Japanese cruiser Tsugaru

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IJN Tsugaru in 1918
Career Japanese Navy Ensign
Builder: Admiralty Shipyard, Russia
Ordered: 1895 Fiscal Year
Laid down 1 December 1895
Launched: 26 August 1899
Completed: 2 November 1901;
prize of war to Japan 22 August 1908.
Fate: Scuttled 27 May 1924
General characteristics
Displacement: 6,731 tons (normal), 6,932 tons (max)
Length: 126.0 meters at waterline
Beam: 16.8 meters
Draught: 6.4 meters
Propulsion: 2-shaft reciprocating VTE; 24 boilers; 11,610 HP
Speed: 20 knots
Range: 3,700 nautical miles @ 10 knots
Complement: 514
Armament:
  • 8 × 152 mm guns
  • 12 × 80 mm guns
  • 3 x 45 mm torpedoes
Armor:
  • 50-62 mm deck armor;
  • 150 mm conning tower

The IJN Tsugaru (津軽 防護巡洋艦 Tsugaru bōgōjunyōkan?) was an protected cruiser of 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 Pallada. The cruisers Aurora and Diana were its sister ships.

Contents

[edit] Background

The Pallada was built by the Admiralty Shipyard in St Petersburg, Russia for the Imperial Russian Navy. As the lead ship of the Pallada class, it was one of the most modern cruisers in the Russian navy when assigned to the Russian Far East squadron based at Port Arthur, Manchuria.

With the start of the Russo-Japanese War in 1904, the Pallada was trapped at Port Arthur, and subsequently sunk by Japanese artillery during the Siege of Port Arthur on 8 December 1904.

[edit] Service record

For record of the RUS Pallada prior to being captured by Japan, see Russian cruiser Pallada (1899).

After the capture of Port Arthur by the Japanese, the wreck of the Pallada was raised, repaired, and commissioned it into the Imperial Japanese Navy as the 2nd class cruiser Tsugaru on 22 August 1908. Its new name came from the Tsugaru Strait between Honshū and Hokkaidō.

After commissioning into the Japanese navy, the Tsugaru was used almost exclusively for training duties, especially for mechanical systems training, and it never left Japanese home waters.

On 1 April 1920, the Tsugaru was re-classified as a minelayer. It was removed from the active list on 1 April 1922, and scuttled with explosive charges offshore from Yokosuka on 27 May 1924.

The cruiser Tsugaru should not be confused with the Pacific War era minelayer of the same name.

[edit] Gallery

[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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