Yoshino (ship, 1892)
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|---|---|
 The Yoshino |
|
| Overview | |
| Type | Protected cruiser |
| Shipyard |
Armstrong, Mitchell & Co , Elswick , BauNr. 596 |
| Keel laying | January 1892 |
| Launch | December 20, 1892 |
| delivery | September 30, 1893 |
| Whereabouts | Sunk on May 15, 1904 after a collision |
| Technical specifications | |
| displacement |
4150 ts |
| length |
109.7 m waterline, |
| width |
14.2 m |
| Draft |
5.2 m |
| crew |
360-390 men |
| drive |
12 boilers |
| speed |
23 kn |
| Range |
9000 nm at 10 kn |
| Armament |
|
| Coal supply |
350 ts, max. 1016 ts |
| Armor deck |
|
| Guns |
115 mm |
| similar |
Takasago , |
The Yoshino ( Japanese 吉野 ) was a 2nd class armored cruiser of the Imperial Japanese Navy . The cruiser designed and built by Armstrong, Mitchell & Co was lost on May 15, 1904 during the Russo-Japanese War in a collision with the armored cruiser Kasuga in the Yellow Sea with 319 dead.
Building history
The Yoshino was a typical Elswick cruiser and an improved version of the Veinticinco de Mayo cruisers built for the Argentine Navy , which Sir Philip Watts had designed. Watts, director of warship development at Armstrong Whitworth in Elswick near Newcastle upon Tyne since 1885 , had designed the Naniwa- class (3650 ts) armored cruisers delivered in 1885 for the Japanese Navy . The Takasago , which is similar in appearance , is sometimes regarded as the Yoshino's sister ship , but differed from the Yoshino five years older in terms of its heavier armament, propulsion system and reinforced armor, which was supposed to withstand 203 mm projectiles .
The main armament of the Yoshino was four individual 152 mm L / 40 Elswick guns behind protective shields, which were set up as bow and stern guns and in swallow nests next to the bridge. There were also eight 120mm L / 40 cannons on the sides of one of Armstrong's gun factory developed for export.
The cruiser started in February 1892 under construction number 596 was launched on December 20, 1892 and was completed on September 30, 1893. When completed, the Yoshino was the largest ship in the Japanese Navy and the fastest cruiser in the world. The name comes from the mountains in the former Yoshino province in Nara prefecture on the island of Honshu .
Mission history
After her takeover in the fleet service, the Yoshino was used to monitor the coast of Korea .
Battle of Pungdo
On July 25, 1894 around 7:00 a.m., the three Japanese cruisers Yoshino , Naniwa and Akitsushima met the Chinese cruiser Jiyuan and the gunboat Guangyi ( 廣 乙 / 广 乙 in the Yellow Sea off the Korean Asan, in the province of Chungcheongnam-do , Guǎngyǐ , also Kwang-yi ). Both ships came from Asan to meet another Chinese gunboat, the Caojiang ( 操 江 , also: Tsao-kiang ), which was accompanying the transporter to Asan. The departing Chinese ships are said not to have returned the Japanese salute. When the Japanese turned to the southwest, the Chinese allegedly opened fire. According to other representations, the Jiyuan ran as if to a torpedo attack on the Japanese, so that they opened fire. After about an hour of fighting, the Jiyuan broke off and fled. The gunboat Guangyi ran aground on some rocks and its magazine exploded. At that moment, the expected gunboat Caojiang , 572 t, and the transporter Gaosheng ( 高升 , also: Kow-shing ), flying under the British trade flag and carrying around 1,200 soldiers and supplies to reinforce the Chinese garrison in Korea, arrived. The van was eventually sunk by the Japanese. The Chinese mourned about 1,100 deaths, including over 800 from the Gaosheng . The Japanese had no casualties in this battle, which took place before the declarations of war.
see also Battle of Pungdo
Sino-Japanese War
In the following Sino-Japanese War , the Yoshino took part in the sea battle at Yalu on the border between China and Korea on September 17, 1894 , in which the Japanese Navy tried to prevent the support and supply of the Chinese army in Korea, which was carried out by the Chinese fleet was protected. She formed with the newest and fastest cruisers Takachiho , Akitsushima and Naniwa the “Flying Division” as the flagship of Rear Admiral Tsuboi Kōzō , who managed to separate four Chinese cruisers from the large Chinese armored ships. When Tsuboi got close enough, he fired his modern rapid-fire guns at the Chinese cruisers as he steamed across their bow. He was finally able to sink the two cruisers Jingyuan ( 經 遠 / 经 远 , also King Yuen , Vulkan / Stettin) and Zhiyuan ( 致遠 / 靖远 , also Chih Yuen , Armstrong / Elswick). The Laiyuan ( 來 遠 / 来 远 , also Lai Yuen ) was badly hit at an early age and caught fire. She left the order of battle and escaped to Lüshunkou .
The Yoshino was one of the warships that supported the Japanese occupation of Taiwan in 1895 . On October 13, 1895 she took part in the bombardment of the coastal fortifications at Kaohsiung . The Chinese opponent from the battle at Pungdo at the beginning of the war, the cruiser Jiyuan , took part in these battles as the Japanese cruiser Saien after it fell into the hands of the Japanese during the surrender of Weihaiwei on February 17, 1895.
Russo-Japanese War
The Russo-Japanese War began in 1904 with pre-emptive attacks by the Japanese Navy against the Russian Pacific Squadron . The Yoshino belonged to the 3rd Division of the United Fleet off Port Arthur with the cruisers Kasagi , Chitose and Takasago . Until May, she was one of the units that closely monitored the Russian squadron.
Downfall of the Yoshino
On May 15, 1904, the Yoshino collided with the armored cruiser Kasuga in thick fog in the Yellow Sea . The Kasuga's ram pierced the Yoshino's starboard side, level with the engine room . She capsized immediately and sank to 38 ° 7 ' N , 122 ° 33' E , killing 319 sailors. Only 19 members of the Yoshino's crew were rescued. Then the rams were removed from Japanese warships.
literature
- Peter Brooke: Warships for Export: Armstrong Warships 1867-1927. World Ship Society, Gravesend 1999, ISBN 0-905617-89-4 .
- David Evans: Kaigun: Strategy, Tactics, and Technology in the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1887-1941. US Naval Institute Press, Annapolis 1979, ISBN 0-87021-192-7 .
- Hansgeorg Jentsura: Warships of the Imperial Japanese Navy 1869-1945. Naval Institute Press, Annapolis 1976, ISBN 0-87021-893-X .
- John Roberts, HC Timewell, Roger Chesneau (Ed.), Eugene M. Kolesnik (Ed.): Warships of the World 1860 to 1905 - Volume 2: USA, Japan and Russia. Bernard & Graefe Verlag, Koblenz 1983, ISBN 3-7637-5403-2 .
- 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
- Image of the Yoshino
- Hiroshi Nishida: Materials of IJN . In: Imperial Japanese Navy . Retrieved August 23, 2020.
- The protected cruiser Yoshino data, picture and side elevation (russ.)
- Picture of a Japanese building inspector, 1892
Footnotes
- ↑ Elswick-6 "-Exportgeschütz
- ↑ Elswick 4.7 "-Exportgeschütz
- ↑ Akitsushima , 1892, 3100 t, 19 knots, 4 × 152 mm, 6 × 120 mm cannons
- ↑ Commander of the later Admiral Kamimura
- ↑ Commander of the later Grand Admiral Tōgō