Tsukuba-class cruiser
 The Japanese battlecruiser Tsukuba | |
| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Tsukuba |
| Builders: | Kure Naval Arsenal, Japan |
| Operators: |
 Imperial Japanese Navy |
| Preceded by: | Kasuga class |
| Succeeded by: | Ibuki class |
| Built: | 1905–1908 |
| In service: | 1907–1922 |
| Planned: | 6 |
| Completed: | 2 |
| Cancelled: | 4 |
| Lost: | 1 |
| Scrapped: | 1 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Armored cruiser |
| Displacement: | 13,750 tons |
| Length: | 134.11 m (440.0 ft) |
| Beam: | 22.80 m (74.8 ft) |
| Draft: | 7.95 m (26.1 ft) |
| Propulsion: | Two Shaft Reciprocating VTE steam engine; 20 boilers, 20,500 shp (15,290 kW) |
| Speed: | 20.5 knots (38 km/h) |
| Range: |
2000 tons coal; 160 tons oil 5,000 nautical miles (9,000 km) at 14 knots (26 km/h) |
| Complement: | 876 |
| Armament: |
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| Armour: |
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The Tsukuba-class cruisers (筑波型 巡洋戦艦 Tsukuba-gata jun'yōsenkan) were armored cruisers built for the Imperial Japanese Navy. Both vessels participated in World War I.
Background
Construction of the Tsukuba-class armored cruisers was ordered under the 1904 Emergency Fleet Replenishment Budget of the Russo-Japanese War, spurred on by the unexpected loss of the Yashima to a naval mine in the early stages of the war.
Armament
The main battery on the Tsukuba-class were four 12-inch 41st Year Type guns, mounted in twin gun turrets to the fore and aft, along the centerline of the vessel. Secondary armament consisted of twelve 6-inch guns and twelve 4.7-inch 41st Year Type guns.
Propulsion
Propulsion was by two vertical triple-expansion steam engines, with twenty boilers, yielding 20,500 shp (15,300 kW) design speed of 20.5 knots (38.0 km/h; 23.6 mph) and a range of 5,000 nautical miles (9,000 km) @ 14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph). During speed trials in Hiroshima Bay prior to commissioning, Ikoma attained a top speed of 21.75 knots (40.28 km/h; 25.03 mph)
Ships in class
Tsukuba served patrol duty during World War I primarily in the Pacific Ocean and in Southeast Asia. On 14 January 1917, she exploded while in port at Yokosuka, and sank with a loss of 305 men.
Ikoma circumnavigated the southern hemisphere of the globe in 1908. She served patrol duty during World War I primarily in the Pacific Ocean and in Southeast Asia. Ikoma was a victim of the Washington Naval Agreement of 1923.
References
- Evans, David (1979). Kaigun: Strategy, Tactics, and Technology in the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1887-1941. US Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-192-7.
- Gardiner, Robert; Gray, Randal, eds. (1984). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships: 1906–1921. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-85177-245-5.
- Jentschura, Hansgeorg; Jung, Dieter; Mickel, Peter (1977). Warships of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1869–1945. Annapolis, Maryland: United States Naval Institute. ISBN 0-87021-893-X.
External links
Media related to Tsukuba class cruiser at Wikimedia Commons- Materials of the Imperial Japanese Navy
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