Japanese corvette Kaimon
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{{Infobox ship image |Ship image=File:Japanese corvette Kaimon.jpg |Ship caption=Japanese armed sloop Kaimon 1886-1887 }} {{Infobox ship career |Hide header= |Ship country=Empire of Japan |Ship flag={{shipboxflag|Empire of Japan|naval}} |Ship name=Kaimon |Ship namesake= |Ship ordered=1877 Fiscal Year |Ship builder= Yokosuka Naval Arsenal, Japan |Ship laid down=1 September 1877 |Ship launched=28 August 1882 |Ship acquired= |Ship commissioned=13 March 1884 |Ship decommissioned= |Ship in service= |Ship out of service= |Ship struck= 21 May 1905 |Ship homeport= |Ship honours= |Ship fate= Mined off Port Arthur 5 July 1904 |Ship notes= }} {{Infobox ship characteristics |Hide header= |Header caption= |Ship type=Steam corvette |Ship displacement={{convert|1358|LT|t|0|abbr=on}} |Ship length={{convert|64.68|m|ftin|abbr=on}} |Ship beam={{convert|10.9|m|ftin|abbr=on}} |Ship draft={{convert|5.2|m|ftin|abbr=on}} |Ship propulsion=*Horizontally-mounted reciprocating engine, {{convert|1267|hp|abbr=on}}
|Ship sail plan=bark-rigged sloop |Ship speed={{convert|12|kn|mph km/h|lk=in}} |Ship range=256 tons coal |Ship complement=210 |Ship armament=*1 × {{convert|170|mm|in|abbr=on}} Krupp breech-loading guns
|Ship armour= |Ship notes= }} |
{{nihongo|Kaimon|海門|Sea Gate}}{{cite book | last = Nelson | first = Andrew N. | year = 1967 | title = Japanese–English Character Dictionary | publisher = Tuttle | isbn = 0-8048-0408-7 | url-access = registration | url = https://archive.org/details/modernreadersjap00nels }} was a sail-and-steam corvette of the early Imperial Japanese Navy. Although the name Kaimon translates to "sea gate", the ship was named for Mount Kaimon, although written with different kanji, located in Kagoshima prefecture.
Background
Kaimon was a three-masted bark-rigged sloop-of-war with a coal-fired double expansion reciprocating steam engine with four boilers driving a single screw.Chesneau, All the World’s Fighting Ships, p. 232. She was laid down at the Yokosuka Naval Arsenal on 1 September 1877, launched on 28 August 1882 and commissioned on 13 March 1884.Nishida, Ships of the Imperial Japanese Navy Her construction required over six years, due to numerous technical issues and problems with funding.
The design of Kaimon was almost identical to the corvette {{ship|Japanese corvette|Tenryū||2}}, completed a year later at the Yokosuka Naval Arsenal. Both ships were designed by French foreign advisors to the early Meiji government in the employ of the Yokosuka Naval Arsenal.
During her launching ceremony, a flock of white doves (the traditional messengers of the war god Hachiman) was released, setting a precedent for all future launchings of Japanese warships. Her first captain was Lieutenant Commander Tsuboi Kōzō.
Operational history
Kaimon saw combat service in the First Sino-Japanese War, at the landings of Japanese forces at Chemulpo in Korea, and subsequently at the Battle of Yalu River under the command of Lieutenant Commander Sakurai Kikunozo. She also served with the Japanese task force that supported the invasion of Taiwan in 1895.
On 21 March 1898, Kaimon was re-designated as a third-class coastal defense ship, and was used for coastal survey and patrol duties.
During the Russo-Japanese War, Kaimon was assigned to patrol duties between the Korean Peninsula and Tsushima Strait. She was also used as a transport. She struck a naval mine on 5 July 1904, off Port Arthur ({{coord|38|50|N|121|50|E|display=inline,title}}), and sunk with the loss of her captain and 22 crewmen. She was struck from the navy list on 21 May 1905.
Notes
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References
- Corbett, Sir Julian. Maritime Operations in The Russo-Japanese War 1904-1905. (1994) Originally classified, and in two volumes, {{ISBN|1-55750-129-7}}
- Chesneau, Roger and Eugene M. Kolesnik (editors), All The World's Fighting Ships 1860-1905, Conway Maritime Press, 1979 reprinted 2002, {{ISBN|0-85177-133-5}}
- {{cite book | last = Jentsura | first = Hansgeorg | year = 1976 | title = Warships of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1869-1945 | publisher = Naval Institute Press | isbn = 0-87021-893-X }}
- {{cite journal |last1=Lengerer|first1=Hans|title=The 1882 Coup d'État in Korea and the Second Expansion of the Imperial Japanese Navy: A Contribution to the Pre-History of the Chinese-Japanese War 1894–95 |journal=Warship International |date=September 2020 |volume=LVII |issue=3 |pages=185–196 |issn=0043-0374}}
- {{cite journal |last1=Lengerer|first1=Hans|title=The 1884 Coup d'État in Korea — Revision and Acceleration of the Expansion of the IJN: A Contribution to the Pre-History of the Chinese-Japanese War 1894–95 |journal=Warship International |date=December 2020 |volume=LVII |issue=4 |pages=289–302 |issn=0043-0374}}
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{{1904 shipwrecks}}
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Category:Screw sloops of the Imperial Japanese Navy
Category:First Sino-Japanese War naval ships of Japan
Category:Russo-Japanese War naval ships of Japan
Category:Ships built by Yokosuka Naval Arsenal
Category:Maritime incidents in 1904
Category:Shipwrecks in the Yellow Sea