction, so that Japan could forcely demand concessions, in a parallel to Western colonial policy.
Tonnage: 270t Length: 38.4m Guns: one 16cm forward gun, one 14cm gun.
