was a

river gunboat A river gunboat is a type of gunboat adapted for river operations. River gunboats required shallow draft for river navigation. They would be armed with relatively small caliber cannons, or a mix of cannons and machine guns. If they carried mor ...

of 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 ...

, part of the 11th Gunboat

Sentai In Japanese, is a military unit and may be literally translated as "squadron", " task force", " division (of ships)", "group" or "wing". The terms "regiment" and "flotilla", while sometimes used as translations of ''sentai'', are also used to ...

, that operated on the

Yangtze River The Yangtze or Yangzi ( or ; ) is the longest list of rivers of Asia, river in Asia, the list of rivers by length, third-longest in the world, and the longest in the world to flow entirely within one country. It rises at Jari Hill in th ...

in China during the 1930s, and during the

Second Sino-Japanese War The Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) or War of Resistance (Chinese term) was a military conflict that was primarily waged between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. The war made up the Chinese theater of the wider Pacific Th ...

. During

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 ...

, the vessel was in use as a passenger ship and communications ship. The vessel was sunk on May 31, 1944.

Construction and career

The gunboat participated in the

Battle of Wuhan The Battle of Wuhan (武漢之戰), popularly known to the Chinese as the Defense of Wuhan, and to the Japanese as the Capture of Wuhan, was a large-scale battle of the Second Sino-Japanese War. Engagements took place across vast areas of Anhui ...

from June to September 1938 and in

Battle of Madang The Battle of Madang, fought between early February and late April 1944, was the Breakout (military), break-out and Breakthrough (military), pursuit phase of the Markham and Ramu Valley – Finisterre Range campaign, Markham and Ramu Vall ...

and the

Battle of Jiujiang A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force ...

in June 1938. From February to May 1939, ''Kotaka'' fought in the Nanchang Campaign. In 1942 ''Kotaka'' was in service as a passenger ship. The vessel was sunk on May 31, 1944, on the Yangtze River while serving as a communications ship. The IJN official designation was .

Footnotes

Bibliography

*The Maru Special, Japanese Naval Vessels No.53, ''Japanese support vessels'', (Japan), July 1981 *Daiji Katagiri, ''Ship Name Chronicles of the Imperial Japanese Navy Combined Fleet'', Kōjinsha (Japan), June 1988, *,

National Archives of Japan The preserve Japanese government documents and historical records and make them available to the public. Although Japan's reverence for its unique history and art is well documented and illustrated by collections of art and documents, there is al ...

**Reference code: A09050130100, ''Explanatory document on addition of fiscal 1929 estimated expense in 56th Diet'' **Reference code: C05021206200, ''Inquiry, Response, Notification (6)'' **Reference code: C05022903500, ''Military Affairs 1, No. 88 June 21, 1933, Traffic ship, Kotaka'' **Reference code: C05021645000, ''No. 2026 June 15, 1931 Sasebo Navy Arsenal No.10-26, Establishing part of equipment for traffic ship Kotaka'' *

Sources

Japanese gunboats (with photos)

Gunboats of the Imperial Japanese Navy Second Sino-Japanese War naval ships of Japan Maritime incidents in May 1944 Shipwrecks of China Ships built by Mitsui Engineering and Shipbuilding {{Japan-mil-ship-stub