Japanese gunboat Maya

Maya (摩耶^?) was an early steam gunboat, serving in the fledgling Imperial Japanese Navy. She was the lead ship in the four vessel Maya-class gunboat, and was named after Mount Maya near Kobe.

History

Maya was a metal-hulled two-masted gunboat with a horizontal double expansion reciprocating steam engine with two boilers driving two screws. She was laid down at the Onohama Shipyards in Kobe under direction of the Kure Naval Arsenal on June 1, 1885 and launched on August 18, 1886. She was completed on January 20, 1888.

Maya saw combat service in the First Sino-Japanese War, patrolling between Korea, Dairen and Weihaiwei in a reserve capacity in the IJN 2nd Fleet.

On 21 March 1898, Maya was re-designated as a second-class gunboat, and was used for coastal survey and patrol duties. During the Russo-Japanese War, Maya assisted in the Siege of Port Arthur.

She was removed from active combat status on 16 May 1908, and was used as a training vessel at the Yokosuka Naval District. Maya was removed from the navy list and transferred to the Home Ministry on December 1, 1911 for use as a police boat in Kobe harbor. She was subsequently demilitarized and sold in December 1918 to a commercial trading firm, Ikeda Shoji, who used her as a transport until she was scrapped in 1932.

References

• Corbett, Sir Julian. Maritime Operations In The Russo-Japanese War 1904-1905. (1994) Originally classified, and in two volumes, ISBN 155-7501-297
• Chesneau, Roger and Eugene M. Kolesnik (editors), All The World's Fighting Ships 1860-1905, Conway Maritime Press, 1979 reprinted 2002, ISBN 0-85177-133-5
• Jentsura, Hansgeorg (1976). Warships of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1869-1945. Naval Institute Press. ISBN 087021893X. 

External links

• Nishida, Hiroshi. "Materials of IJN". Imperial Japanese Navy. http://homepage2.nifty.com/nishidah/e/stc0630.htm. Retrieved 2007-08-03.