Japanese corvette Musashi

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Japanese armed sloop Musashi
Career IJN Ensign
Builder: Yokosuka Naval Arsenal, Japan
Ordered: 1883 Fiscal Year
Laid down: 1 October 1884
Launched: 30 March 1886
Commissioned: 9 February 1887
Fate: Retired 1 April 1928; Scrapped 1935
General characteristics
Displacement: 1476 tons
Length: 62.78 meters overall
Beam: 10.7 meters
Draft: 4.6 meters
Propulsion: One Shaft Reciprocating Engine; 6 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 Musashi (武蔵 (スループ) Masashi surūpu?) was the third and final vessel in the Katsuragi class of three wooden armed sloops in the early Imperial Japanese Navy. It was named for Musashi province, a former province of Japan located in the Kantō region. The name was used again for the more famous World War II battleship Musashi,

[edit] History

Although described by the rather ambiguous terms “gunboat” or “corvette”, Musashi 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.

Musashi saw service in the First Sino-Japanese War, patrolling between Korea, Dairen and Weihaiwei, from its based at the Korean port of Chemulpo. It was assigned to the Western Fleet.

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

During the Russo-Japanese War, Musashi served as a guard ship in Hakodate harbor. It was reclassified as a second class coastal patrol vessel after the war, but was used primarily for training duties. It was reclassified as a survey ship in 1922, and retired on 1 April 1928. It was broken up for scrap in 1935.

[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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