was the third and final vessel built of the
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 of 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 ...
. ''Hirado'' had two
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 . She was named for after the island of
Hirado, Nagasaki
is a city located in Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan. The part historically named Hirado is located on Hirado Island. With recent mergers, the city's boundaries have expanded, and Hirado now occupies parts of the main island of Kyushu. The components ...
.
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
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 ...
. ''Hirado'' was the last protected cruiser built for the Imperial Japanese Navy. Designed shortly after 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 ...
, 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 ...
at
Kawasaki Shipbuilding Corporation
is the shipbuilding subsidiary of Kawasaki Heavy Industries. It produces primarily specialized commercial vessels, including LNG carriers, LPG carriers, container ships, bulk carriers, oil tankers, as well as high speed passenger jetfoils. In a ...
in
Kobe
Kobe ( , ; officially , ) is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture Japan. With a population around 1.5 million, Kobe is Japan's seventh-largest city and the third-largest port city after Tokyo and Yokohama. It is located in Kansai region, whic ...
on 10 August 1910,
launched on 29 June 1911 and entered service on 17 June 1912.
Design
![Japanese cruiser Hirado 1912](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ec/Japanese_cruiser_Hirado_1912.jpg)
The basic design of the ''Chikuma''-class cruisers was modeled after the
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...
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 hull with an overall length of and width of , with a normal displacement of 5040 tons and
draft
Draft, The Draft, or Draught may refer to:
Watercraft dimensions
* Draft (hull), the distance from waterline to keel of a vessel
* Draft (sail), degree of curvature in a sail
* Air draft, distance from waterline to the highest point on a vesse ...
of .
''Hirado'' was propelled by two Curtis
steam turbine
A steam turbine is a machine that extracts thermal energy from pressurized steam and uses it to do mechanical work on a rotating output shaft. Its modern manifestation was invented by Charles Parsons in 1884. Fabrication of a modern steam turbin ...
engines (produced by
Kawasaki, with a total capacity of , which drove two screws. The engine had 16
Kampon boilers. These newly developed engines gave the ship an incredible (for the time) speed in trials,
[Conway, '' Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921'', page 237] but problems with material strength in the gears of the new engines created a maintenance nightmare, and ''Hirado'' could seldom live up to her potential.
The ship was armed with eight
15 cm/45 41st Year Type guns, one each fore and aft, and three 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 each side of the hull. Ships of the ''Chikuma'' class were unusual in having the same weapons for their side armament as for their
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 ...
. These gun were supplemented by four
s and two 7.7 mm
Lewis guns. In addition, she carried three
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, su ...
launchers with torpedoes. After 1919, two
8 cm/40 3rd Year Type naval gun
The Type 41 naval gun otherwise known as the 8 cm/40 3rd Year Type naval gun was a Japanese dual-purpose gun introduced before World War I. Although designated as , its shells were in diameter.
Design
The Japanese Type 41 naval gun oth ...
were added for anti-aircraft defense abeam of the fourth funnel, replacing three of the 12-pounders.
[
]
Service record
''Hirado'' participated in 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 fightin ...
, as part of Japan's contribution to the Allied
An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...
war effort under the Anglo-Japanese Alliance
The first was an alliance between Britain and Japan, signed in January 1902. The alliance was signed in London at Lansdowne House on 30 January 1902 by Lord Lansdowne, British Foreign Secretary, and Hayashi Tadasu, Japanese diplomat. A dip ...
. She was in the Japanese squadron which gave chase to the German East Asia Squadron
The German East Asia Squadron (german: Kreuzergeschwader / Ostasiengeschwader) was an Imperial German Navy cruiser squadron which operated mainly in the Pacific Ocean between the mid-1890s until 1914, when it was destroyed at the Battle of the Fa ...
led by Admiral Graf Maximilian von Spee
Maximilian Johannes Maria Hubert Reichsgraf von Spee (22 June 1861 – 8 December 1914) was a naval officer of the German ''Kaiserliche Marine'' (Imperial Navy), who commanded the East Asia Squadron during World War I. Spee entered the navy in ...
in 1914. ''Hirado'' and ''Yahagi'' were in the Allied 2nd Southern Squadron led by the 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 ...
and commanded by Rear-Admiral
Rear admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, equivalent to a major general and air vice marshal and above that of a commodore and captain, but below that of a vice admiral. It is regarded as a two star "admiral" rank. It is often regarded ...
Matsumura Tatsuo Tatsuo Matsumura may refer to:
* Tatsuo Matsumura (actor) (1914–2005), Japanese actor
* Tatsuo Matsumura (admiral)
was a vice admiral in the Imperial Japanese Navy.
Biography
Matsumura was born in what is now Saga Prefecture where his father ...
, patrolling the region around Sumatra
Sumatra is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the sixth-largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 (182,812 mi.2), not including adjacent i ...
unsuccessfully for the German cruiser .
On 26 March 1917, the British Admiralty
The Admiralty was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom responsible for the command of the Royal Navy until 1964, historically under its titular head, the Lord High Admiral – one of the Great Officers of State. For much of it ...
further requested the deployment of ''Chikuma'' and ''Hirado'' to 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 ...
and New Zealand to protect shipping against German commerce raiding
Commerce raiding (french: guerre de course, "war of the chase"; german: Handelskrieg, "trade war") is a form of naval warfare used to destroy or disrupt logistics of the enemy on the open sea by attacking its merchant shipping, rather than enga ...
operations.
After the end of the war, ''Hirado'' was assigned to patrol off the east coast of Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
to provide protection and support for supply convoys to Japanese ground forces in Siberia
Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part of ...
during Japan's Siberian Intervention
The Siberian intervention or Siberian expedition of 1918–1922 was the dispatch of troops of the Entente powers to the Russian Maritime Provinces as part of a larger effort by the western powers, Japan, and China to support White Russian fo ...
against the Bolshevik
The Bolsheviks (russian: Большевики́, from большинство́ ''bol'shinstvó'', 'majority'),; derived from ''bol'shinstvó'' (большинство́), "majority", literally meaning "one of the majority". also known in English ...
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, after ...
. During the inter-war period, future Fleet Admiral Osami Nagano
was a Marshal Admiral of the Imperial Japanese Navy and one of the leaders of Japan's military during most of the Second World War. In April 1941, he became Chief of the Imperial Japanese Navy General Staff. In this capacity, he served as the n ...
was captain of ''Hirado'' from 1919 to 1920 (his only ship command),[Tucker, ''World War II:An Encyclopedia'', page 529] and by Captain Zengo Yoshida from March to December 1924.
During the 1920s and 1930s, ''Hirado'' was mostly assigned to guarding the southern approaches to Japan, and made frequent port calls 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 ...
and Macau
Macau or Macao (; ; ; ), officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (MSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. With a pop ...
. From 1932, she was reassigned to patrol the northern coast of China, as relations between Japan and China continued to deteriorate after the Manchurian Incident
The Mukden Incident, or Manchurian Incident, known in Chinese as the 9.18 Incident (九・一八), was a false flag event staged by Japanese military personnel as a pretext for the 1931 Japanese invasion of Manchuria.
On September 18, 1931, L ...
, and she was based at Ryojun Guard District
The was the major navy base for the Imperial Japanese Navy in the Kwantung Leased Territory before and during Second Sino-Japanese War. Located in at Ryojun ), (present-day Lüshunkou, China, The Ryojun Guard District was responsible for contro ...
in the Kwantung Leased Territory
The Kwantung Leased Territory ( ja, 關東州, ''Kantō-shū''; ) was a leased territory of the Empire of Japan in the Liaodong Peninsula from 1905 to 1945.
Japan first acquired Kwantung from the Qing Empire in perpetuity in 1895 in the Trea ...
. However, problems with her engines resulted in frequent stays in repair yards, and she was unable to participate in any combat operations in the Second Sino-Japanese War
The Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) or War of Resistance (Chinese term) was a military conflict that was primarily waged between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. The war made up the Chinese theater of the wider Pacific Th ...
.
Considered a reserve vessel in 1933 and used primarily for training thereafter, ''Hirado'' was officially stricken 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 1940. Re-designated ''Hai Kan No.11'', the vessel was moored as a barracks ship at Etajima
, also called , ''Nomijima'', ''Nomi Island'', or is an island in Hiroshima Bay located in southwestern Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan. The mess with island name originates from the ancient (and possibly legendary) strait at now town .
Geography
Th ...
, and then Kure
is a port and major shipbuilding city situated on the Seto Inland Sea in Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan. With a strong industrial and naval heritage, Kure hosts the second-oldest naval dockyard in Japan and remains an important base for the Japan M ...
. She was towed to Iwasaki Iwasaki (岩崎, "rock peninsula") is a Japanese surname. Notable people with the surname include:
*Akira Iwasaki (岩崎昶), Japanese film critic and producer
* Carl Iwasaki, American college baseball coach
*Chihiro Iwasaki (いわさきちひろ ...
in December 1943. The hulk was scrapped from January through April 1947 by a Tokyo-based salvage company, becoming part of the breakwater
Breakwater may refer to:
* Breakwater (structure), a structure for protecting a beach or harbour
Places
* Breakwater, Victoria, a suburb of Geelong, Victoria, Australia
* Breakwater Island
Breakwater Island () is a small island in the Palme ...
at Iwakuni port.
Notes
References
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
External links
Nav Weapons
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hirado
Chikuma-class cruisers
Ships built by Kawasaki Heavy Industries
1911 ships
World War I cruisers of Japan