Japanese corvette Yamato
| Japanese armed sloop Yamato | |
| Career | Japanese Navy Ensign |
|---|---|
| Name: | Yamato |
| Ordered: | 1882 Fiscal Year |
| Builder: | Onohama Naval Arsenal, Japan |
| Laid down: | 23 November 1883 |
| Launched: | 1 May 1885 |
| Commissioned: | 16 November 1888 |
| Struck: | 1 April 1935 |
| Fate: | Scrapped 1950 |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 1,476 long tons (1,500 t) |
| Length: | 62.78 m (206 ft 0 in) |
| Beam: | 10.7 m (35 ft 1 in) |
| Draft: | 4.6 m (15 ft 1 in) |
| Propulsion: |
Horizontally-mounted reciprocating engine, 1,622 hp (1,210 kW) 6 boilers 1 shaft |
| Sail plan: | Barque-rigged sloop-of-war |
| Speed: | 13 knots (15 mph; 24 km/h) |
| Range: | 145 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 • 4 × 25 mm (0.98 in) quadruple Nordenfelt guns • 2 × 380 mm (15 in) torpedo tubes |
IJN Yamato (大和 (スループ) Yamato surūpu) was the second vessel in the three ship Katsuragi-class of wooden armed sloops in the early Imperial Japanese Navy. It was named for Yamato province, the old name for Nara prefecture and the historical heartland of Japan. The name was used again for the very famous World War II battleship Yamato.
History
Although described by the rather ambiguous terms "gunboat" or "corvette", Yamato was designed as a three-masted bark-rigged sloop-of-war. Its basic design was based on experience gained in building the Kaimon and the Hiei-class sloops, but was already somewhat obsolescent in comparison to contemporary European warships when completed. However, unlike its sister ships Katsuragi and Musashi, Yamato was built by the Onohama Naval Yards, near Kobe. Its first captain was Tōgō Heihachirō.
Yamato 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.
After the war, Yamato was designated a third-class gunboat, and was used for coastal survey and patrol duties.
During the Russo-Japanese War, Yamato served as a guard ship patrolling the Kanmon Straits between Honshū and Kyūshū. It was reclassified as a second class coastal patrol vessel after the war, and was assigned to coastal survey duties. During the course of its surveys, it discovered a seamount in the Sea of Japan, which was named after it.
On 1 April 1935, it was retired from navy service and relocated to Uraga where it was used as a floating prison and training vessel for juvenile offenders until its retirement. It was swamped in a typhoon in September 1945 in Tokyo Bay. Its hulk was raised and scrapped in 1950.
References
- 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. Warships of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1869-1945. Naval Institute Press (1976). ISBN 087021893X
External links
- Nishida, Hiroshi. "Materials of IJN". Imperial Japanese Navy. http://homepage2.nifty.com/nishidah/e/stc0615.htm. Retrieved 2007-09-03.
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