|
Shunji Isaki
was an admiral in the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II. Biography Isaki was a native of Fukuoka prefecture, and a graduate of the 42nd class of the Imperial Japanese Navy Academy in 1914. He was ranked 23rd in a class of 117 cadets. As midshipman, Isaki served on the ''Soya'' and ''Kashima''. After his commissioning as sub-lieutenant on 13 December 1915, he was assigned to the ''Chikuma'' and ''Hirado'', but did not participate in any combat operations during World War I. After the war, he returned to school to study the latest techniques in naval artillery and torpedo warfare, and subsequently served on the ''Yamashiro'', ''Yakumo'' and ''Hiei''. As a lieutenant specializing in torpedoes, he then served on the ''Yubari'' and ''Sendai''. His first command was the destroyer ''Nara'' from 1 November 1926. Promoted to lieutenant commander a month later, he subsequently was captain of the ''Kuri'', ''Ashi'', ''Asanagi'', and ''Yūnagi'', and ''Shikinami'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fukuoka Prefecture
is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyūshū. Fukuoka Prefecture has a population of 5,109,323 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of 4,986 Square kilometre, km2 (1,925 sq mi). Fukuoka Prefecture borders Saga Prefecture to the southwest, Kumamoto Prefecture to the south, and Ōita Prefecture to the southeast. Fukuoka is the capital and largest city of Fukuoka Prefecture, and the largest city on Kyūshū, with other major cities including Kitakyushu, Kurume, and Ōmuta, Fukuoka, Ōmuta. Fukuoka Prefecture is located at the northernmost point of Kyūshū on the Kanmon Straits, connecting the Tsushima Strait and Seto Inland Sea across from Yamaguchi Prefecture on the island of Honshu, and extends south towards the Ariake Sea. History Fukuoka Prefecture includes the Old provinces of Japan, former provinces of Chikugo Province, Chikugo, Chikuzen Province, Chikuzen, and Buzen Province, Buzen. Shrines and temples Kōra taisha, Sumiyoshi-jinja, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Battle Of Kolombangara
The Battle of Kolombangara (Japanese: コロンバンガラ島沖海戦) (also known as the Second Battle of Kula Gulf) was a naval battle of the Pacific campaign of World War II, fought on the night of 12/13 July 1943, off the northeastern coast of Kolombangara in the Solomon Islands. The battle took place during the early stages of the New Georgia campaign when an Imperial Japanese Navy force, carrying reinforcements south to Vila, Solomon Islands, was intercepted by a task force of U.S. and New Zealand light cruisers and destroyers. In the ensuing action, the Japanese sank one Allied destroyer and damaged three cruisers. They were also able to successfully land 1,200 ground troops on the western coast of Kolombangara but lost one light cruiser sunk in the process. Background The Allied campaign in New Georgia had begun on 30 June as part of their advance through the central Solomon Islands towards Rabaul under the guise of Operation Cartwheel. In the initial phase of the ope ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Japanese Cruiser Yakumo
was an armored cruiser (''Sōkō jun'yōkan'') built for the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) in the late 1890s. As Japan lacked the industrial capacity to build such warships herself, the ship was built in Germany. She participated in most of the naval battles of the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–05, and was lightly damaged during the Battle of the Yellow Sea and the Battle of Tsushima. ''Yakumo'' saw no combat during World War I and began the first of many training cruises in 1917, although she was not officially reclassified as a training ship until 1931. Her last training cruise was in 1939, but the ship continued to conduct training in home waters throughout the Pacific War. ''Yakumo'' became a repatriation transport after the war and was broken up in 1946–47. Background and design The 1896 Naval Expansion Plan was made after the First Sino-Japanese War, and included four armored cruisers in addition to four more battleships, all of which had to be ordered from overseas shipy ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Japanese Battleship Yamashiro
was the second of two dreadnought battleships built for the Imperial Japanese Navy. Launched in 1915 and commissioned in 1917, she initially patrolled off the coast of China, playing no part in World War I. In 1923, she assisted survivors of the Great Kantō earthquake. ''Yamashiro'' was modernized between 1930 and 1935, with improvements to her armor and machinery and a rebuilt superstructure in the pagoda mast style. Nevertheless, with only 14-inch guns, she was outclassed by other Japanese battleships at the beginning of World War II, and played auxiliary roles for most of the war. By 1944, though, she was forced into front-line duty, serving as the flagship of Vice-Admiral Shōji Nishimura's Southern Force at the Battle of Surigao Strait, the southernmost action of the Battle of Leyte Gulf. During fierce night fighting in the early hours of 25 October against a superior American and Australian force, ''Yamashiro'' was sunk by torpedoes and naval gunfire. Nishimura wen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Torpedo
A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, and with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, such a device was called an automotive, automobile, locomotive, or fish torpedo; colloquially a ''fish''. The term ''torpedo'' originally applied to a variety of devices, most of which would today be called naval mine, mines. From about 1900, ''torpedo'' has been used strictly to designate a self-propelled underwater explosive device. While the 19th-century battleship had evolved primarily with a view to engagements between armored warships with naval artillery, large-caliber guns, the invention and refinement of torpedoes from the 1860s onwards allowed small torpedo boats and other lighter surface combatant , surface vessels, submarines/submersibles, even improvised fishing boats or frogmen, and later light aircraft, to destroy large shi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Naval Artillery
Naval artillery is artillery mounted on a warship, originally used only for naval warfare and then subsequently used for naval gunfire support, shore bombardment and anti-aircraft roles. The term generally refers to tube-launched projectile-firing weapons and excludes self-propelled projectiles such as torpedoes, rockets, and missiles and those simply dropped overboard such as depth charges and naval mines. Origins The idea of ship-borne artillery dates back to the classical era. Julius Caesar indicates the use of ship-borne catapults against Britons ashore in his ''Commentarii de Bello Gallico''. The dromons of the Byzantine Empire carried catapults and Greek fire, fire-throwers. From the late Middle Ages onwards, warships began to carry cannon, cannons of various calibres. The Mongol invasion of Java introduced cannons to be used in naval warfare (e.g. Cetbang by the Majapahit). The Battle of Arnemuiden, fought between England and France in 1338 at the start of the Hundred Y ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fighting occurring throughout Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Pacific, and parts of Asia. An estimated 9 million soldiers were killed in combat, plus another 23 million wounded, while 5 million civilians died as a result of military action, hunger, and disease. Millions more died in genocides within the Ottoman Empire and in the 1918 influenza pandemic, which was exacerbated by the movement of combatants during the war. Prior to 1914, the European great powers were divided between the Triple Entente (comprising France, Russia, and Britain) and the Triple Alliance (containing Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy). Tensions in the Balkans came to a head on 28 June 1914, following the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Japanese Cruiser Hirado
was the third and final vessel built of the protected cruisers of the Imperial Japanese Navy. ''Hirado'' had two sister ships, and . She was named for after the island of Hirado, Nagasaki. Background The ''Chikuma''-class protected cruisers were built as part of the 1907 Naval Expansion Program, based on lessons learned during the Russo-Japanese War. ''Hirado'' was the last protected cruiser built for the Imperial Japanese Navy. Designed shortly after the Russo-Japanese War, she was laid down at Kawasaki Shipbuilding Corporation in Kobe on 10 August 1910, launched on 29 June 1911 and entered service on 17 June 1912. Design The basic design of the ''Chikuma''-class cruisers was modeled after the Royal Navy with some modifications and was also largely influenced by the design of the cruiser Jentsura, ''Warships of the Imperial Japanese Navy''; page 104-105 The silhouette of the ''Chikuma'' class was readily distinguishable due to its four tall smokestacks. ''Hirado'' had a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Japanese Cruiser Chikuma (1911)
was the lead ship in the of protected cruisers of the Imperial Japanese Navy. ''Chikuma'' had two sister ships, and the . ''Chikuma'' was named for the Chikuma River in Nagano prefecture. Background The ''Chikuma''-class protected cruisers were built as part of the 1907 Naval Expansion Program, based on lessons learned during the Russo-Japanese War. ''Chikuma'' was laid down at Sasebo Naval Arsenal in Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan on 1 April 1909, launched on 1 April 1911 and entered service on 17 May 1912.Nishida, '' Ships of the Imperial Japanese Navy'' Design The basic design of the ''Chikuma''-class cruisers was modeled after the Royal Navy with some modifications and was also largely influenced by the design of the cruiser Jentsura, ''Warships of the Imperial Japanese Navy''; page 104-105 The silhouette of the ''Chikuma'' class was readily distinguishable due to its four tall smokestacks. ''Chikuma'' had a hull with an overall length of and width of , with a normal ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Japanese Battleship Kashima
was the second ship of the two pre-dreadnought battleships built for the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) in the first decade of the 20th century, the last to be built by British shipyards. Ordered just before the start of the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905, the ship was completed a year after its end. She saw no combat during World War I, although the ship was present when Japan joined the Siberian Intervention in 1918. ''Kashima'' was disarmed and scrapped in 1923–1924 in accordance with the terms of the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922. Design and description The ''Katori''-class ships were ordered just before the start of the Russo-Japanese War in 1904 as improved versions of the Royal Navy's s. ''Kashima'' was long overall and had a beam of . She had a full-load draught of and normally displaced and had a crew of 864 officers and enlisted men.Brook 1999, p. 128 The ship was powered by two vertical triple-expansion steam engines using steam generated by 20 Niclausse ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Japanese Cruiser Soya
was a protected cruiser in the Imperial Japanese Navy, acquired as a prize of war during the Russo-Japanese War from the Imperial Russian Navy, where it had been known as . Background ''Varyag'' was built in the United States by William Cramp & Sons of Philadelphia for the Imperial Russian Navy. It was stationed in Korea in 1904, and involved in the opening Battle of Chemulpo Bay of the Russo-Japanese War. After suffering heavy damage from the unequal battle with nine Japanese cruisers, ''Varyag'' was scuttled by its crew on 9 February 1904. After the Russo-Japanese War, the Japanese raised the badly damaged wreck from Chemulpo harbor, repaired it, and commissioned it into the Imperial Japanese Navy as the 2nd class cruiser ''Soya'' on 9 July 1907. Its new name was taken from the northernmost cape of Hokkaidō, Soya Misaki. Service life After being placed into Japanese service as a 3rd class cruiser, ''Soya'' was used primarily for training duties. From 14 March 1909 to 7 Augu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Midshipman
A midshipman is an officer of the lowest rank, in the Royal Navy, United States Navy, and many Commonwealth navies. Commonwealth countries which use the rank include Canada (Naval Cadet), Australia, Bangladesh, Namibia, New Zealand, South Africa, India, Pakistan, Singapore, Sri Lanka, and Kenya. In the 17th century, a midshipman was a rating for an experienced seaman, and the word derives from the area aboard a ship, amidships, either where he worked on the ship, or where he was berthed. Beginning in the 18th century, a commissioned officer candidate was rated as a midshipman, and the seaman rating began to slowly die out. By the Napoleonic era (1793–1815), a midshipman was an apprentice officer who had previously served at least three years as a volunteer, officer's servant or able seaman, and was roughly equivalent to a present-day petty officer in rank and responsibilities. After serving at least three years as a midshipman or master's mate, he was eligible to take the e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
