Japanese cruiser Suzuya (1904)

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Career Japanese Navy Ensign
Built: Schichau shipyards, Danzig, Germany
Ordered: 1898
Laid down August 1900
Launched: 1901
Completed: to Japan as prize of war 1904
Fate: Scrapped, 1 April 1913
General characteristics
Displacement: 3.080 tons
Length: 110.0 meters at waterline
Beam: 12.2 meters
Draught: 5.0 meters
Propulsion: 1-shaft reciprocating; 12 boilers; 18,000 hp (13,400 kW)
Speed: 19 knots (35 km/h)
Fuel: 500 tons coal
5,000 nautical miles (9,000 km) @ 10 knots (19 km/h); 500 nmi (930 km) at 20 knots (37 km/h)
Complement: 340
Armament:
  • 6 × 120 mm guns
  • 8 x 47 mm guns
  • 2 x 37 mm guns
  • 5 x 450 mm torpedoes
Armor:
  • 50 mm deck armor;
  • 28 mm conning tower

The IJN Suzuya (鈴谷 通報艦 Suzuya tsūhōkan?) was a protected cruiser in the Imperial Japanese Navy, acquired as a prize of war during the Russo-Japanese War from the Imperial Russian Navy, where it was originally known as the Novik.

[edit] Background

The Novik was originally built for the Imperial Russian Navy as the Novik, by Schichau shipyards in Elbing near Danzig, Germany. It performed heroically in various engagements in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905, and was captured by the Japanese Navy after being scuttled at Sakhalin after the Battle of the Yellow Sea.

[edit] Service life

For record of the RUS Novik prior to being captured by Japan, see Russian cruiser Novik (1900).

The Japanese navy had been impressed with the speed of the Novik, and despite the considerably damage inflicted upon the vessel by its combat with the Tsushima and Chitose (and the damage created by its own crew it scuttling the vessel), the wreck of the Novik was salvaged and repaired at the Yokosuka Arsenal, and commissioned it into the Imperial Japanese Navy as the 2nd class cruiser Suzuya on 20 August 1906. Its new name came from the Suzuya River in Karafuto, near where the Novik was captured.

With its light armaments and armor, the Suzuya served primarily for high speed reconnaissance and as a dispatch vessel; however, due to its battle damage and fewer boilers, the repaired vessel could only attain a maximum speed of 19 knots (35 km/h), as opposed to 25 knots (46 km/h) in its original configuration. Furthermore, the development of wireless communications quickly made such dispatch vessels obsolete. The Suzuya was re-classified as a 2nd class Coastal Defense Vessel on 28 August 1912, and was declared obsolete and scrapped on 1 April 1913.

The protected cruiser Suzuya should not be confused with the much larger Pacific War era heavy cruiser Suzuya.

Wreck of the Novik at Korsakov Bay, Sakhalin prior to salvage by the Japanese
Wreck of the Novik at Korsakov Bay, Sakhalin prior to salvage by the Japanese
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Imperial Japanese Navy

[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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