was an iron-hulled, steam gunboat, serving in the early

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 ...

. page 115 She was the lead vessel in the four vessel , and was named after

Mount Maya is a mountain in Kobe, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. This mountain is one of the major peaks of the Rokkō Mountains, and is the most popular peak for visitors on the West-Rokkō Mountains. Outline Mount Maya is one of the two centers in Rokk ...

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 ...

Background

''Maya'' was an iron-ribbed, iron-sheathed, two-masted gunboat with a horizontal double expansion reciprocating

steam engine A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a cylinder. This pushing force can be trans ...

with two cylindrical boilers driving two screws.Chesneau, ''All the World’s Fighting Ships'', p. 236. She also had two masts for a

schooner A schooner () is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: fore-and-aft rigged on all of two or more masts and, in the case of a two-masted schooner, the foremast generally being shorter than the mainmast. A common variant, the topsail schoon ...

sail rig. ''Maya'' 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 the

Onohama Shipyards was one of the first modern commercial shipyards in Japan, and was active in the early Meiji period. It was located in what is now part of Kobe, Japan. History Onohama Shipyards was established by Edward Charles Kirby, a British expatriate merch ...

in Kobe on 1 June 1885 and launched on 18 August 1886. She was completed on 20 January 1888.Nishida, ''Ships of the Imperial Japanese Navy''

Operational history

''Maya'' saw combat service in 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 ...

of 1894-1895 under the command of Lieutenant Commander Hashimoto Masaaki, patrolling between

Korea 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 ...

, Dairen and escorting Japanese transports. On 21 March 1898, ''Maya'' was re-designated as a second-class gunboat, and was used for coastal survey and patrol duties. 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 ...

of 1904-1905, ''Maya'' assisted in the

Siege of Port Arthur The siege of Port Arthur ( ja, 旅順攻囲戦, ''Ryojun Kōisen''; russian: link=no, Оборона Порт-Артура, ''Oborona Port-Artura'', August 1, 1904 – January 2, 1905) was the longest and most violent land battle of the Russ ...

, and also made a sortie up the

Yalu River The Yalu River, known by Koreans as the Amrok River or Amnok River, is a river on the border between North Korea and China. Together with the Tumen River to its east, and a small portion of Paektu Mountain, the Yalu forms the border between ...

to attack Russian positions, and was part of the Japanese fleet for the invasion of Sakhalin. Corbett, ''Maritime Operations in The Russo-Japanese War 1904-1905''. She was rearmed with four QF guns and two quadruple

1-inch Nordenfelt gun The 1-inch Nordenfelt gun was an early rapid-firing light gun intended to defend larger warships against the new small fast-moving torpedo boats in the late 1870s to the 1890s. Description The gun was an enlarged version of the successful rifl ...

s in 1906. She was removed from active combat status on 16 May 1908, and was used as a training vessel at the

Yokosuka Naval District was the first of four main administrative districts of the pre-war Imperial Japanese Navy. Its territory included Tokyo Bay and the Pacific coasts of central and northern Honshū from the Kii Peninsula to Shimokita Peninsula. Its headquarters, a ...

. ''Maya'' was removed 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 author ...

and transferred to the

Home Ministry An interior ministry (sometimes called a ministry of internal affairs or ministry of home affairs) is a government department that is responsible for internal affairs. Lists of current ministries of internal affairs Named "ministry" * Ministry ...

on 1 December 1911 for use as a police boat in

Kobe harbor The Port of Kobe is a Japanese maritime port in Kobe, Hyōgo in the Keihanshin area, backgrounded by the Hanshin Industrial Region. Located at a foothill of the range of Mount Rokkō, flat lands are limited and constructions of artificial isl ...

. She was subsequently demilitarized and sold in December 1918 to a commercial trading firm, Ikeda Shoji, who used her as a transport until she was scrapped in 1932.

Notes

References

*Corbett, Sir Julian. ''Maritime Operations in The Russo-Japanese War 1904-1905''. (1994) Originally classified, and in two volumes, *Chesneau, Roger and Eugene M. Kolesnik (editors), ''All The World's Fighting Ships 1860-1905'', Conway Maritime Press, 1979 reprinted 2002, * {{DEFAULTSORT:Maya Ships built in Japan 1886 ships First Sino-Japanese War naval ships of Japan Russo-Japanese War naval ships of Japan Naval ships of Japan Maya-class gunboats