was the third (and final vessel) in the of
protected cruiser
Protected cruisers, a type of naval cruiser of the late-19th century, gained their description because an armoured deck offered protection for vital machine-spaces from fragments caused by shells exploding above them. Protected cruisers re ...
s in the
Imperial Japanese Navy
The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN; Kyūjitai: Shinjitai: ' 'Navy of the Greater Japanese Empire', or ''Nippon Kaigun'', 'Japanese Navy') was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945, when it was dissolved following Japan's surrender ...
. The ship was the only one of the class constructed in Japan. Like
sister ship
A sister ship is a ship of the same class or of virtually identical design to another ship. Such vessels share a nearly identical hull and superstructure layout, similar size, and roughly comparable features and equipment. They often share a ...
s, ( and ) her name comes from one of the traditional
Three Views of Japan
The is the canonical list of Japan's three most celebrated scenic sights, attributed to 1643 and scholar Hayashi Gahō. In 1915, modeled on the old Three Views of Japan, Jitsugyo no Nihon Sha (株式会社実業之日本社) held a national elec ...
, in this case, the
Ama-no-hashidate
Amanohashidate (天橋立 ja, Heaven's bridge) is one of Japan's three scenic views. The sandbar is located in Miyazu Bay in northern Kyoto Prefecture. It forms part of the Tango-Amanohashidate-Ōeyama Quasi-National Park.
Location
A thin s ...
in northern
Kyoto prefecture on the
Sea of Japan
The Sea of Japan is the marginal sea between the Japanese archipelago, Sakhalin, the Korean Peninsula, and the mainland of the Russian Far East. The Japanese archipelago separates the sea from the Pacific Ocean. Like the Mediterranean Sea, it h ...
.
Background
Forming the backbone of the Imperial Japanese Navy during the
First Sino-Japanese War
The First Sino-Japanese War (25 July 1894 – 17 April 1895) was a conflict between China and Japan primarily over influence in Korea. After more than six months of unbroken successes by Japanese land and naval forces and the loss of the po ...
, the ''Matsushima''-class cruisers were based on the principles of
Jeune Ecole
Jeune (29 March 1989 – 4 January 2006) was a British Thoroughbred racehorse who raced in England and Australia and is best known for winning the prestigious Melbourne Cup in 1994. He was a muscular chestnut stallion who sometimes raced in pac ...
, as promoted by
French military advisor and
naval architect This is the top category for all articles related to architecture and its practitioners.
{{Commons category, Architecture occupations
Design occupations
Architecture, Occupations ...
Louis-Émile Bertin
Louis-Émile Bertin (23 March 1840 – 22 October 1924) was a French naval engineer, one of the foremost of his time, and a proponent of the "Jeune École" philosophy of using light, but powerfully armed warships instead of large battleships.
...
.
[Roksund, ''The Jeune École: The Strategy of the Weak'';] The Japanese government did not have the resources or budget to build a
battleship
A battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of large caliber guns. It dominated naval warfare in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
The term ''battleship'' came into use in the late 1880s to describe a type of ...
navy to counter the various foreign powers active in Asia; instead, Japan adopted the radical theory of using smaller, faster warships, with light armor and small caliber long-range guns, coupled with a massive single
Canet gun
The Canet guns were a series of weapon systems developed by the French engineer Gustave Canet (1846–1908), who worked as an engineer from 1872 to 1881 for the London Ordnance Works, then for Forges et Chantiers de la Méditerranée, and from ...
. The design eventually proved impractical, as the recoil from the huge cannon was too much for a vessel of such small displacement, and its reloading time was impractically long; however, the ''Matsushima''-class cruisers served their purpose well against the poorly equipped and poorly led Imperial Chinese
Beiyang Fleet
The Beiyang Fleet (Pei-yang Fleet; , alternatively Northern Seas Fleet) was one of the four modernized Chinese navies in the late Qing dynasty. Among the four, the Beiyang Fleet was particularly sponsored by Li Hongzhang, one of the most trust ...
.
There were originally plans to build a fourth vessel in this class, and its cancellation due concerns over the design was one of the factors that led to Bertin's resignation and return to
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
.
Design
![Itsukushima brasseys 1900](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e5/Itsukushima_brasseys_1900.jpg)
''Hashidate'' differed from her sister ship ''Itsukushima'' primarily in that her windows were rectangular instead of square, and in that she had a stronger engine.
As with ''Itsukushima'', ''Hashidate'' had a steel hull with 94 frames constructed of mild steel, and a double bottom, divided into waterproof compartments, with the area between the bulkheads and armor filled with
copra
Copra (from ) is the dried, white flesh of the coconut from which coconut oil is extracted. Traditionally, the coconuts are sun-dried, especially for export, before the oil, also known as copra oil, is pressed out. The oil extracted from copr ...
. The bow was reinforced with a
naval ram
A ram was a weapon fitted to varied types of ships, dating back to antiquity. The weapon comprised an underwater prolongation of the bow of the ship to form an armoured beak, usually between 2 and 4 meters (6–12 ft) in length. This would be dri ...
.
Vital equipment, including boilers and
ammunition magazines, were protected by hardened steel armor, as were the
gun shield
A U.S. Marine manning an M240 machine gun equipped with a gun shield
A gun shield is a flat (or sometimes curved) piece of armor designed to be mounted on a crew-served weapon such as a machine gun, automatic grenade launcher, or artillery piece ...
s.
The
main battery
A main battery is the primary weapon or group of weapons around which a warship is designed. As such, a main battery was historically a gun or group of guns, as in the broadsides of cannon on a ship of the line. Later, this came to be turreted ...
consisted of one breech-loading 320-mm
Canet gun
The Canet guns were a series of weapon systems developed by the French engineer Gustave Canet (1846–1908), who worked as an engineer from 1872 to 1881 for the London Ordnance Works, then for Forges et Chantiers de la Méditerranée, and from ...
mounted in the
bow of the ship, which could fire 450-kg armor-piercing or 350-kg explosive shells at an effective range of . The maximum rate of fire was two rounds per hour, and the ship carried 60 rounds. Secondary armament consisted of eleven
QF 4.7 inch Gun Mk I–IV QF may stand for:
* Qantas, an airline of Australia (IATA code QF)
* Qatar Foundation, a private, chartered, non-profit organization in the state of Qatar
* Quality factor, in physics and engineering, a measure of the "quality" of a resonant system ...
Armstrong gun
An Armstrong gun was a uniquely designed type of Rifled breech-loader, rifled breech-loading field and heavy gun designed by William George Armstrong, 1st Baron Armstrong, Sir William Armstrong and manufactured in England beginning in 1855 by the ...
s, with a maximum range of and maximum rate of fire of 12 rounds/minute. Ten were mounted on the gun deck, five to each side, with the 11th gun located on the upper deck of the
fantail
Fantails are small insectivorous songbirds of the genus ''Rhipidura'' in the family Rhipiduridae, native to Australasia, Southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent. Most of the species are about long, specialist aerial feeders, and named as " ...
. Each gun was equipped with 120 rounds. Tertiary protection was by six
QF 6 pounder Hotchkiss
The Ordnance QF Hotchkiss 6 pounder gun Mk I and Mk II or QF 6 pounder 8 cwt were a family of long-lived light naval guns introduced in 1885 to defend against new, small and fast vessels such as torpedo boats and later submarines. There were ma ...
mounted in
sponson
Sponsons are projections extending from the sides of land vehicles, aircraft or watercraft to provide protection, stability, storage locations, mounting points for weapons or other devices, or equipment housing.
Watercraft
On watercraft, a spon ...
s on the upper deck, with a maximum range of and rate of fire of 20 rounds/minute. Each gun had 300 rounds. In addition, eleven
QF 3-pounder Hotchkiss
The QF 3-pounder Hotchkiss or in French use Canon Hotchkiss à tir rapide de 47 mm were a family of long-lived light naval guns introduced in 1886 to defend against new, small and fast vessels such as torpedo boats and later submarines. T ...
were mounted at various locations, with range of and a rate of fire of 32 rounds/minute and 800 rounds per gun. Each ship in the class also had four 356-mm
Schwartzkopff torpedo
The Schwartzkopff torpedo was a torpedo manufactured in the late 19th century by the German firm ''Eisengießerei und Maschinen-Fabrik von L. Schwartzkopff'', later known as Berliner Maschinenbau, based on the Whitehead design. Unlike the Whiteh ...
tubes, three in the bow and one in the stern, with a total of 20 torpedoes carried on board. The weight of all of this weaponry made the design dangerously top-heavy, and armor was sacrificed in an effort to reduce weight.
[Chesneau, '' Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905'', page 226-227]
The ship was driven by two horizontal triple expansion steam engines. However, as the design had problems with seaworthiness, it was seldom able to attain its design speed of 16.5 knots in operation.
[
]
Service life
''Hashidate'' was built by the Yokosuka Naval Arsenal
was one of four principal naval shipyards owned and operated by the Imperial Japanese Navy, and was located at Yokosuka, Kanagawa prefecture on Tokyo Bay, south of Yokohama.
History
In 1866, the Tokugawa shogunate government established the ...
, with many materials imported from overseas. Due to the inexperience of the builders, construction took three years. She was laid down
Laying the keel or laying down is the formal recognition of the start of a ship's construction. It is often marked with a ceremony attended by dignitaries from the shipbuilding company and the ultimate owners of the ship.
Keel laying is one o ...
on 6 August 1888, and launched on 24 March 1891 in the presence of Emperor Meiji
, also called or , was the 122nd emperor of Japan according to the traditional order of succession. Reigning from 13 February 1867 to his death, he was the first monarch of the Empire of Japan and presided over the Meiji era. He was the figur ...
.[Jentsura, ''Warships of the Imperial Japanese Navy''; page 92] Sea trials were complicated by various issues with her boilers, and she was commissioned into the Imperial Japanese Navy on 26 June 1894 despite the fact that one of her boilers had yet to be repaired after having failed in testing.
First Sino-Japanese War
''Hashidate'' was rushed into service just prior to the start of the First Sino-Japanese War
The First Sino-Japanese War (25 July 1894 – 17 April 1895) was a conflict between China and Japan primarily over influence in Korea. After more than six months of unbroken successes by Japanese land and naval forces and the loss of the po ...
and saw combat in the Battle of the Yalu River under the command of Commander Hidaka Sōnojō. Assigned in fourth place in the Japanese line of battle
The line of battle is a tactic in naval warfare in which a fleet of ships forms a line end to end. The first example of its use as a tactic is disputed—it has been variously claimed for dates ranging from 1502 to 1652. Line-of-battle tacti ...
, after ''Matsushima'', and ''Itsukushima'', the shortcomings of her design soon became evident. During the battle, she was able to fire her Canet gun only four times, failing to hit any of the Chinese ships.[Paine, ''The Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895: Perception, Power, and Primacy'' page 133-134] After ''Matsushima'' was damaged, ''Hashidate'' became flagship
A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically the fi ...
for Admiral Itō Sukeyuki
Marshal-Admiral Count (20 May 1843 – 16 January 1914) was a Japanese career officer and admiral in the Imperial Japanese Navy in Meiji-period Japan.
Biography
Born in what is now part of Kagoshima City as the son of a ''samurai'' of the Sa ...
. During the battle, she suffered eleven hits, which killed three crewmen (including two officers) and wounded nine others.
''Hashidate'' remained flagship after the battle, escorting Japanese forces for the Battle of Lushunkou
A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and forc ...
and providing ground support against the land fortifications of Dalian
Dalian () is a major sub-provincial port city in Liaoning province, People's Republic of China, and is Liaoning's second largest city (after the provincial capital Shenyang) and the third-most populous city of Northeast China. Located on the ...
harbor on 6/7 November. During the Battle of Weihaiwei
The Battle of Weihaiwei (Japanese: was a battle of the First Sino-Japanese War. It took place between 20 January and 12 February 1895, in Weihai, Shandong Province, China, between the forces of Japan and Qing China. In early January 1895, the ...
on 30 January 1895 and again on 7 February, ''Hashidate'' bombarded the land fortresses guarding Weihaiwei harbor, and later entered the harbor itself to accept the Chinese surrender on 12 February.
Interwar years
''Hashidate'' underwent repairs immediately after the end of the war to address her boiler issues; however, she was still unable to achieve more than , and was downgraded to a 2nd class cruiser on 21 March 1898. She participated in large-scale naval maneuvers in April 1900 practicing the techniques of a naval blockade
A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions. It includ ...
in Yokosuka harbor. However, she was withheld from participation in the expeditionary force against the Boxer Rebellion
The Boxer Rebellion, also known as the Boxer Uprising, the Boxer Insurrection, or the Yihetuan Movement, was an anti-foreign, anti-colonial, and anti-Christian uprising in China between 1899 and 1901, towards the end of the Qing dynasty, by ...
in 1900 due to issues again with her boilers.
On 25 February 1901, ''Hashidate'', and ''Itsukushima'' departed Yokosuka
is a city in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan.
, the city has a population of 409,478, and a population density of . The total area is . Yokosuka is the 11th most populous city in the Greater Tokyo Area, and the 12th in the Kantō region.
The city ...
on a long-distance navigational training exercise which took them to Manila
Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populate ...
, Batavia
Batavia may refer to:
Historical places
* Batavia (region), a land inhabited by the Batavian people during the Roman Empire, today part of the Netherlands
* Batavia, Dutch East Indies, present-day Jakarta, the former capital of the Dutch East In ...
, Hong Kong
Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...
, Chelumpo, Pusan
Busan (), officially known as is South Korea's most populous city after Seoul, with a population of over 3.4 million inhabitants. Formerly romanized as Pusan, it is the economic, cultural and educational center of southeastern South Korea, ...
, Gensan
Wŏnsan (), previously known as Wŏnsanjin (), Port Lazarev, and Genzan (), is a port city and naval base located in Kangwŏn Province, North Korea, along the eastern side of the Korean Peninsula, on the Sea of Japan and the provincial capital ...
, and Vladivostok
Vladivostok ( rus, Владивосто́к, a=Владивосток.ogg, p=vɫədʲɪvɐˈstok) is the largest city and the administrative center of Primorsky Krai, Russia. The city is located around the Zolotoy Rog, Golden Horn Bay on the Sea ...
, returning to Yokosuka on 14 August 1901.
In 1902, her six boilers were completely replaced by eight Japanese-designed Miyabara Water-tube boiler
A high pressure watertube boiler (also spelled water-tube and water tube) is a type of boiler in which water circulates in tubes heated externally by the fire. Fuel is burned inside the furnace, creating hot gas which boils water in the steam-gene ...
s, becoming the first ship in the Japanese navy to receive this upgrade.[ In speed trials, on 20 October 1902, she was able to attain a speed of , which she had never been able to attain before, even when new. Also during this overhaul, her secondary armament was replaced by two 76-mm guns and 18 ]QF 3-pounder Hotchkiss
The QF 3-pounder Hotchkiss or in French use Canon Hotchkiss à tir rapide de 47 mm were a family of long-lived light naval guns introduced in 1886 to defend against new, small and fast vessels such as torpedo boats and later submarines. T ...
47-mm guns. She then repeated her 1901 training cruise again in 1903.
Russo-Japanese War
During the Russo-Japanese War
The Russo-Japanese War ( ja, 日露戦争, Nichiro sensō, Japanese-Russian War; russian: Ру́сско-япóнская войнá, Rússko-yapónskaya voyná) was fought between the Empire of Japan and the Russian Empire during 1904 and 1 ...
, the obsolete ''Hashidate'' (under the command of Captain Katō Sadakichi
Baron was an admiral in the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War I. His brother, Katō Yasuhisa, was a general in the Imperial Japanese Army, and his adoptive son was the biological son of Admiral Dewa Shigetō.
Biography
Katō was born in ...
) and her sister ships were assigned to the 5th squadron of the reserve IJN 3rd Fleet
The was a fleet of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN), which was created, and subsequently disbanded on six separate occasions and revived on five separate occasions.
=History=
Russo-Japanese War
First established on 28 December 1903, the 3rd Fl ...
, together with the equally outdated ironclad
An ironclad is a steam engine, steam-propelled warship protected by Wrought iron, iron or steel iron armor, armor plates, constructed from 1859 to the early 1890s. The ironclad was developed as a result of the vulnerability of wooden warships ...
battleship under the command of Admiral Kataoka Shichirō. She was based at Takeshiki Guard District The was a navy base for the Imperial Japanese Navy located in the former (now part of present-day Tsushima, Nagasaki), on Tsushima Island, during the Russo-Japanese War. The Takeshiki Guard District was responsible for the control of the strateg ...
on Tsushima and patrolled the Korea Strait
The Korea Strait is a sea passage in East Asia between Korea and Japan, connecting the East China Sea, the Yellow Sea and the Sea of Japan in the northwest Pacific Ocean. The strait is split by the Tsushima Island into the Western Channel and t ...
in February, and escorted transports of the Japanese Second Army
The was an army of the Imperial Japanese Army. It was raised and demobilized on four occasions.
History
The Japanese 2nd Army was initially raised during the First Sino-Japanese War from September 27, 1894, to May 14, 1895, under the command o ...
to the Korean Peninsula
Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...
through the end of May. Afterwards, she was part of the fleet at the blockade of Port Arthur, engaging the Russian cruiser on 9 July. While on patrol on 10 August, ''Hashidate'' was one of the first Japanese ships to spot the Russian squadron, leading to the Battle of the Yellow Sea
The Battle of the Yellow Sea ( ja, 黄海海戦, Kōkai kaisen; russian: Бой в Жёлтом море) was a major naval battle of the Russo-Japanese War, fought on 10 August 1904. In the Russian Navy, it was referred to as the Battle of 10 A ...
. She was too far away during the first stage of the battle, but was able to open fire and pursue the retreating Russian ships to Port Arthur, albeit without any success. On 10 December, together with ''Itsukushima'', she assisted the cruiser , which had struck a mine.
During the Battle of Tsushima
The Battle of Tsushima (Japanese:対馬沖海戦, Tsushimaoki''-Kaisen'', russian: Цусимское сражение, ''Tsusimskoye srazheniye''), also known as the Battle of Tsushima Strait and the Naval Battle of Sea of Japan (Japanese: 日 ...
, on 27 May 1905, ''Hashidate'' attacked the rear of the Russian formation, scoring hits on the cruiser , and later assisting in the sinking of the battleship and repair ship ''Kamchatka''.[Howarth, ''The Fighting Ships of the Rising Sun''] During the battle, ''Hashidate'' was hit twice, wounding a midshipman and six crewmen.
Later assigned to the IJN 4th Fleet, ''Hashidate'' was part of the flotilla that provided protection for the Japanese invasion of Sakhalin from July–August 1905. ''Hashidate'' returned to Yokosuka Naval Arsenal for repairs on 20 October, and participated in a naval review
A fleet review or naval review is an event where a gathering of ships from a particular navy is paraded and reviewed by an incumbent head of state and/or other official civilian and military dignitaries. A number of national navies continue to ...
in Yokohama on 23 October 1905 celebrating the Japanese victory in the war.
Final years
After the end of the war, ''Hashidate'' was assigned again to be used as a long-distance navigational training vessel. She made training cruisers to Southeast Asia and Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
in 1906 and 1907, and made a voyage in 1908 to Hong Kong, Penang, Ceylon, Batavia, Manila and Taiwan. In 1909, her 47-mm guns were replaced by 76-mm guns.
On 28 August 1912, ''Hashidate'' was re-classified as a 2nd class '' kaibokan''. She was struck from the navy list
A Navy Directory, formerly the Navy List or Naval Register is an official list of naval officers, their ranks and seniority, the ships which they command or to which they are appointed, etc., that is published by the government or naval autho ...
on 1 April 1922, and sent to the breakers in 1927.
Notes
References
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Hashidate
Matsushima-class cruisers
Ships built by Yokosuka Naval Arsenal
1891 ships
Naval ships of Japan
First Sino-Japanese War cruisers of Japan
Russo-Japanese War cruisers of Japan