Japanese corvette Katsuragi

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Japanese armed sloop Katsuragi
Career IJN Ensign
Builder: Yokosuka Naval Arsenal, Japan
Ordered: 1882 Fiscal Year
Laid down: 18 August 1883
Launched: 31 March 1885
Commissioned: 4 November 1887
Fate: Scrapped 11 April 1913
General characteristics
Displacement: 1476 tons
Length: 62.78 meters overall
Beam: 10.7 meters
Draft: 4.6 meters
Propulsion: Two Shaft, Horizontally-mounted Reciprocating Engine; 4 boilers; 1622 shp
Speed: 13 knots
Fuel & Range: 145 tons coal
Complement: 231
Armament:
  • 2 × 170 mm guns (6.7" Krupp breech-loading)
  • 5 x 120 mm guns
  • 1 x 80 mm gun
  • 4 x 25 mm quadruple Nordenfeld guns
  • 2 x 380 mm torpedoes

IJN Katsuragi (葛城 (スループ) Katsuragi suru-pu?) was the lead ship in the Katsuragi class of three wooden armed sloops in the early Imperial Japanese Navy. It was named for Mount Katsuragi located between Osaka and Nara prefectures. The name was used again for the World War II aircraft carrier Katsuragi,

[edit] History

Although described by the rather ambiguous terms “gunboat” or “corvette”, Katsuragi was designed as a three-masted bark-rigged sloop-of-war. Its basic design was based on experience gained in building Kaimon and the Hiei class sloops, but was already somewhat obsolescent in comparison to contemporary European warships when completed.

Katsuragi saw combat service in the First Sino-Japanese War, patrolling between Korea, Dairen and Weihaiwei. It was also at the Battle of Yalu River (1894) in a reserve capacity in the Western Fleet.

After the war, Katsuragi was designated a third-class gunboat, and was used for coastal survey and patrol duties.

On 6 October 1900, Katsuragi ran aground off of Izu Ōshima island. It took over a month to refloat her, after which she underwent extensive repairs at Yokosuka.

During the Russo-Japanese War, Katsuragi served as a guard ship in Nagasaki harbor. It was reclassified as a second class coastal patrol vessel after the war, and was retired and scrapped in 1911.

[edit] References

  • Chesneau, Roger and Eugene M. Kolesnik (editors), All The World's Fighting Ships 1860-1905, Conway Maritime Press, 1979 reprinted 2002, ISBN 0-85177-133-5
  • Jentsura, Hansgeorg. Warships of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1869-1945. Naval Institute Press (1976). ISBN 087021893X

[edit] External links

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