, was the first

submarine tender A submarine tender is a type of depot ship that supplies and supports submarines. Development Submarines are small compared to most oceangoing vessels, and generally do not have the ability to carry large amounts of food, fuel, torpedoes, and ...

operated by 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 ...

. She was named after a cape on northern

Tsushima Island is an island of the Japanese archipelago situated in-between the Tsushima Strait and Korea Strait, approximately halfway between Kyushu and the Korean Peninsula. The main island of Tsushima, once a single island, was divided into two in 1671 b ...

Background

The Imperial Japanese Navy received its first submarines 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 ...

, but these vessels were not operational until after the war ended. During the post-war period,

submarine warfare Submarine warfare is one of the four divisions of underwater warfare, the others being anti-submarine warfare, mine warfare and mine countermeasures. Submarine warfare consists primarily of diesel and nuclear submarines using torpedoes, missi ...

was given a low priority for development, as the early submarines were regarded as unsafe, and useful only for short-range coastal point defense.Peatty, ''Kaigun'', p. 114 However, the small Japanese submarine force required a support vessel, and ''Karasaki'' was modified for this role.

Design

''Karasaki'' had an overall length of , and beam of , with a nominal displacement of and draught of . She had a clipper bow, single stack, and two masts for auxiliary sail propulsion.

Operational career

''Karasaki'' was launched on 30 January 1896 by the

Hawthorn Leslie and Company R. & W. Hawthorn, Leslie and Company, Limited, usually referred to as Hawthorn Leslie, was a shipbuilder and locomotive manufacturer. The company was founded on Tyneside in 1886 and ceased building ships in 1982. History The company was formed ...

Newcastle on Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is als ...

in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

, as a combined passenger/cargo vessel ship named the SS ''Ekaterinoslav'' (russian: Екатеринослав) for the Russian Volunteer Fleet, a

ship transport Maritime transport (or ocean transport) and hydraulic effluvial transport, or more generally waterborne transport, is the transport of people (passengers) or goods (cargo) via waterways. Freight transport by sea has been widely used throu ...

association established in the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

in 1878, and funded from voluntary contributions collected by subscription.Jentsura, ''Warships of the Imperial Japanese Navy'', p. 216 On 6 February 1904, two days before the official start of the

, ''Ekaterinoslav'' was captured by the

off

Busan 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, w ...

. Due to her relatively new age, good condition and large capacity, she was immediately pressed into service as a transport with the unofficial name of ''Karasaki Maru'', moving troops and war materials from the

Japanese home islands The Japanese archipelago (Japanese: 日本列島, ''Nihon rettō'') is a group of 6,852 islands that form the country of Japan, as well as the Russian island of Sakhalin. It extends over from the Sea of Okhotsk in the northeast to the East Chi ...

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 ...

and the

Liaodong Peninsula The Liaodong Peninsula (also Liaotung Peninsula, ) is a peninsula in southern Liaoning province in Northeast China, and makes up the southwestern coastal half of the Liaodong region. It is located between the mouths of the Daliao River (the ...

in support of the

Imperial Japanese Army The was the official ground-based armed force of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945. It was controlled by the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office and the Ministry of the Army, both of which were nominally subordinate to the Emperor o ...

. She served in this capacity to October 1904. At the end of 1904, ''Karasaki Maru'' was sent to 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 ...

for conversion into a submarine tender. She was officially commissioned into the Imperial Japanese Navy on 4 July 1905. On 8 March 1906, she was renamed ''Karasaki'', and was officially re-designated as a

torpedo boat tender The torpedo boat tender was a type of warship developed at the end of the 19th century to help bring small torpedo boats to the high seas, and launch them for attack. During the Turko-Russian war in 1877, the Russians requisitioned 19 trade ve ...

. In August 1912, the Imperial Japanese Navy abolished the torpedo boat tender classification, and ''Karasaki'' was re-designated as a second-class '' kaibokan''. However, the designation of torpedo boat tender was revived in April 1920. From 1924, ''Karasaki'' was then assigned to the submarine training school at

Kure Naval District was the second of four main administrative districts of the pre-war Imperial Japanese Navy. Its territory included the Seto Inland Sea, Inland Sea of Japan and the Pacific Ocean, Pacific coasts of southern Honshū from Wakayama prefecture, Wakayam ...

, and from 1 December 1924, was again officially designated as a submarine tender. ''Karasaki'' was transferred to the reserves from 15 November 1934. She was struck from the

Navy Directory 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 ...

on 1 April 1939. Her demilitarized hulk was named ''Haikan No.9'' and was moored at

Kure Naval Base was the second of four main administrative districts of the pre-war Imperial Japanese Navy. Its territory included the Inland Sea of Japan and the Pacific coasts of southern Honshū from Wakayama to Yamaguchi prefectures, eastern and northern Kyū ...

as a floating barracks. She was scrapped in 1942.

References

* * * ''Ships of the World special issue Vol.47, Auxiliary Vessels of the Imperial Japanese Navy'', , (Japan), March 1997

External links

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Karasaki Submarine tenders of the Imperial Japanese Navy 1896 ships Ships built on the River Tyne Captured ships