was the third and final vessel in the of composite hulled, sail-and- steam corvettes of 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 ...

. It was named for

Musashi province was a province of Japan, which today comprises Tokyo Metropolis, most of Saitama Prefecture and part of Kanagawa Prefecture. It was sometimes called . The province encompassed Kawasaki and Yokohama. Musashi bordered on Kai, Kōzuke, Sagami, S ...

, a former province of Japan located in the

Kantō region The is a geographical area of Honshu, the largest island of Japan. In a common definition, the region includes the Greater Tokyo Area and encompasses seven prefectures: Gunma, Tochigi, Ibaraki, Saitama, Tokyo, Chiba and Kanagawa. Slight ...

. The name was used again for the more famous

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

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 ...

Background

''Katsuragi'' was designed as an iron-ribbed, wooden-hulled, three-masted barque-rigged

sloop-of-war In the 18th century and most of the 19th, a sloop-of-war in the Royal Navy was a warship with a single gun deck that carried up to eighteen guns. The rating system covered all vessels with 20 guns and above; thus, the term ''sloop-of-war'' enc ...

with a coal-fired 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 six cylindrical boilers driving a double screw.Chesneau, ''All the World’s Fighting Ships'', p. 233. Her basic design was based on experience gained in building and sloops, but was already somewhat obsolescent in comparison to contemporary European warships when completed. ''Musashi'' was laid down at

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 ...

on 1 October 1884 under the direction of British-educated Japanese

naval architect This is the top category for all articles related to architecture and its practitioners. {{Commons category, Architecture occupations Design occupations Architecture, Occupations ...

Sasō Sachū was a Japanese engineer and naval architect of the Meiji period and a career officer in the Imperial Japanese Navy. Biography Sasō was born in Kanazawa Domain (present day Kanazawa, Ishikawa) as the fourth son of Horio Jirobei, a samurai in t ...

. She was launched on 30 March 1886 and commissioned on 9 February 1887. He first captain was Lieutenant Commander Arima Shin'ichi.

Operational history

''Musashi'' 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, patrolling between Korea, Dairen and Weihaiwei. She was also at the Battle of Yalu River in a reserve capacity in the Western Sea Fleet. On 21 March 1898, ''Musashi'' was re-designated a third-class gunboat,Nishida, '' Ships of the Imperial Japanese Navy'' and was used for coastal survey and patrol duties. On 1 May 1902, she was driven onto a sandbar at the mouth of Nemuro Bay because of strong winds, and required three months of repairs after she was refloated. The

cruiser A cruiser is a type of warship. Modern cruisers are generally the largest ships in a fleet after aircraft carriers and amphibious assault ships, and can usually perform several roles. The term "cruiser", which has been in use for several hu ...

was also grounded in Nemuro Bay by the same storm. During the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905, ''Musashi'' served as a

guard ship A guard ship is a warship assigned as a stationary guard in a port or harbour, as opposed to a coastal patrol boat, which serves its protective role at sea. Royal Navy In the Royal Navy of the eighteenth century, peacetime guard ships were usual ...

in Hakodate harbor under the command of Lieutenant Commander Tochinai Sojirō. ''Musashi'' was refitted again in 1907, when her guns were replaced with four 3-inch and two 2.5-inch guns, and she was reclassified as a second-class coastal patrol vessel on 28 August 1912, but was used primarily for training duties. She was reclassified again on 1 April 1922 as a

survey ship A survey vessel is any type of ship or boat that is used for underwater surveys, usually to collect data for mapping or planning underwater construction or mineral extraction. It is a type of research vessel, and may be designed for the purpo ...

. She was removed from the navy list on 1 April 1928. and was designated “Hulk No.5” on 6 July. The

hulk The Hulk is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in the debut issue of ''The Incredible Hulk (comic book), The Incredible Hulk' ...

was obtained by the Ministry of Justice on 3 October and towed to Odawara, Kanagawa, where it was anchored in the harbor and used as a prison for juvenile convicts. The hulk was broken up for scrap in 1935.

Notes

References

*Chesneau, Roger and Eugene M. Kolesnik (editors), ''All The World's Fighting Ships 1860-1905'', Conway Maritime Press, 1979 reprinted 2002, * {{DEFAULTSORT:Musashi Screw sloops of the Imperial Japanese Navy 1886 ships Naval ships of Japan First Sino-Japanese War naval ships of Japan Russo-Japanese War naval ships of Japan Three-masted ships Ships built by Yokosuka Naval Arsenal Prison ships Katsuragi-class corvettes