:Japanese battleship Katori
{{Short description|Japanese lead ship of Katori-class}}
{{other ships|Japanese ship Katori}}
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{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2017}}
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{{Infobox ship image |Ship image=Imperial_Japanese_Battleship_Katori_circa_1915.png |Ship caption=Katori at anchor }} {{Infobox ship career |Hide header= |Ship country=Japan |Ship flag={{shipboxflag|Empire of Japan|naval}} |Ship name=Katori |Ship namesake=Katori Shrine |Ship ordered= |Ship builder=Vickers Barrow-in-Furness, UK |Ship laid down=27 April 1904 |Ship launched=4 July 1905 |Ship commissioned=20 May 1906 |Ship decommissioned=20 September 1923 |Ship in service= |Ship out of service=April 1922 |Ship struck=23 October 1923 |Ship fate=Scrapped, 1924–25 |Ship notes= }} {{Infobox ship characteristics |Hide header= |Header caption= |Ship class={{sclass|Katori|battleship|0}} pre-dreadnought battleship |Ship displacement= {{convert|15950|LT|t|lk=on}} (normal) |Ship length={{convert|456|ft|3|in|m|abbr=on|1}} |Ship beam={{convert|78|ft|m|abbr=on|1}} |Ship draught={{convert|27|ft|m|abbr=on|1}} |Ship power=*20 Niclausse boilers
|Ship propulsion=2 shafts, 2 triple-expansion steam engines |Ship speed={{convert|18.5|kn|lk=in}} |Ship range={{convert|12000|nmi|lk=in|abbr=on}} at {{convert|11|kn}} |Ship complement=864 |Ship armament=*2 × twin BL 12 inch Mk X naval gun
|Ship armour=*Krupp cemented armour
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| 9|in|mm|0|abbr=on}}
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| 3|in|mm|0|abbr=on}}
|Ship notes= }} |
{{nihongo|Katori|香取 (戦艦)}} was the lead ship of the two {{sclass|Katori|battleship|0}} pre-dreadnought battleships built in the first decade of the 20th century, the last to be built by British shipyards for the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN). Ordered just before the start of the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905, the ship was completed a year after its end. She saw no combat during World War I, although the ship was present when Japan joined the Siberian Intervention in 1918. Katori was disarmed and scrapped in 1923–1925 in accordance with the terms of the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922.
Design and description
The Katori-class ships were ordered just before the start of the Russo-Japanese War in 1904 as improved versions of the Royal Navy’s {{sclass|King Edward VII|battleship}}s. Katori was {{convert|456|ft|3|in|m|1}} long overall and had a beam of {{convert|78|ft|m|1}}. She had a full-load draught of {{convert|27|ft|m|1}} and normally displaced {{convert|15950|LT|t|lk=on}} and had a crew of 864 officers and enlisted men. The ship was powered by two vertical triple-expansion steam engines using steam generated by 20 Niclausse boilers. The engines were rated at {{convert|16000|ihp|lk=on}}, using forced draught, and were designed to reach a top speed of {{convert|18.5|kn|lk=in}}. Katori, however, reached a top speed of {{convert|19.5|kn}} from {{convert|18500|ihp}} on her sea trials. She carried a maximum of {{convert|2150|LT|t}} of coal and {{convert|377|LT|t}} of fuel oil which was sprayed on the coal to increase their power. This allowed her to steam for {{convert|12000|lk=in|nmi}} at a speed of {{convert|11|kn}}.Jentschura, Jung & Mickel, p. 22
The ship's main battery consisted of four 12-inch guns mounted in two twin-gun turrets, one forward and one aft. The secondary armament consisted of four 10-inch guns mounted in four single-gun turrets positioned on each side of the superstructure. Katori also carried twelve QF 6-inch guns, mounted in casemates on the sides of the hull and in the superstructure. A number of smaller guns were carried for defence against torpedo boats. These included a dozen 12-pounder guns and three {{convert|47|mm|adj=on}} 3-pounder Hotchkiss guns. She was also armed with five submerged 18-inch (450 mm) torpedo tubes, two on each broadside and one in the stern.
Katori{{'}}s waterline armour belt consisted of Krupp cemented armour and was {{convert|3.5|-|9|in|0}} thick. The armour of her main gun turrets had a maximum thickness of {{convert|9|in|mm|0|abbr=on}} and her deck ranged from {{convert|2|to|3|in|0}} in thickness.Gardiner & Gray, p. 227
Construction and career
Katori, named for a Shinto shrine in Katori City, was ordered in January 1904 from Vickers.Brook, p. 282 The ship was laid down at their Barrow-in-Furness shipyard on 27 April 1904.Silverstone, p. 332 She was launched on 4 July 1905, Prince and Princess Arisugawa were on hand for the official launching ceremony.{{cite news|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1905/07/05/101362402.pdf|title=New Japanese Battleship|date=5 July 1905|work=New York Times|access-date=11 June 2013}}{{cite web|url=http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/590663?view=synopsis|title=The Launching of the Japanese Battleship "Katori"|work=Hepworth Manufacturing Company|publisher=British Film Institute|access-date=11 June 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140222085717/http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/590663?view=synopsis|archive-date=22 February 2014|url-status=dead}} and completed on 20 May 1906. Katori departed Britain on 7 June on her maiden voyage and shakedown cruise and arrived at Yokosuka on 15 August.Lengerer, p. 46
In a naval review off Yokosuka on 10 November 1913, she served as the flagship for the Taishō Emperor.{{cite journal|last=Schenking|first=J. Charles|year=1998|title=Bureaucratic Politics, Military Budgets and Japan's Southern Advance: The Imperial Navy's Seizure of German Micronesia in the First World War|journal=War in History|volume=5|issue=3|page=318|issn=0968-3445|doi=10.1177/096834459800500303|s2cid=155000179}} Katori occupied the German colony of Saipan, shortly after the start of World War I, on 14 October 1914.Peattie, p. 43 Afterward the ship began a refit in 1914 that lasted until late 1916 and was assigned to the 2nd Battleship Squadron upon its completion. During this refit, two 12-pounder anti-aircraft guns were replaced two of the low-angle 12-pounders. She became the flagship of the 5th Battleship Squadron in 1917–18 and served as the flagship for the Japanese commander-in-chief at Nikolayevsk-on-Amur in late 1918 as Japan decided to intervene in the Russian Civil War.Preston, p. 191
On 3 March 1921, Katori, escorted by Kashima, departed Yokohama bound for Great Britain carrying Crown Prince Hirohito, the first Japanese crown prince to travel abroad. The ships arrived at Portsmouth on 9 May and Hirohito left the ship to tour Europe; he boarded the battleship again in Naples several months later for the voyage home.Seagrave & Seagrave, pp. 105–110 The ship was disarmed in April 1922, stricken from the Navy List on 20 September 1923 and scrapped at Maizuru Naval Arsenal by 29 January 1925 to comply with the terms of the Washington Naval Treaty. Her guns were turned over to the Imperial Japanese Army for use as coastal artillery; one main-gun turret was emplaced near Tokyo Bay in 1925–1932 and another was installed on Iki Island in the Strait of Tsushima in 1929.Gibbs, p. 217 The remaining guns were placed in reserve and ultimately scrapped in 1943.Gibbs & Tamura, pp. 192, 194
Notes
{{Reflist|2}}
References
- {{cite journal|last=Brook|first=Peter|year=1985|title=Armstrong Battleships for Japan|journal=Warship International|publisher=International Naval Research Organization|location=Toledo, Ohio|volume=XXII|issue=3|pages=268–82|issn=0043-0374}}
- {{cite book |editor1-last=Gardiner |editor1-first=Robert |editor2-last=Gray |editor2-first=Randal |title=Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921 |year=1985 |location=Annapolis, Maryland|publisher=Naval Institute Press |isbn=0-87021-907-3 |name-list-style=amp}}
- {{cite journal|last1=Gibbs|first1=Jay|year=2010|title=Question 28/43: Japanese Ex-Naval Coast Defense Guns|journal=Warship International|volume=XLVII|issue=3|pages=217–218 |issn=0043-0374}}
- {{cite journal |last1=Gibbs |first1=Jay|last2=Tamura|first2=Toshio |title=Question 51/80 |journal=Warship International |date=1982 |volume=XIX |issue=2 |pages=190, 194–195|issn=0043-0374|name-list-style=amp}}
- {{cite book| last1 = Jentschura| first1 = Hansgeorg| first2 = Dieter |last2=Jung|first3=Peter |last3=Mickel| year = 1977| title = Warships of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1869–1945| publisher = United States Naval Institute| location = Annapolis, Maryland| isbn = 0-87021-893-X|name-list-style=amp}}
- {{cite journal|last=Lengerer|first=Hans|date=March 2009|title=Japanese Battleships and Battlecruisers - Part III|journal=Contributions to the History of Imperial Japanese Warships|issue=VI|pages=7–55}}
- {{cite book |last1=Lengerer |first1=Hans |last2=Ahlberg |first2=Lars |title=Capital Ships of the Imperial Japanese Navy 1868–1945: Ironclads, Battleships and Battle Cruisers: An Outline History of Their Design, Construction and Operations|volume=I: Armourclad Fusō to Kongō Class Battle Cruisers |date=2019 |publisher=Despot Infinitus |location=Zagreb, Croatia |isbn=978-953-8218-26-2|name-list-style=amp}}
- {{cite book|last=Peattie|first=Mark R.|title=Nan'yo: The Rise and Fall of the Japanese in Micronesia 1885–1945|series=Pacific Island Monograph Series|volume=4|year=1988 |publisher=University of Hawaii Press |location=Honolulu, Hawaii|isbn=0-82481480-0}}
- {{cite book|last=Preston|first=Antony|title=Battleships of World War I: An Illustrated Encyclopedia of the Battleships of All Nations 1914–1918|publisher=Galahad Books|location=New York|year=1972|isbn=0-88365-300-1}}
- {{cite book|last1=Seagrave|first1=Sterling|authorlink1=Sterling Seagrave|last2=Seagrave|first2=Peggy|title=The Yamato Dynasty: The Secret History of Japan's Imperial Family|url=https://archive.org/details/yamatodynastysec00seag|url-access=registration|year=1999|publisher=Broadway Books|location=New York|isbn=9780767904964 |name-list-style=amp}}
- {{cite book|last=Silverstone|first=Paul H.|title=Directory of the World's Capital Ships|year=1984|publisher=Hippocrene Books|location=New York|isbn=0-88254-979-0}}
External links
- [https://archive.today/20121209071706/http://homepage2.nifty.com/nishidah/e/stc0116.htm Materials of the Imperial Japanese Navy]
- [https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1905/07/05/101362402.pdf New York Times July 5, 1905 on launching of Katori]
{{Katori class battleship}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Katori}}
Category:Katori-class battleships