Ikazuchi class destroyer

The nihongo|"Ikazuchi" class destroyers|雷型駆逐艦|Ikazuchigata kuchikukan was a class of six torpedo boat destroyers (TBDs) of the Imperial Japanese Navy. All were named after celestial phenomena. [Jentsura, "Warships of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1869-1945"]

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 "Ikazuchi" class vessels were the first destroyers procured by the Imperial Japanese Navy. Four were ordered under the 1896 fiscal year budget, and an additional two under the 1897 budget. All were ordered from the Yarrow Shipbuilders in Poplar, London, which was considered to be the world's premier builders of destroyers and smaller warships. [ Howarth, "The Fighting Ships of the Rising Sun"]

Design

The design of the "Ikazuchi"-class destroyers was based on the four-stack “Thirty Knotters” of the Royal Navy (from 1913 grouped as the B-class).

All "Ikazuchi"-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.

The "Ikazuchi"-class ships were powered by triple expansion steam engines with coal-fired water-tube boilers. Armament consisted of one QF 12 pounder mounted on a "bandstand" on the forecastle, five QF 6 pounder Hotchkiss (two abreast the conning tower, two between the funnels and one on the quarterdeck) and two single tubes for 18-inch torpedoes. [Cocker, "Destroyers of the Royal Navy"]

Operational history

All six "Ikazuchi"-class destroyers arrived in Japan in time to be used during the Boxer Rebellion to patrol the China coast and to cover the landings of Japanese ground troops. "Niji" was lost in an accident off the Shantung Peninsula on 1900-08-03, but the remaining five vessels saw combat service during the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905. [Nishida, "Imperial Japanese Navy"]

After the end of the Russo-Japanese War, "Inazuma" was lost in a collision with a merchant vessel off the coast of Hakodate, Hokkaidō on 1909-12-16. On 1912-08-28 the remaining four "Ikazuchi"-class vessels were re-classified as third-class destroyers, and were removed from front-line combat service.

"Akebono" and "Oboro" returned to combat service in World War I as part of the Japanese detachment in the Battle of Tsingtao, and in the operation to seize German colonial possessions in the South Pacific. However, their remaining time on the navy list proved to be limited. After the lead ship "Ikazuchi" was lost in a boiler explosion at Ominato harbor due to metal fatigue in its engine on 1913-10-09, "Sazanami" was also retired from service. "Oboro" and "Akebono" were retained until 1921-04-01, when they were converted into auxiliary minesweepers for a brief period, but were scrapped in 1925.

List of ships

Notes

References

*cite book
last = Evans
first = David
year = 1979
title = Kaigun: Strategy, Tactics, and Technology in the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1887-1941
publisher = US Naval Institute Press
location =
isbn = 0870211927
*cite book
last = Howarth
first = Stephen
year = 1983
title = The Fighting Ships of the Rising Sun: The Drama of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1895-1945
publisher = Atheneum
location =
isbn = 0689114028
*cite book
last = Jane
first = Fred T
year = 1904
title = The Imperial Japanese Navy
publisher = Thacker, Spink & Co
location =
id = ASIN: B00085LCZ4
*cite book
last = Jentsura
first = Hansgeorg
year = 1976
title = Warships of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1869-1945
publisher = US Naval Institute Press
location =
isbn = 087021893X
*cite book
last = Cocker
first = Maurice
year = 1983
title = Destroyers of the Royal Navy, 1893-1981
publisher = Ian Allan
location =
isbn = 0-7110-1075-7
*cite web
last = Nishida
first = Hiroshi
url = http://homepage2.nifty.com/nishidah/e/stc0401.htm
title = Materials of IJN: Ikazuchi class destroyer
work = Imperial Japanese Navy

External links