The was fought from 4 to 10 May 1869, between the remnants of 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, consolidated into the armed forces of the rebel Ezo Republic, and the newly formed

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 one of the last stages of

Battle of Hakodate The was fought in Japan from December 4, 1868 to June 27, 1869, between the remnants of the Tokugawa shogunate army, consolidated into the armed forces of the rebel Ezo Republic, and the armies of the newly formed Imperial government (composed ...

during the

Boshin War The , sometimes known as the Japanese Revolution or Japanese Civil War, was a civil war in Japan fought from 1868 to 1869 between forces of the ruling Tokugawa shogunate and a clique seeking to seize political power in the name of the Imperi ...

, and occurred near

Hakodate is a city and port located in Oshima Subprefecture, Hokkaido, Japan. It is the capital city of Oshima Subprefecture. As of July 31, 2011, the city has an estimated population of 279,851 with 143,221 households, and a population density of 412.8 ...

in the northern Japanese island of

Hokkaidō is Japan, Japan's Japanese archipelago, second largest island and comprises the largest and northernmost Prefectures of Japan, prefecture, making up its own List of regions of Japan, region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu; th ...

Ezo Republic forces

The naval forces of the Ezo Republic were grouped around the warship ''Kaiten''. The fleet originally consisted of eight steamships: ''Kaiten'', ''Banryū'', Japanese

gunboat A gunboat is a naval watercraft designed for the express purpose of carrying one or more guns to bombard coastal targets, as opposed to those military craft designed for naval warfare, or for ferrying troops or supplies. History Pre-ste ...

'' Chiyoda'',Jentschura p. 113 ''Chōgei'', ''Kaiyō Maru'', ''Kanrin Maru'', ''Mikaho'' and ''Shinsoku''. However, ''Kaiyō Maru'' and ''Shinsoku'' had been lost in a previous engagement in front of Esashi, and ''Kanrin Maru'' had been captured by Imperial forces after suffering damage in bad weather. The loss of these three major units seriously weakened the Ezo Republic side.

Imperial forces

For the operation, an Imperial Japanese Navy fleet had been rapidly constituted around the recently acquired

ironclad warship 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 ...

''Kōtetsu'' (the former CSS ''Stonewall''), which had been purchased from the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

. Other Imperial ships were ''Kasuga'', ''Hiryū'', ''Teibō'' No.1, , and ''Mōshun'', which had been supplied by the domains of

Saga is a series of science fantasy role-playing video games by Square Enix. The series originated on the Game Boy in 1989 as the creation of Akitoshi Kawazu at Square. It has since continued across multiple platforms, from the Super NES to th ...

, Chōshū and Satsuma to the newly formed

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 ...

in 1868. The nascent Imperial government started with a much weaker navy than that of the Ezo Republic, both in terms of vessel strength, unity (most of its ships were borrowed from Western domains), and training. However the loss of two major units on the Ezo side previous to the main action (''Kaiyō Maru'' and ''Kanrin Maru''), and most of all, the incorporation of the revolutionary ''Kōtetsu'' since April 1868 on the Imperial side (a ship originally ordered by the Tokugawa shogunate but withheld by the

during the main conflict under a policy of neutrality taken by foreign nation and finally delivered to the newly formed government), turned the tables. In addition, the Imperial government received the support of two transportation ships chartered by the United States for the transportation of its troops.

Combat

The Imperial fleet supported the deployment of troops on the island of Hokkaidō, destroyed onshore fortifications and attacked the rebel ships. On 4 May '' Chiyoda'' was captured by Imperial forces after having been abandoned in a grounding and on 7 May ''Kaiten'' was heavily hit and put out of action. ''Banryū'' managed to sink the Imperial forces' ''Chōyō'', but ''Banryū'' later sank in turn because of heavy damage. The Imperial Japanese Navy won the engagement, ultimately leading to the surrender of the Republic of Ezo at the end of May 1869. Ships of foreign navies — the British HMS ''Pearl'' and the French ''Coetlogon'' — were standing by neutrally during the conflict. The French captain

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 refu ...

who had trained the rebels and helped organize their defenses, surrendered on ''Coetlogon'' on 8 June. The future Admiral of the fleet

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 ...

participated in the battle on the Imperial side as a young third-class officer, onboard ''Kasuga''.

References

Bibliography

*Ballard C. B., Vice-Admiral G. A. ''The Influence of the Sea on the Political History of Japan''. London: John Murray, 1921. *Jentschura, Hansgeorg; Dieter Jung, Peter Mickel. ''Warships of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1869–1945''. United States Naval Institute, Annapolis, Maryland, USA; 1977. . *Onodera Eikō, ''Boshin Nanboku Senso to Tohoku Seiken''. Sendai: Kita no Sha, 2004.

External links

Bakumatsu navies
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hakodate, Naval Battle Of Naval battles of the Boshin War 1869 in Japan Conflicts in 1869 May 1869 events