Katori class battleship
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 The Japanese battleship Katori in 1905 |
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| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Katori |
| Builders: | Vickers, UK (Katori) Armstrong Whitworth, UK (Kashima) |
| Operators: |  Imperial Japanese Navy |
| Completed: | Two |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | battleship |
| Displacement: | 15,950 tons (Katori) 16,400 tons (Kashima) |
| Length: | 128.2 meters (Katori) 129.54 meters (Kashima) |
| Beam: | 23.77 meters (Katori) 23.81 meters (Kashima) |
| Draught: | 8.23 meters (Katori) 8.12 (Kashima) |
| Propulsion: | 2-shaft VTE steam engine, 16,000 shp (11930 kW); 20 boilers |
| Speed: | 18.5 knots (34 km/h) |
| Range: | 1857 tons coal; 10,000 nautical miles (19,000 km) at 10 knots (19 km/h) |
| Complement: | 864 |
| Armament: |
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| Armour: |
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The Katori class (香取型戦艦 Katori-gata senkan?) was a two-ship class of pre-dreadnought battleships of the Imperial Japanese Navy. The Katori class vessels were the last battleships to be built for Japan at overseas shipyards, and the last to be equipped with a ram.
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[edit] Background
Kashima and Katori were ordered as emergency replacements for the loss of Hatsuse and Yashima in early stages of the Russo-Japanese War. Although the armored cruisers Nisshin and Kasuga successfully held their own in the line of battle during the crucial Battle of Tsushima, the armored cruisers lacked the size and firepower to be as effective as battleships. As the Japanese Navy projected that a fleet of six battleships was the minimum necessary against potential threats from China, Russia or the United States, a new order was placed to the United Kingdom. Although construction was rushed, and the design was based largely on the previous Mikasa, the Katori-class ships were not delivered until after the end of the Russo-Japanese War.
[edit] Design
The design of the Katori class was a modified version of the King Edward VII class of the British Royal Navy. The King Edward class introduced a number of innovations over previous classes in terms of armament and engines.
[edit] Armament
For its main battery,, the Katori class maintained the standard twin Elswick Ordnance Company Type 41 12-inch (305 mm) 40 caliber naval guns mounted in gun turrets fore and aft, as per Mikasa and previous Japanese battleships.
Secondary armament was enhanced as per innovations developed for the King Edward VII class with an intermediate range of Type 41 10 inch 40 caliber naval guns in four secondary turrets in addition to the twelve now-standard Type 41 6-inch (152 mm)/40-caliber quick firing guns to counter torpedo boat attacks, mounted widely spaced on two decks so that a single hit would not disable more than one of them. The guns on the upper deck were enclosed within casemates. Tertiary armament consisted of Tertiary armament consisted of four Type 41 3-inch (7.62 cm)/40-caliber naval guns, commonly known as "twelve pounders" and two Type 41 3-inch (76 mm) guns with shortened barrels, and five torpedoes, with four tubes below the waterline, and one more on deck.
[edit] Armor
The Katori class vessels used Krupp armor with a 9-inch (229 mm) belt amidships and main turrets, 12-inch (305 mm) on the barbettes, 7-inch (178 mm) on the secondary turrets and 2-inch (51 mm) on the deck.
[edit] Propulsion
The engines on the Katori class vessels were four cylinder triple expansion steam engines with water tube boilers and two screws. Another innovation from the King Edward VII class was the use of oil sprayers, which allowed steam pressure to be rapidly increased, improving the acceleration of the ships. The engines produced 18,000 shp (13420 kW) horsepower, yielding a design speed of 16.75 knots (31 km/h); however, the design had inherent instability problems and was difficult to keep on a straight course at higher speeds. In trials, Katori was able to sustain just over 20 knots (37 km/h); for eight hours.
[edit] Ships in class
Commissioned on 1906-05-20, Katori was completed too late for the Russo-Japanese War, and with rapid developments in naval technology, was already obsolete at the time of World War I. In 1922, Katori was home to Crown Prince Hirohito on his voyage to Europe. She was scrapped as part of Japan's compliance with the Washington Naval Agreement in 1924.
Commissioned on 1906-05-23, Kashima was completed too late for the Russo-Japanese War, and with rapid developments in naval technology, was already obsolete at the time of World War I. She was scrapped as part of Japan’s compliance with the Washington Naval Agreement in 1924.
[edit] References
- D. K. Brown, Warrior to Dreadnought, Warship Development 1860-1906, ISBN 1-84067-529-2
- Andidora, Ronald (2000). Iron Admirals: Naval Leadership in the Twentieth Century. Greenwood Press. ISBN 0-313-31266-4.
- Brown, D. K. (1999). Warrior to Dreadnought, Warship Development 1860-1906. Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-84067-529-2.
- Evans, David (1979). Kaigun: Strategy, Tactics, and Technology in the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1887-1941. US Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0870211927.
- Hoare, J.E. (1999). Britain and Japan, Biographical Portraits, Volume III. RoutledgeCurzon. ISBN 1873410891.
- Howarth, Stephen (1983). The Fighting Ships of the Rising Sun: The Drama of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1895-1945. Atheneum. ISBN 0689114028.
- Jentsura, Hansgeorg (1976). Warships of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1869-1945. Naval Institute Press. ISBN 087021893X.
- Schencking, J. Charles (2005). Making Waves: Politics, Propaganda, And The Emergence Of The Imperial Japanese Navy, 1868-1922. Stanford University Press. ISBN 0804749779.
[edit] External links
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