was a
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 ...
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 surrend ...
, designed and built by the
Armstrong Whitworth
Sir W G Armstrong Whitworth & Co Ltd was a major British manufacturing company of the early years of the 20th century. With headquarters in Elswick, Newcastle upon Tyne, Armstrong Whitworth built armaments, ships, locomotives, automobiles and ...
shipyards in
Elswick, in the United Kingdom. The name ''Takasago'' derives from a location in
Hyōgo Prefecture, near
Kobe.
Background
![Takasago 8 inch gun centre pivot right elevation](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bf/Takasago_8_inch_gun_centre_pivot_right_elevation.jpg)
''Takasago'' was an improved design of the
Argentine Navy cruiser
''Veinticinco de Mayo'' designed by
Sir Philip Watts, who was also responsible for the design of the cruiser and the s. The
Chilean Navy
The Chilean Navy ( es, Armada de Chile) is the naval warfare service branch of the Chilean Armed Forces. It is under the Ministry of National Defense. Its headquarters are at Edificio Armada de Chile, Valparaiso.
History
Origins and the War ...
cruiser
''Chacabuco'' was the
sister ship to ''Takasago''; the Japanese cruiser was sometimes also regarded as a sister ship to ''Takasago'', due to the similarity in their design, armament and speed, although the two vessels were of different classes.
''Takasago'' 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 ...
in April 1896, as Elswick hull number 660, as a private venture by
Armstrong Whitworth
Sir W G Armstrong Whitworth & Co Ltd was a major British manufacturing company of the early years of the 20th century. With headquarters in Elswick, Newcastle upon Tyne, Armstrong Whitworth built armaments, ships, locomotives, automobiles and ...
, and was sold to Japan in July 1896.
Launch occurred on 18 May 1897 and she was completed on 6 April 1898.
Design
''Takasago'' was a typical Elswick cruiser design, with a steel hull, divided into 109 waterproof compartments, a low
forecastle
The forecastle ( ; contracted as fo'c'sle or fo'c's'le) is the upper deck of a sailing ship forward of the foremast, or, historically, the forward part of a ship with the sailors' living quarters. Related to the latter meaning is the phrase " be ...
, two smokestacks, and two masts. She made use of
Harvey armor
Harvey armor was a type of steel naval armor developed in the early 1890s in which the front surfaces of the plates were case hardened. The method for doing this was known as the Harvey process, and was invented by the American engineer Haywa ...
, which was intended to be able to protect against the impact of even an 8-inch armor-piercing shell. The
prow
The bow () is the forward part of the hull of a ship or boat, the point that is usually most forward when the vessel is underway. The aft end of the boat is the stern.
Prow may be used as a synonym for bow or it may mean the forward-most part ...
was reinforced for
ramming
In warfare, ramming is a technique used in air, sea, and land combat. The term originated from battering ram, a siege weapon used to bring down fortifications by hitting it with the force of the ram's momentum, and ultimately from male sheep. Thus, ...
. The power plant was a triple expansion reciprocating
steam engine with four cylindrical boilers, driving two screws.
[Chesneau, ''Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905'', page 229.] In this aspect, the design was almost identical to that of ''Yoshino'', however in terms of armament, ''Takasago'' was more heavily armed.
The
main armament of ''Takasago'' were two separate
20.3 cm/45 Type 41 naval guns behind
gun shields, which were placed on bow and stern. Secondary armament consisted of ten Elswick
QF 6 inch /40 naval gun
The QF 6-inch 40 calibre naval gun ( Quick-Firing) was used by many United Kingdom-built warships around the end of the 19th century and the start of the 20th century.
In UK service it was known as the QF 6-inch Mk I, II, III guns.Mk I, II and II ...
quick-firing guns mounted in
casemates and 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 near the bridge. ''Takasago'' was also equipped with twelve
s, six
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 ...
guns and five
torpedo tube
A torpedo tube is a cylindrical device for launching torpedoes.
There are two main types of torpedo tube: underwater tubes fitted to submarines and some surface ships, and deck-mounted units (also referred to as torpedo launchers) installed aboa ...
s.
[
]
Service record
The first overseas deployment of ''Takasago'' was in 1900, to support Japanese naval landing forces
A landing operation is a military
action during which a landing force, usually utilizing landing craft, is transferred to land with the purpose of power projection ashore. With the proliferation of aircraft, a landing may refer to amphibious for ...
which occupied the port city of Tianjin
Tianjin (; ; Mandarin: ), alternately romanized as Tientsin (), is a municipality and a coastal metropolis in Northern China on the shore of the Bohai Sea. It is one of the nine national central cities in Mainland China, with a total popu ...
in northern China during the Boxer Rebellion, as part of the Japanese contribution to the Eight-Nation Alliance.
On 7 April 1902, ''Takasago'' and were sent on a voyage to the United Kingdom, as part of the official Japanese delegation to the coronation ceremonies of King Edward VII
Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910.
The second child and eldest son of Queen Victoria a ...
, and in celebration of the Anglo-Japanese Alliance. After participating 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 ...
held at Spithead
Spithead is an area of the Solent and a roadstead off Gilkicker Point in Hampshire, England. It is protected from all winds except those from the southeast. It receives its name from the Spit, a sandbank stretching south from the Hampshire ...
on 16 August 1902 (originally scheduled from 24 to 27 June), ''Takasago'' and ''Asama'' visited numerous European and Asian ports (Singapore
Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...
, Colombo
Colombo ( ; si, කොළඹ, translit=Koḷam̆ba, ; ta, கொழும்பு, translit=Koḻumpu, ) is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. According to the Brookings Institution, Colombo m ...
, Suez, Malta
Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...
, Lisbon on the way, Antwerp, Cork and Cardiff
Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...
during their stay, and Gibraltar
)
, anthem = " God Save the King"
, song = " Gibraltar Anthem"
, image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg
, map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe
, map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green
, mapsize =
, image_map2 = Gib ...
, Naples
Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...
, Aden, Colombo, Singapore, Bangkok
Bangkok, officially known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estimated populati ...
and 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 Delta i ...
on the way back). The ships returned safely to Japan on 28 November 1902.
Russo-Japanese War
With the start of 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 ...
of 1904–1905, ''Takasago'' participated in the bombardment
A bombardment is an attack by artillery fire or by dropping bombs from aircraft on fortifications, combatants, or towns and buildings.
Prior to World War I, the term was only applied to the bombardment of defenseless or undefended objects, ...
of the Port Arthur naval base on the morning following the pre-emptive strike by Japanese destroyers against the Russian fleet in the opening stages of the naval Battle of Port Arthur
The of 8–9 February 1904 marked the commencement of the Russo-Japanese War. It began with a surprise night attack by a squadron of Japanese destroyers on the neutral Russian fleet anchored at Port Arthur, Manchuria, and continued with an e ...
, serving as flagship for Admiral Dewa Shigeto. The Japanese attack set fire to a portion of the town, and damaged a number of ships in the harbor, especially the cruisers , and , and the battleship .[Connaughton, ''Rising Sun and Tumbling Bear'' page 33]
While participating in the subsequent blockade of the Russian fleet within the confines of the harbor, ''Takasago'' captured the Russian Far East Shipping Company merchant ship ''Manchuria'', which was accepted into Japanese service as a prize of war
A prize of war is a piece of enemy property or land seized by a belligerent party during or after a war or battle, typically at sea. This term was used nearly exclusively in terms of captured ships during the 18th and 19th centuries. Basis in inte ...
and renamed ''Kantō Maru''.
On 10 March 1904, ''Takasago'' participated in an attack on the Russian cruiser . On 15 May, she participated in the rescue of survivors from the battleships and , which had struck naval mine
A naval mine is a self-contained explosive device placed in water to damage or destroy surface ships or submarines. Unlike depth charges, mines are deposited and left to wait until they are triggered by the approach of, or contact with, any ...
s. ''Takasago'' was also in 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 ...
on 10 August.
She returned to Japan for overhaul in October 1904. On returning to station on the night of 13 December 1904 after a reconnaissance mission during which it provided cover for a squadron of destroyers,[Willmont, ''The Last Century of Sea Power '' page 98] ''Takasago'' struck a naval mine
A naval mine is a self-contained explosive device placed in water to damage or destroy surface ships or submarines. Unlike depth charges, mines are deposited and left to wait until they are triggered by the approach of, or contact with, any ...
south of Port Arthur, which triggered a massive explosion in her ammunition magazine. The flooding could not be controlled, and her life boats could not be launched at night under blizzard conditions and heavy seas. ''Takasago'' sank in position , with the loss of 273 officers and crew. Some 162 survivors were rescued by the accompanying cruiser . ''Takasago'' was the last major Japanese warship lost in the Russo-Japanese War. Future Russian Admiral Aleksandr Kolchak
Alexander Vasilyevich Kolchak (russian: link=no, Александр Васильевич Колчак; – 7 February 1920) was an Imperial Russian admiral, military leader and polar explorer who served in the Imperial Russian Navy and fought ...
, then a minesweeper captain at Port Arthur with the Russian Pacific Squadron, was credited with having placed the mine, and was awarded the prestigious Order of St Anna
The Imperial Order of Saint Anna (russian: Орден Святой Анны; also "Order of Saint Anne" or "Order of Saint Ann") was a Holstein ducal and then Russian imperial order of chivalry. It was established by Karl Friedrich, Duke of Hol ...
and Sword of St George for the action.[Kusnezov, ''Reeds in the Wind'' page 43]
Gallery
File:Japanese cruiser Takasago at Portsmouth.jpg, At Portsmouth
File:Japanese cruiser Takasago by Albert Reuben Martin.jpg, At Portsmouth
File:IJN Takasago in Taiwan.jpg, In Taiwan
File:Japanese cruiser Takasago in 1896.jpg, In 1896
Notes
References
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External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Takasago
Cruisers of the Imperial Japanese Navy
Ships built by Armstrong Whitworth
Ships built on the River Tyne
1897 ships
Naval ships of Japan
Russo-Japanese War cruisers of Japan
Ships sunk by mines
Shipwrecks in the Yellow Sea
Maritime incidents in 1904
Shipwrecks of the Russo-Japanese War
Naval magazine explosions