Japanese corvette Katsuragi


Katsuragi in 1897
Career
Name: Katsuragi
Ordered: 1882 Fiscal Year
Builder: Yokosuka Naval Arsenal, Japan
Laid down: 18 August 1883
Launched: 31 March 1885
Commissioned: 4 November 1887
Struck: 11 April 1913
Fate: Scrapped, 11 April 1913
General characteristics
Class and type: Katsuragi-class corvette
Displacement: 1,500 t (1,476 long tons)
Length: 62.78 m (206 ft 0 in)
Beam: 10.7 m (35 ft 1 in)
Draft: 4.6 m (15 ft 1 in)
Installed power: 1,622 ihp (1,210 kW)
Propulsion: 1 × horizontally-mounted reciprocating steam engine
6 boilers, 2 × screws
Sail plan: Barque-rigged sloop (3 × masts)
Speed: 13 kn (24 km/h; 15 mph)
Capacity: 132 t (146 short tons) coal
Complement: 231
Armament: 2 × 170 mm (6.7 in) Krupp breech-loading guns
5 × 120 mm (4.7 in) guns
1 × 80 mm (3.1 in) gun
16 × 25 mm (0.98 in) Nordenfelt guns (4x4)
2 × 380 mm (15 in) torpedo tubes

Katsuragi (葛城?) was the lead ship in the Katsuragi-class corvette of three wooden-hulled, sail-and-steam corvettes of the early Imperial Japanese Navy. It was named for a mountain located between Osaka and Nara prefectures.

History

Katsuragi was designed was designed as an iron-ribbed, wooden-hulled, three-masted bark-rigged sloop-of-war with a coal-fired double expansion reciprocating steam engine with six boilers driving a double screws. Her 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.

Katsuragi was laid down at Yokosuka Naval Arsenal 18 August 1883, launched on 31 March 1885 and commissioned on 4 November 1887.

Katsuragi saw combat service in the First Sino-Japanese War, patrolling between Korea, Dairen and Weihaiwei. It was also at the Battle of Yalu River (1894) in a reserve capacity in the Western Fleet.

On 21 March 1898, Katsuragi was re-designated a third-class gunboat, and was used for coastal survey and patrol duties.

On 6 October 1900, Katsuragi ran aground off of Izu Ōshima island. It took over a month to refloat her, after which she underwent extensive repairs at Yokosuka.

During the Russo-Japanese War, Katsuragi served as a guard ship in Nagasaki harbor. She was reclassified as a second class coastal patrol vessel on 28 August 1912, and was retired from the navy list and scrapped on 4 November 1913.

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