Japanese gunboat Katada

was a river gunboat of the Imperial Japanese Navy, part of the 11th Gunboat ''Sentai'', that operated on the Yangtze River in China during the 1920s, and during the Second Sino-Japanese War and World War II.

Background

''Katata'' was the second of the river gunboats built under the 1920 Fleet Building Program of the Imperial Japanese Navy for operations on the inland waterways of China.Jentsura, ''Warships of the Imperial Japanese Navy''; page 120

Design

The basic design of ''Katata'' was modeled after that of the gunboat , with the same general dimensions and layout. ''Katata'' had a hull with an overall length of and width of , with a normal displacement of 338 tons and draft of . She was propelled by two reciprocating engines with two Kampon boilers driving three shafts, producing and had a top speed of 16 knots.

The ship was initially armed with two /28 cal. guns and six 7.7mm machine guns.

Service record

'' Katata '' was laid down on 29 April 1922 and launched 16 July 1922 at the Harima Shipyards at Aioi, Hyogo, Japan. As the design was incapable of open ocean sailing, she was then broken down into sections and shipped to the Tunghwa Shipyard in Shanghai, where she was reassembled and completed on 20 October 1923. She was assigned to patrols of the Yangtze River from Shanghai to the Three Gorges, for commerce protection and as a show of force in protection of Japanese nationals and economic interests through the rest of the 1920s and early 1930s. ''Katata'' was commanded by Lieutenant Commander Masatomi Kimura from January to September 1932.

With the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War, ''Katata'' was based in Shanghai, and was used to evacuate Japanese residents from the interior of China. During the Battle of Shanghai, ''Katata '' bombarded Chinese positions at Shanghai on 13 August 1937. She also helped assist in the evacuation of 20,000 of Shanghai’s 30,000 Japanese civilian residents, and covered the landings of the Imperial Japanese Army’s 3rd Division, 8th Division and 11th Divisions north of Shanghai.

Around 1940, ''Katata'' was refitted with two 3.1-in/40 cal anti-aircraft guns and five 13.2 mm Hotchkiss machine guns. She was assigned to the First China Expeditionary Fleet in December 1941. On 22 June 1942, she participated in “Operation SE” and was assigned to the Tung Ting Lake task force with gunboats and . Around the end of 1943, her anti-aircraft weaponry was further upgraded with the replacement of the five Hotchkiss machine guns with six Type 96 AA guns.

On 12 December 1944 USAAF aircraft bombed and damaged ''Katata'' near Jiujiang, Jiangxi Province at (she was possibly sunk and salvaged). She was towed to Shanghai and stripped of her armament in early 1945 to help bolster the land-based defenses. The hulk was bombed by USAAF P-51 Mustang fighters on 2 April 1945 and remained wrecked to the surrender of Japan.

The wreck was given to the Republic of China as war reparations in 1946 and scrapped some time later. She was officially removed from the navy list on 3 May 1947.

Notes

References

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External links

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Japanese gunboats (with photos)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Katata
Seta-class gunboats
Second Sino-Japanese War naval ships of Japan
Ships built by IHI Corporation
1922 ships