Japanese corvette Yamato
![]() Yamato at Kobe in 1889-1890
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History | |
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Name | Yamato |
Namesake | Yamato province |
Ordered | 1882 Fiscal Year |
Builder | Onohama Shipyards, Japan |
Laid down | 23 November 1883 |
Launched | 1 May 1885 |
Commissioned | 16 November 1888 |
Stricken | 1 April 1935 |
Fate |
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General characteristics | |
Class and type | Katsuragi-class corvette |
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 |
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Sail plan | Barque-rigged sloop |
Speed | 13 knots (15 mph; 24 km/h) |
Range | 145 tons coal |
Complement | 231 |
Armament |
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Yamato (
Background
[edit]Yamato was designed as an iron-ribbed, wooden-hulled, three-masted bark-rigged sloop-of-war with a coal-fired double-expansion reciprocating steam engine with six cylindrical boilers driving a single screw. Her basic design was based on experience gained in building the Kaimon and Tenryū sloops, but was already somewhat obsolescent in comparison to contemporary European warships when completed.[1] However, unlike her sister ships Katsuragi and Musashi, which were built by the government-owned Yokosuka Naval Arsenal. Yamato was built by the Onohama Shipyards, in Kobe. Her first captain was future Fleet Admiral Tōgō Heihachirō.
Operational history
[edit]Yamato saw combat service in the First Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, patrolling between Korea, Dairen and Weihaiwei. She was also at the Battle of Yalu River in a reserve capacity in the Western Sea Fleet.
On 21 March 1898, Yamato was designated as a third-class gunboat,[2] 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 off of Shimonoseki. On 28 August 1912, she was reclassified as a second class coastal patrol vessel, and was assigned to coastal survey duties. On 1 April 1922, she was officially re-designated as a survey vessel, and her armament was replaced by two 8-inch guns. During the course of its surveys, Yamato discovered a seamount in the Sea of Japan, which was named after it.
On 1 April 1935, Yamato was retired from navy service and demilitarized. Her hulk was obtained by the Ministry of Justice and relocated to Uraga where she was used as a floating prison and training vessel for juvenile offenders. It was towed to Yokohama harbor during World War II, but was swamped in a typhoon in September 1945 at the mouth of the Tsurumi River in Tokyo Bay. Her hulk was raised and scrapped in 1950.
Notes
[edit]References
[edit]- 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 0-87021-893-X.