was a Japanese wooden
paddle steamer
A paddle steamer is a steamship or steamboat powered by a steam engine that drives paddle wheels to propel the craft through the water. In antiquity, paddle wheelers followed the development of poles, oars and sails, where the first uses wer ...
warship of the
Bakumatsu
was the final years of the Edo period when the Tokugawa shogunate ended. Between 1853 and 1867, Japan ended its isolationist foreign policy known as and changed from a feudal Tokugawa shogunate to the modern empire of the Meiji government ...
and early
Meiji period
The is an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868 to July 30, 1912.
The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feudal society at risk of colonization ...
, serving with the navy of
Satsuma Domain
The , briefly known as the , was a domain (''han'') of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan during the Edo period from 1602 to 1871.
The Satsuma Domain was based at Kagoshima Castle in Satsuma Province, the core of the modern city of Kagoshima, ...
, and later with 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 originally named ''Keangsoo'' (), and was a wooden
dispatch vessel
Dispatch boats were small boats, and sometimes large ships, tasked to carry military dispatches from ship to ship or from ship to shore or, in some cases from shore to shore. Dispatch boats were employed when other means of transmitting a message w ...
built for the
Imperial Chinese Navy
The Imperial Chinese Navy was the modern navy of the Qing dynasty of China established in 1875. An Imperial naval force in China first came into existence from 1132 during the Song dynasty and existed in some form until the end of the Qing dynasty ...
. She was constructed in 1862 by Whites at
Cowes
Cowes () is an English seaport town and civil parish on the Isle of Wight. Cowes is located on the west bank of the estuary of the River Medina, facing the smaller town of East Cowes on the east bank. The two towns are linked by the Cowes Floa ...
, she formed part of the
Lay
Lay may refer to:
Places
*Lay Range, a subrange of mountains in British Columbia, Canada
*Lay, Loire, a French commune
*Lay (river), France
*Lay, Iran, a village
*Lay, Kansas, United States, an unincorporated community
People
* Lay (surname)
* ...
-
Osborn Flotilla during the
Taiping Rebellion
The Taiping Rebellion, also known as the Taiping Civil War or the Taiping Revolution, was a massive rebellion and civil war that was waged in China between the Manchu-led Qing dynasty and the Han, Hakka-led Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. It lasted fr ...
.
Design
''Keangsoo'' was the largest of the vessels which made up the Lay-Osborn Flotilla. She was
long overall
__NOTOC__
Length overall (LOA, o/a, o.a. or oa) is the maximum length of a vessel's hull measured parallel to the waterline. This length is important while docking the ship. It is the most commonly used way of expressing the size of a ship, and ...
, had a
beam
Beam may refer to:
Streams of particles or energy
*Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy
**Laser beam
*Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles
**Charged particle beam, a spatially localized grou ...
of and an average
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 vessel ...
of . She
displaced . The propulsion system consisted of a
oscillating cylinder steam engine
An oscillating cylinder steam engine (also known as a wobbler in the US) is a simple steam-engine design (proposed by William Murdoch at the end of 18th century) that requires no valve gear. Instead the cylinder rocks, or oscillates, as the cra ...
, built by
Day & Co. of
Southampton
Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...
, equipped with four
boilers
A boiler is a closed vessel in which fluid (generally water) is heated. The fluid does not necessarily boil. The heated or vaporized fluid exits the boiler for use in various processes or heating applications, including water heating, central h ...
; however during trials she was demonstrated at producing up to . Her engines produced an average cruising speed of , while on two boilers she could operate at an average speed of .
The main armament on the vessel were two
mounted
Mount is often used as part of the name of specific mountains, e.g. Mount Everest.
Mount or Mounts may also refer to:
Places
* Mount, Cornwall, a village in Warleggan parish, England
* Mount, Perranzabuloe, a hamlet in Perranzabuloe parish, C ...
smoothbore
A smoothbore weapon is one that has a barrel without rifling. Smoothbores range from handheld firearms to powerful tank guns and large artillery mortars.
History
Early firearms had smoothly bored barrels that fired projectiles without signi ...
muzzle-loading
A muzzleloader is any firearm into which the projectile and the propellant charge is loaded from the muzzle of the gun (i.e., from the forward, open end of the gun's barrel). This is distinct from the modern (higher tech and harder to make) design ...
68-pounder gun
The 68-pounder cannon was an artillery piece designed and used by the British Armed Forces in the mid-19th century. The cannon was a smoothbore muzzle-loading gun manufactured in several weights, the most common being , and fired projectiles of ...
s. Her secondary armament consisted of four
18-pounder long gun
The 18-pounder long gun was an intermediary calibre piece of naval artillery mounted on warships of the Age of Sail. They were used as main guns on the most typical frigates of the early 19th century, on the second deck of third-rate ships of the ...
s.
Construction and career
Lay-Osborn Flotilla
''Keangsoo'' was a wooden
dispatch vessel
Dispatch boats were small boats, and sometimes large ships, tasked to carry military dispatches from ship to ship or from ship to shore or, in some cases from shore to shore. Dispatch boats were employed when other means of transmitting a message w ...
, laid down at Whites' shipyard at
Cowes
Cowes () is an English seaport town and civil parish on the Isle of Wight. Cowes is located on the west bank of the estuary of the River Medina, facing the smaller town of East Cowes on the east bank. The two towns are linked by the Cowes Floa ...
on the
Isle of Wight
The Isle of Wight ( ) is a county in the English Channel, off the coast of Hampshire, from which it is separated by the Solent. It is the largest and second-most populous island of England. Referred to as 'The Island' by residents, the Isle of ...
in 1862 and launched on March 5, 1863. Whites had become well known for winning contracts with the
Ottoman Navy during the 1850s. She was the flagship of the Lay-Osborn Flotilla, the name given to a grouping of vessels which had been arranged to be sent to China by
Horatio Nelson Lay
Horatio Nelson Lay (23 January 1832 – 4 May 1898, Forest Hill, Kent, England) was a British diplomat, noted for his role in the ill-fated "Lay-Osborn Flotilla" during the Taiping Rebellion.
Biography Early life
Horatio Nelson Lay was born in ...
, then the Inspector General of Customs for Imperial China, to help suppress the ongoing
Taiping Rebellion
The Taiping Rebellion, also known as the Taiping Civil War or the Taiping Revolution, was a massive rebellion and civil war that was waged in China between the Manchu-led Qing dynasty and the Han, Hakka-led Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. It lasted fr ...
.
Prince Gong
Yixin (11January 1833– 29May 1898), better known in English as PrinceKung or Gong, was an imperial prince of the Aisin Gioro clan and an important statesman of the Manchu-led Qing dynasty in China. He was a regent of the empire from 1861 to 18 ...
of the
Qing Dynasty
The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...
gave permission for Lay to proceed with this task, and provided the funds to procure the ships. While some, such as
HMS ''Africa'' (subsequently renamed ''China'') were purchased from 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 ...
, ''Keangsoo'' was one of three dispatch vessels alongside
''Tientsin'' and
''Kwangtung'' which were procured as new builds. Permission was given by the British Government to enlist British sailors for the Chinese flotilla, and Captain
Sherard Osborn
Sherard Osborn (25 April 1822 – 6 May 1875) was a Royal Navy admiral and Arctic explorer.
Biography
Born in Madras, he was the son of an Indian army officer. Osborn entered the navy as a first-class volunteer in 1837, serving until 18 ...
was co-opted to command the fleet, with the ship under the direct command of Charles Stuart Forbes.
''Keangsoo'' underwent trials in May 1863 while underway to China. There was a problem in the command structure for the fleet, since the Chinese Government expected to receive the vessels directly under their own command, and had already assigned new commanding officers and names for the ships. However, Lay and Osborn agreed that Osborn would only accept orders from Lay, and he in turn would only pass orders on from the Chinese Government if he agreed with them on an individual basis. The ships reached
Shanghai
Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...
in September, where it was renamed ''Chen Wu'' () by the Chinese government. The Chinese refused to provide stores or funds since Osborn would not accept a new Chinese commander. When the authorities attempted to bribe the enlisted men from the fleet to join them, Osborn sent it to Chefoo (now
Yantai
Yantai, Postal Map Romanization, formerly romanization of Chinese, known as Chefoo, is a coastal prefecture-level city on the Shandong Peninsula in northeastern Shandong province of People's Republic of China. Lying on the southern coast of ...
). Following the intervention of a British minister, the fleet was ordered to depart for India with Osborn taking ''Keangsoo'', ''Kwangtung'', ''
Amoy
Xiamen ( , ; ), also known as Amoy (, from Hokkien pronunciation ), is a sub-provincial city in southeastern Fujian, People's Republic of China, beside the Taiwan Strait. It is divided into six districts: Huli, Siming, Jimei, Tong'an, ...
'' and the
yacht
A yacht is a sailing or power vessel used for pleasure, cruising, or racing. There is no standard definition, though the term generally applies to vessels with a cabin intended for overnight use. To be termed a , as opposed to a , such a pleasu ...
''Thule'' to Bombay (now
Mumbai
Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...
). The ''Keangsoo'' was then laid up alongside the other remaining vessels of the flotilla, since their sales were embargoed until the end of the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...
. She was then acquired by her Captain Forbes once again, following the end of the conflict in 1865.
Boshin War
While at
Nagasaki
is the capital and the largest city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan.
It became the sole port used for trade with the Portuguese and Dutch during the 16th through 19th centuries. The Hidden Christian Sites in the ...
, ''Keangsoo'' was purchased by
Matsukata Masayoshi
Prince was a Japanese politician who was Prime Minister of Japan from 1891 to 1892 and 1896 to 1898.
Early life
Matsukata Masayoshi was born on 25 February 1835, in Arata, Kagoshima, Satsuma Province (present-day Shimoarata, Kagoshima, Kagoshi ...
, a leading
Satsuma Satsuma may refer to:
* Satsuma (fruit), a citrus fruit
* ''Satsuma'' (gastropod), a genus of land snails
Places Japan
* Satsuma, Kagoshima, a Japanese town
* Satsuma District, Kagoshima, a district in Kagoshima Prefecture
* Satsuma Domain, a sout ...
''
samurai
were the hereditary military nobility and officer caste of medieval and early-modern Japan from the late 12th century until their abolition in 1876. They were the well-paid retainers of the '' daimyo'' (the great feudal landholders). They h ...
'', on November 3, 1867, for the amount of 160,000
''ryō'' (approx $250,000 at then current exchange rates), whence she was renamed ''Kasuga Maru''. With a speed of , and six cannons, she was faster than anything in the
Tokugawa shogunate
The Tokugawa shogunate (, Japanese 徳川幕府 ''Tokugawa bakufu''), also known as the , was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Tokugawa-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia ...
Navy, and Matsukata intended to convert her into a warship. However, already alarmed by the high cost, as the price was four times the budget Matsukata had been authorized, he was overruled by the
Shimazu clan
The were the ''daimyō'' of the Satsuma han, which spread over Satsuma, Ōsumi and Hyūga provinces in Japan.
The Shimazu were identified as one of the '' tozama'' or outsider ''daimyō'' familiesAppert, Georges ''et al.'' (1888). in contrast ...
elders. She was assigned to be used as a cargo ship. In disgust, Matsukata gave up command of the ship he had bought, only to see it converted into a warship just a few months later under the command of his assistant, Akatsuka Genroku.
''Kasuga Maru'' entered
Hyōgo harbour in January 1868, where she was blockaded by three ships of the Tokugawa Navy: , and .
Tōgō Heihachirō
Marshal-Admiral Marquis , served as a '' gensui'' or admiral of the fleet in the Imperial Japanese Navy and became one of Japan's greatest naval heroes. He claimed descent from Samurai Shijo Kingo, and he was an integral part of preserving ...
, future
Admiral of the Fleet, joined the ship on January 3 as a third-class officer and a gunner. The night of January 3, ''Kasuga Maru'' escaped from Hyōgo harbour with two other ships. She was spotted by ''Kaiyō Maru'', which chased her into Awa Strait. The two ships exchanged fire at a distance of 1,200-2,500 meters, without any actual hits. The exchange was named the
Naval Battle of Awa
The occurred on 28 January 1868 during the Boshin War in Japan, in the area of Awa Bay near Osaka. Involving ships of the Tokugawa shogunate and Satsuma vessels loyal to the imperial court in Kyoto, the battle was the second naval battle in Ja ...
and was the first naval battle in Japan between two modern fleets. ''Kasuga Maru'' returned to
Kagoshima
, abbreviated to , is the capital city of Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan. Located at the southwestern tip of the island of Kyushu, Kagoshima is the largest city in the prefecture by some margin. It has been nicknamed the "Naples of the Eastern wor ...
after that exchange.
In March 1869, ''Kasuga Maru'' participated in the expedition against the last remnants of the pro-Tokugawa forces in
Hokkaido
is Japan's second largest island and comprises the largest and northernmost prefecture, making up its own region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu; the two islands are connected by the undersea railway Seikan Tunnel.
The la ...
, where they had formed the
Republic of Ezo
The was a short-lived separatist state established in 1869 on the island of Ezo, now Hokkaido, by a part of the former military of the Tokugawa shogunate at the end of the ''Bakumatsu'' period in Japan. It was the first government to attempt t ...
with the support of a few French military advisors such as
Jules Brunet
Jules Brunet (2 January 1838 – 12 August 1911) was a French military officer who served the Tokugawa shogunate during the Boshin War in Japan. Originally sent to Japan as an artillery instructor with the French military mission of 1867, he ref ...
. While at
Miyako Bay
is a bay in Iwate Prefecture, in the northern Tōhoku region of northern Japan. It is a long and narrow, roughly triangular body of water extending southwest to northeast where it opens to the Pacific Ocean. The forms its southern border and fo ...
, the expedition suffered a surprise attack by the Bakufu ship . ''Kaiten'' attacked the state-of-the art
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 ...
ship , but she was repulsed by
Gatling gun
The Gatling gun is a rapid-firing multiple-barrel firearm invented in 1861 by Richard Jordan Gatling. It is an early machine gun and a forerunner of the modern electric motor-driven rotary cannon.
The Gatling gun's operation centered on a cyc ...
s on board the ''Kōtetsu'' and cannon response by ''Kasuga Maru''. The encounter has been named the
Naval Battle of Miyako Bay
The was a naval action on 6 May 1869, in which samurai loyalists of the former Tokugawa shogunate under the flag of the newly formed Republic of Ezo failed to take over the , the flagship of the Imperial forces of the new Meiji government. It wa ...
. After these events ''Kasuga Maru'' participated in the
Naval Battle of Hakodate Bay
The was fought from 4 to 10 May 1869, between the remnants of the Tokugawa shogunate navy, consolidated into the armed forces of the rebel Ezo Republic, and the newly formed Imperial Japanese Navy. It was one of the last stages of Battle of H ...
in May 1869, until the surrender of the last forces of the Republic of Ezo.
Imperial Japanese Navy
In April 1870, ''Kasuga Maru'' was transferred from the Satsuma Domain to the
Meiji government
The was the government that was formed by politicians of the Satsuma Domain and Chōshū Domain in the 1860s. The Meiji government was the early government of the Empire of Japan.
Politicians of the Meiji government were known as the Meiji o ...
and assigned to the newly formed Imperial Japanese Navy, and was renamed ''Kasuga'' at that time. In 1872, under the command of
Itō Toshiyoshi
Baron was an admiral in the early Imperial Japanese Navy, and served as the first Chief of the Imperial Japanese Navy General Staff in the late 19th century.
Biography
Itō was born in Tanabe Domain, in what is now part of Maizuru city, Kyot ...
, she carried Japanese envoys to
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 ...
as part of Japan's ongoing attempts to obtain
diplomatic recognition
Diplomatic recognition in international law is a unilateral declarative political act of a state that acknowledges an act or status of another state or government in control of a state (may be also a recognized state). Recognition can be accorde ...
from
Joseon dynasty
Joseon (; ; Middle Korean: 됴ᇢ〯션〮 Dyǒw syéon or 됴ᇢ〯션〯 Dyǒw syěon), officially the Great Joseon (; ), was the last dynastic kingdom of Korea, lasting just over 500 years. It was founded by Yi Seong-gye in July 1392 and re ...
Korea. The failure of this mission was one of the underlying factors in the subsequent
Ganghwa Island incident
The Ganghwa Island incident or the Japanese Battle of Ganghwa ( ko, 운요호 사건 揚號事件} ''Unyo-ho sageon'' meaning "'' Un'yō'' incident"; ja, 江華島 ''Kōka-tō jiken''), was an armed clash between the Joseon dynasty of Kore ...
of 1875, during which ''Kasuga'' was assigned to blockade the port of
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 ...
. Under the command of
Inoue Yoshika
Marshal Admiral Viscount was a career naval officer and admiral in the Imperial Japanese Navy during Meiji-period Japan.
Biography
Born in what is now part of Kagoshima city, as the son of a ''samurai'' retainer of the Satsuma Domain, Inoue ...
, ''Kasuga'' was also one of the ships which participated in the
Taiwan Expedition of 1874
The Japanese punitive expedition to Taiwan in 1874, referred to in Japan as the and in Taiwan and Mainland China as the Mudan incident (), was a punitive expedition launched by the Japanese in retaliation for the murder of 54 Ryukyuan sailo ...
.
''Kasuga'' was demobilized in 1894 and then assigned to the mine-laying group at the
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 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 ...
. She was sold for scrap in 1902.
Notes
References
*
*Haraguchi, Izumi. ''The Influence of the Civil War in the US on the Meiji Restoration in Japan''. South Pacific Study Vo.16 No.1 (1995
*Jane, Frederick Thomas. ''The Imperial Japanese Navy''. Nabu Press (2010 reprint of 1923 edition)
*
*
*Reischauer, Haru Matsukata. ''Samurai and Silk: A Japanese and American Heritage''. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1986. .
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kasuga
Naval ships of Imperial China
Ships of the Imperial Japanese Navy
Ships built on the Isle of Wight
Paddle steamers
1862 ships
Naval ships of Japan
Ships of the Satsuma Domain Navy
1862 in Japan
Naval ships of China