Japanese battleship Sagami

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ex-Russian battleship Peresviet, which later became the Japanese battleship Sagami
Career Japanese Navy Ensign
Builder: Baltic Yards Saint Petersburg, Russia
Laid down: November 21, 1895
Launched: May 19, 1898
Commissioned: June 1901 (Russia): December 12, 1905 (Japan)
Fate: Returned to Russia April 4, 1916
Struck: Mined off Port Said, Egypt on January 4, 1917
General characteristics
Displacement: 12,674 tons (normal); 13,500 tons (max)
Length: 129.2 meters @ waterline
Beam: 21.8 meters
Draught: 8.3 meters
Propulsion: Three Shaft Reciprocating Vertical Triple Expansion (VTE) Engines; 30 boilers, 14,500 shp
Fuel: 2,056 tons coal;
Range: 10,000 nm @ 10 knots
Speed: 18 knots
Complement: 783
Armament: *4 × 254 mm guns
  • 10 × 152 mm guns
  • 16 × 80 mm guns
  • 4 × 450 mm torpedoes
Armor: belt 100-230mm; deck 60mm; gun mount 127mm; casemate 127mm; turret 150-250mm; conning tower 100-150mm

IJN Sagami (相模) 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 lead ship of the Peresviet class of battleships, with a design inspired by the British battleship HMS Centurion (1892). They were designed as essentially enlarged armoured cruisers, with good range and sea keeping, higher speed but weaker armour and armament then contemporary first class battleships. The Peresviet was one of three ships in its class: its sister ship Oslyabya was lost at the Battle of Tsushima, and Pobieda at Port Arthur.

The Peresviet fought in the Battle of the Yellow Sea but failed to escape and was subsequently sunk at her moorings in Port Arthur harbor by Japanese siege guns. Salvaged after the war in October 1905, she was refloated, repaired, and taken into service as the Sagami, taking her name from the ancient Japanese province of Sagami, now a part of Kanagawa prefecture.

On August 28, 1912, the Sagami was re-classified as a First class Coastal Defense Vessel.

During World War I, Japan and Russia became allies, and the Sagami was returned to the Russian navy on April 4, 1916, where she resumed her former name of Peresviet. She was due to be the flagship of the Russian Arctic flotilla but was sunk on route by mines laid by German submarine U-73 outside Port Said, Egypt on January 4, 1917.

[edit] References

  • Gibbons, Tony: The Complete Encyclopedia of Battleships and Battlecruisers
  • Burt, R.A.: Japanese Battleships, 1897–1945