Murakumo-class destroyer

The ("Gathering Clouds") were a class of six torpedo boat destroyers (TBDs) of the Imperial Japanese Navy, built in Britain in 1897–99. The class is also sometimes referred to as the ("Daybreak"). All were named after celestial phenomena.

Background

In the First Sino-Japanese War, the Japanese navy came to understand the combat effectiveness of small, fast torpedo equipped warships over larger, slower ships equipped with slow-loading and often inaccurate naval artillery. The ''Murakumo''-class vessels were the first class of destroyers to be procured by the Imperial Japanese Navy, but were purchased almost simultaneously with the , whose lead ship ''Ikazuchi'' was the first to be laid down and launched. Four ships were ordered under the 1896 fiscal year budget (''Murakumo'' and ''Shinonome'' on 15 January 1897, and ''Yūgiri'' and ''Shiranui'' on 7 May), and an additional two under the 1897 budget (''Kagerō'' and ''Usugumo'' on 6 May 1898). All were ordered from John I. Thornycroft & Company in Chiswick, England. The last two were slightly (7½ tons) heavier than the first four, and thus had 1½ inches greater draught.

Design

The design of the ''Murakumo''-class destroyers was based on Thorneycroft's two-stack destroyers for the Royal Navy (from 1913 known as the ) also known as the "Thirty Knotters". In particular, they were built to the same plans as Thornycroft's ''Coquette'', ''Cygnet'' and ''Cynthia'', to which they were sisterships. Although slightly smaller than the ''Ikazuchi'' class, they had the same armaments.

All ''Murakumo''-class vessels had a flush deck design with a distinctive "turtleback" forecastle that was intended to clear water from the bow during high speed navigation, but was poorly designed for high waves or bad weather. The bridge and forward gun platform were barely raised above the bow, resulting in a wet conning position. More than half of the small hull was occupied by the boilers and the engine room. With fuel and weaponry, there was little space left for crew quarters.

All were powered by triple expansion steam engines for and had coal-fired water-tube boilers. Armament was one QF 12-pounder gun on a bandstand on the forecastle, five QF 6 pounder Hotchkiss guns (two sited abreast the conning tower, two sited between the funnels and one on the quarterdeck) and 2 single tubes for torpedoes.

Operational history

All six ''Murakumo''-class destroyers arrived in Japan in time to be used during the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905. All were present at the Battle of the Yellow Sea and the final crucial Battle of Tsushima.

The ''Murakumo''-class vessels reclassified as third-class destroyers on 28 August 1912, and were removed from front-line combat service. ''Usugumo'' was wrecked in a typhoon in July 1913, but was salved and restored to service; ''Shinonome'' was lost when she broke in two during a typhoon off Taiwan on 23 July 1913 and not recovered.

The five surviving vessels were again used in combat with the start of World War I, during the Battle of TsingtaoHalpern. A ''Naval History of World War I'' and in the operations to seize German colonial possessions in the South Pacific.

After the war, ''Murakumo'' and ''Yūgiri'' were demilitarized, and used as depot ships in 1919–20, and then as auxiliary minesweepers in 1920. ''Shiranui'' and ''Kagerō'' served as tenders to the torpedo school in 1918, and were for disposal at Kure in April 1922 (broken up in 1923). ''Usugumo'' was similarly struck from the Navy List in 1922, and was broken up in 1927.

List of ships

Notes

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External links

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{{WWI Japanese ships

Destroyer classes

Russo-Japanese War naval ships of Japan
World War I destroyers of Japan
Ships built in Chiswick