Japanese cruiser Niitaka
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 The Japanese cruiser Niitaka in November 1922 |
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| Career |  |
|---|---|
| Builder: | Yokosuka Naval Arsenal, Japan |
| Ordered: | 1897 Fiscal Year |
| Laid down | 7 January 1902 |
| Launched: | 15 November 1902 |
| Completed: | 27 January 1904 |
| Fate: | Wrecked 26 August 1923 |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 3,366 tons |
| Length: | 102 metres (334.6 ft) at waterline |
| Beam: | 13.44 metres (44.1 ft) |
| Draught: | 4.92 metres (16.1 ft) |
| Propulsion: | 2-shaft VTE steam engine; 16 boilers, 9,500 shp (7080 kW) |
| Speed: | 20 knots (37 km/h) |
| Fuel: | 600 tons coal |
| Complement: | 287-320 |
| Armament: |
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| Armor: |
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The IJN Niitaka (新高 防護巡洋艦 Niitaka bōgōjunyōkan?) was the lead ship of the Niitaka class protected cruisers of the Imperial Japanese Navy. It was the sister ship of the IJN Tsushima. The Niitaka is named after Mount Niitaka in Taiwan, at the time, the tallest mountain in the Japanese Empire.
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[edit] Background
The Niitaka-class cruisers were ordered by the Japanese navy under its 2nd Emergency Expansion Program, with a budget driven by the First Sino-Japanese War. These small cruisers were intended for high speed reconnaissance. The Niitaka was built at the Yokosuka Naval Arsenal.
[edit] Service life
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, where it was part of the Japanese 2nd Fleet and participated in combat against the Russian cruiser Askold. It was one of the ships stationed at Makung in the Pescadores Islands to watch for the arrival of the Russian Baltic Fleet, and subsequently participated in the crucial Battle of Tsushima.
After the war, the Niitaka was assigned to patrol duties off the China coast, off Manila and along the northern Korean peninsula.
In World War I, the Niitaka took part in the Battle of Tsingtao, and was later assigned to the Japanese 3rd Fleet based at Singapore, to protect British shipping around Australia and New Zealand from German attack, as part of Japan’s contribution to the Allied War effort under the Anglo-Japanese Alliance. 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 Intervention to help the White Russian forces against the Bolsheviks in the Russian Civil War.
On 1 September 1921, the Niitaka was re-designated as 2nd Class Coastal Defense Vessel, and was assigned to patrols of the coasts of southern China and the northern edges of the Dutch East Indies.
On 26 August 1922, the Niitaka 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. It was formally written off the Navy list on 1 April 1924.
[edit] Gallery
 IJN Niitaka at Sasebo in 1918 |
[edit] References
- Evans, David. Kaigun: Strategy, Tactics, and Technology in the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1887-1941. US Naval Institute Press (1979). ISBN 0870211927
- Howarth, Stephen. The Fighting Ships of the Rising Sun: The Drama of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1895-1945. Atheneum; (1983) ISBN 0689114028
- Jane, Fred T. The Imperial Japanese Navy. Thacker, Spink & Co (1904) ASIN: B00085LCZ4
- Jentsura, Hansgeorg. Warships of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1869-1945. Naval Institute Press (1976). ISBN 087021893X
- Schencking, J. Charles. Making Waves: Politics, Propaganda, And The Emergence Of The Imperial Japanese Navy, 1868-1922. Stanford University Press (2005). ISBN 0804749779
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