Asahi (ship)
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|---|---|
 The Asahi 1905 |
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| Overview | |
| Type | Ship of the line |
| Shipyard |
John Brown & Company , Clydebank , Building No. 328 |
| Keel laying | August 1, 1897 |
| Launch | March 13, 1899 |
| delivery | April 28, 1900 |
| Namesake | The sunrise |
| period of service |
1900-1942 |
| Whereabouts | torpedoed on May 25, 1942 |
| Technical specifications | |
| displacement |
14,525 ts , maximum 15,374 ts |
| length |
129.62 m above all |
| width |
22.92 m |
| Draft |
8.31 m |
| crew |
836 men |
| drive |
25 Belleville boilers |
| speed |
18.3 kn |
| Range |
9,000 nm at 10 kn |
| Armament |
• 4 × 305 mm L / 40 cannons in twin turrets |
| Harvey armor |
• Belt: 102–229 mm |
| similar |
Shikishima , Hatsuse , Mikasa , |
The battleship Asahi ( jap. 朝日 ) was a pre-dreadnought - battleship of the Imperial Japanese Navy . Its name Asahi , the sunrise, is also a metaphorical name for Japan. Since she was built at the same time as the Shikishima class ships and according to the same specifications, she is sometimes viewed as the second ship of this class. But with its two chimneys it was outwardly considerably different from those that had three chimneys. Asahi was very similar to the Royal Navy's Formidable class . The Asahi was later used as a 1st class coastal defense ship, training ship, rescue ship for submarines, test ship, transporter, tender and finally as a workshop ship.
Building history
The Asahi was started in Glasgow , Scotland at the Clydebank Engineering & Shipbuilding Company and eventually completed by John Brown & Company . When it was launched, it was the largest warship ever built on the Clyde . Their 305 mm main guns from the Armstrong-Whitworth company corresponded to the British version 12-inch Mark IX , as they had been installed in the Royal Navy from the Formidable class and which all six ships of the line of the building program received from 1894. Their Harvey nickel-steel armor was not the very latest standard. Her delivery in 1900 was delayed because she ran aground shortly after an initial start for transfer to Japan. All supplies and ammunition had to be disembarked to free the ship, and she was put in the dock to inspect the bottom. Only then was she able to leave the country and reached Yokosuka on October 23, 1900.
Mission history
The Asahi was involved in all crucial battles of the Russo-Japanese War from 1904 to 1905. She took part in the attack on Port Arthur in February 1904 and was involved in the subsequent blockade of the Russian base. In July 1904, the Asahi took part in the naval battle in the Yellow Sea , in which they received a hit that put a tower out of action. The Asahi scored the decisive hits of the battle when, on the evening of the battle, the commander-in-chief Tōgō Heihachirō asked them to also fire the Russian flagship Zessarewitsch , and hit the bridge with the first volley. The Russian commander Wilhelm Withöft was killed and the steering gear of the Zessarevich blocked. Without a commanding officer and following an unintentional maneuver by the flagship, the Russian squadron lost its line, which had been quite successful up to then, and was ultimately unable to break out of the Yellow Sea and ran with the bulk of its forces back to Port Arthur, where it remained blocked and not a decisive one Had an influence on the further course of the war. The Asahi received a severe mine hit off Port Arthur on October 26, 1904, although the Japanese used their only four ships of the line, after the loss of Yashima and Hatsuse in May, with extreme caution. The repairs could only be completed shortly before the decisive sea battle at Tsushima .
Together with the other three modern ships of the line - Fuji , Shikishima , Mikasa - she formed the core of the Japanese battle fleet, which were faced by the four modern Russian ships of the line of the Borodino class .
The Asahi suffered nine heavy hits in the battle, eight dead and 23 injured. On it, the future Admiral Pakenham , as an official observer of the Royal Navy as part of the Anglo-Japanese Alliance, took part in the battle, who is said to have made his notes on the course of the battle in an unprotected deck chair. His report described the superiority of Japanese training and tactics.
In October 1908, the Asahi was one of the Japanese companions of the American Great White Fleet , which circumnavigated the world, when visiting Japanese waters. In 1914 the Asahi became an artillery training ship. In 1917 she received new Japanese guns for the originally British cannons for this task. Two 76 mm anti-aircraft guns were also set up.
Various tasks
Although obsolete, the Asahi was used as a support ship for the Siberian Intervention in 1919 to secure Japanese troops that landed in Vladivostok .
In 1921 she was reclassified as a 1st class coastal defense ship. In 1923 it was disarmed as a result of the Washington Naval Agreement and converted into a training ship. Without armor and weapons, their displacement decreased to 11,441 ts. In addition, her speed was limited to 12 knots. In May 1925 the Asahi ran up in front of Toba and was transferred to Yokosuka after being removed to be extensively modified. This renovation lasted until October 1927. The 25 Belleville boilers were replaced by four oil-fired Kampon boilers . One of the two chimneys was also removed and a large crane installed on deck. The Asahi became a recovery ship for submarines and was the first Japanese ship to carry out numerous experiments with this task. The former German submarine 0-1 (ex U 125 ) was used for this.
As a test ship, the Asahi was launched in May 1928 with a 19-meter-long air-powered aircraft catapult of the type No. Provided 1 and launched successfully seaplane -type Nakajima Type 15 E2N1. After a few accidents, the compressed air catapult was replaced by a catapult that used explosives to accelerate. After these tests, the Asahi was placed in reserve. When the Second Sino-Japanese War began in November 1937 after the incident at the Marco Polo Bridge , the Asahi was reactivated and used as a transport to land troops in amphibious operations in the Hangzhou Bay area.
Before the end of the year, the Asahi returned to the submarines and served them as a tender , offering them repair options, supplying them and serving as a barge. As early as 1938, it was again converted into a workshop ship . Efficient lifting devices were built on both sides in the middle of the ship and workshops were set up on board. On December 18, 1938, the Asahi began its service as a workshop ship, and she almost looked like the former ship of the line again, because she had received tower mock-ups made of wood in front and behind. From May 29 to November 7, 1940, she also made regular inspection trips from Shanghai .
,_1938.jpg)
War in the Pacific
On November 15, 1940, the Asahi was reassigned to the United Fleet and served as a transport between Cam Ranh Bay , Indochina and Kure in preparation for the Pacific War.
From April 1942, the Asahi was stationed in Singapore to repair the Sendai- class light cruiser Naka , which the American submarine Seawolf had torpedoed off Christmas Island . On May 22nd, the Asahi left Singapore for Kure. She was discovered by the Salmon three days later on May 25, 1942, 100 miles southwest of Cape Paderas . The American submarine fired four torpedoes at the old ship of the line during the night. The Asahi was hit by two torpedoes; one hit the boiler room on port, the second hit a little further back. The Asahi capsized shortly after these hits to 10 ° 0 ' N , 110 ° 0' O . Captain Tamura and 582 crew members were rescued, 16 seamen died.
literature
- Ronald Andidora: Iron Admirals: Naval Leadership in the Twentieth Century . Greenwood Press, 2000, ISBN 0-313-31266-4 .
- DK Brown: Warrior to Dreadnought, Warship Development 1860-1906 . Naval Institute Press, 1999, ISBN 1-84067-529-2 .
- David Evans: Kaigun: Strategy, Tactics, and Technology in the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1887-1941 . US Naval Institute Press, 1979, ISBN 0-87021-192-7 .
- Stephen Howarth: The Fighting Ships of the Rising Sun: The Drama of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1895-1945 . Atheneum, 1983, ISBN 0-689-11402-8 .
- Fred T. Jane: The Imperial Japanese Navy . Thacker, Spink & Co (1904)
- Hansgeorg Jentsura: Warships of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1869-1945 . Naval Institute Press, Annapolis 1976, ISBN 0-87021-893-X .
- J. Charles Schencking: Making Waves: Politics, Propaganda, And The Emergence Of The Imperial Japanese Navy, 1868-1922 . Stanford University Press, 2005, ISBN 0-8047-4977-9 .
Web links
- Hiroshi Nishida: Materials of the Imperial Japanese Navy
- Asahi's résumé on combinedfleet.com
- Asahi on worldnavalships.com
- Side elevation of the Asahi
Footnotes
- ↑ https://www.clydeships.co.uk/view.php?year_built=&builder=&ref=4499&vessel=ASAHI
- ^ Howart: The Fighting Ships of the Rising Sun.
- ^ DC Evans: Kaigun: Strategy, Tactics, and Technology in the Imperial Japanese Navy. 1887-1941.
- ↑ Combined Fleet.com Tabular Record of Movement.
- ↑ Jentsura: Warships of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1869-1945.
- ↑ Description of the torpedoing on wrecksite.eu.
Fuji class ( Fuji , Yashima ) | Shikishima class ( Shikishima , Hatsuse ) | Asahi | Mikasa | Katori class ( Katori , Kashima ) | Satsuma class ( Satsuma , Aki ) | Kawachi class ( Kawachi , Settsu )