:Japanese battleship Kawachi

File:Kawachi-classDrawing.jpg 1915]]

The Kawachi class were Japan's first true dreadnoughts. They were ordered on 22 June 1907 under the 1907 Warship Supplement Program after the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905, although their construction was delayed by a severe depression. Their design was based on the semi-dreadnought {{ship|Japanese battleship|Aki||2}} with a uniform {{convert|12|in|adj=on|0}} main battery.Lengerer, p. 73

Kawachi had an overall length of {{convert|160.32|m|ft|order=flip|0}}, a beam of {{convert|25.65|m|ftin|order=flip}}, and a normal draft of {{convert|8.43|m|ftin|order=flip}}. She displaced {{convert|21833|LT|t|lk=on}} at normal load and had a metacentric height of {{convert|1.59|m|ft|order=flip}}. Her crew numbered 999 officers and enlisted men as completed.Lengerer & Ahlberg, pp. 436, 438, 440–441

The Kawachi-class ships were fitted with a pair of license-built Curtis steam turbine sets, each set driving one propeller, using steam from 16 Miyabara water-tube boilers. The turbines were rated at a total of {{convert|25000|shp|lk=on}} for a design speed of {{convert|21|kn|lk=in}}. They carried enough coal and fuel oil to give them a range of {{convert|2700|nmi|lk=in}} at a speed of {{convert|18|kn}}.Jentschura, Jung & Mickel, p. 24

The main armament of the Kawachi class consisted of four 50-caliber 12-inch 41st Year Type guns in two twin-gun turrets, one each fore and aft of the superstructure, and eight 45-caliber 12-inch 41st Year Type guns mounted in four twin-gun turrets, two on each side of the superstructure.Lengerer & Ahlberg, p. 448 Their secondary armament comprised ten 45-caliber 15 cm/45 41st Year Type, mounted in casemates in the sides of the hull. Eight 40-caliber quick-firing (QF) QF 4.7-inch Gun Mk I–IV gunsGardiner & Gray, p. 239 and a dozen 40-caliber QF 12 pounder 12 cwt naval gun guns provided defense against torpedo boats. Four other 12-pounder guns were used as saluting guns.Lengerer, p. 80 In addition, the battleships were fitted with five submerged {{convert|18|in|adj=on|0}} torpedo tubes, two on each broadside and one in the stern.Preston, p. 196

The waterline main belt of the Kawachi-class ships had a maximum thickness of 12 inches amidships and tapered to a thickness of {{convert|5|in|mm|0}} at the ends of the ship. Above the belt, a 6-inch strake of armor protected the casemates. The barbettes for the main guns were {{convert|9|-|11|in|mm|0}} thick. Eleven-inch armor plates protected the front and sides of the Kawachis' main-gun turrets. The deck armor was {{convert|29|mm|order=flip}} thick and the conning tower was protected by 6 to {{convert|10|in|0}} of armor.Lengerer, pp. 76, 81

Kawachi was laid down on Slipway No. 2 at Yokosuka Naval Arsenal on 1 April 1909.Lengerer & Ahlberg, p. 436 Following the Japanese ship-naming conventions, Kawachi was named after Kawachi Province,Silverstone, p. 333 now a part of Osaka prefecture. She was launched on 15 October 1910 in a ceremony attended by Emperor Meiji and completed on 31 March 1912 at a cost of ¥11,130,000.Lengerer, p. 74 The following day she was assigned to the First Fleet and became the flagship of Vice Admiral Dewa Shigetō.Lengerer & Ahlberg, p. 457 On 3 October, the ship was present when the battleship {{ship|Japanese battleship|Mikasa||2}} had a fire that was started by a sailor in the forward magazine. It was flooded before the fire could get out of control and Kawachi sent over fire-fighting teams to assist Mikasa{{'}}s crew in case they were needed.Kingsepp 2008, pp. 37–38 The ship cruised in the South China Sea in February 1913 and then off the north China coast in April; she became a private ship on 1 December. When World War I began in August 1914, Kawachi was at Yokosuka.

Together with her sister ship, {{ship|Japanese battleship|Settsu||2}}, she bombarded German fortifications in October–November 1914 during the final stage of the Battle of Tsingtao.Hackett & Kingsepp The ship was present in Yokosuka on 8 January 1915 when the victorious Second Squadron returned to Japan after the Battle of Tsingtao.{{cite news |title=Return of Japanese Squadron |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article121877406?searchTerm=kawachi&searchLimits=l-category=Article |work=The Queensland Times |location=Ipswich, Queensland |date=12 January 1915 |page=3 |access-date=8 September 2013}} She was assigned to the First Squadron of the First Fleet on 15 August. On 1 December 1916 she began a lengthy refit.

Under the command of the newly appointed Captain Masaki Yoshimoto,In this Japanese name, Masaki is the family name. Kawachi was assigned to the Second Squadron of the First Fleet on 1 December 1917 and became the flagship of Rear Admiral {{Interlanguage link|Chisaka Chijirō|ja|千坂智次郎}}. She briefly cruised off the coast of China in February–March 1918. In May the ship exchanged two of her three-inch casemate guns for three-inch anti-aircraft guns.Lengerer & Ahlberg, p. 458 On the evening of 11 July, Kawachi entered Tokuyama Bay, the following morning torpedo target practice was cancelled due to rough seas and the battleship remained at anchor for the rest of the day. That afternoon a loud explosion was heard at 15:51 in the vicinity of the starboard forward main-gun turret and large quantities of smoke erupted from the turret and between the first and second funnels. Two minutes later, she began to list to starboard and capsized at 15:55, only four minutes after the explosion.Lengerer, p. 83 Over a thousand men were aboard Kawachi at the time of the explosion and over 600 were killed, with 433 survivors.{{#tag:ref|Sources differ widely on the exact number of men killed. Gardiner & Gray and Jentschura, Jung & Mickel agree on 700, but Lengerer & Ahlberg and Kingsepp give 618 killed from a crew of 960.Kingsepp 2007, p. 99|group=Note}}

The Imperial Japanese Navy convened a commission to investigate the explosion the day after the incident, with Vice Admiral Murakami Kakuichi as chairman. The commission first suspected arson, but no plausible suspect could be found and it reported that the cordite in her magazine might have spontaneously ignited due to decomposition. Kawachi{{'}}s magazines had been inspected in January–February, however, and no problems were discovered, which made that possibility less likely. The commission made recommendations on tighter control of production and handling of cordite that were adopted by the navy. The Japanese Navy considered salvaging Kawachi, but decided not to do so as the diversion of resources would have delayed the construction of an Amagi-class battlecruiser by over a year. Stricken from the navy list on 21 September 1918, the wreck was later partially dismantled although most of the hull was abandoned in place to serve as an artificial reef.Lengerer, pp. 83–84

{{reflist|group=Note}}

{{Reflist|20em}}

• {{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 web|url=http://www.combinedfleet.com/Settsu_t.htm|title=IJN Settsu: Tabular Record of Movement|last1=Hackett|first1=Bob|last2=Kingsepp|first2=Sander|year=2009|publisher=Combinedfleet.com|access-date=8 September 2013|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|last1= Kingsepp|first1= Sander|editor1-last = Ahlberg|editor1-first= Lars | title = Fire and Low-Order Explosion in the Forward Magazine – 3 October 1912|date = September 2008| pages= 37–40| journal = Contributions to the History of Imperial Japanese Warships| issue= Paper V}}{{subscription required}}(contact the editor at lars.ahlberg@halmstad.mail.postnet.se for subscription information)
• {{cite journal|last1= Kingsepp| first1= Sander|editor1-last = Ahlberg|editor1-first= Lars| title= Reader Reactions and Questions|date= March 2007| pages= 99–100|journal= Contributions to the History of Imperial Japanese Warships|issue= Paper II}}{{subscription required}}
• {{cite journal|last1=Lengerer|first1= Hans|editor1-last = Ahlberg|editor1-first=Lars |title=Battleships Kawachi and Settsu|date= September 2006|pages = 66–84| journal=Contributions to the History of Imperial Japanese Warships|issue= Paper I}}{{subscription required}}
• {{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=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|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}}

{{commons category|Kawachi (ship, 1912)|Kawachi}}

• {{Cite news |title=Japanese Battleship Lost; 500 of the Crew Drown |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1918/07/17/102722907.pdf |work=The New York Times |date=17 July 1918}}

{{Kawachi class battleship}}

{{July 1918 shipwrecks}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kawachi}}

Category:1910 ships

Category:Kawachi-class battleships

Category:Maritime incidents in 1918

Category:Ships built by Yokosuka Naval Arsenal

Category:Ships sunk by non-combat internal explosions

Category:Shipwrecks in the Inland Sea

Category:World War I battleships of Japan