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Japanese battleship Kawachi (1910) |
| Career (Japan) |
 |
| Name: |
Kawachi |
| Ordered: |
1907 |
| Builder: |
Yokosuka Naval Arsenal, Japan |
| Laid down: |
1909-04-01 |
| Launched: |
1910-10-15 |
| Commissioned: |
1912-03-31 |
| Struck: |
1918-09-02 |
| Fate: |
Sunk by magazine explosion 1918-07-12 |
| General characteristics |
| Class and type: |
Kawachi class battleship |
| Displacement: |
20,823 tons (normal) |
| Length: |
160.6 metres (526.9 ft) |
| Beam: |
25.6 metres (84.0 ft) |
| Draught: |
8.2 metres (26.9 ft) |
| Propulsion: |
Two shaft Curtiss turbine engines; 16 Miyabara boilers, 25,000 shp (18640 kW) |
| Speed: |
20 knots (37 km/h) |
| Range: |
2300 tons coal; 400 tons oil |
| Complement: |
986 |
| Armament: |
- 4 x 12-inch (305 mm)/50 caliber guns (2 x 2)
- 8 x 12-inch (305 mm)/45 caliber guns (4 x 2)
- 10 x 6-inch (152 mm)/45 caliber guns
- 8 x 4.72-inch (120 mm)/40 caliber guns
- 12 x 3-inch (76 mm)/40 caliber guns
- 4 x 3-inch (76 mm)/28 caliber guns
- 5 x 18-inch (457 mm) torpedo tubes
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| Armour: |
- belt: 100-300 mm
- barbette: 180-240 mm
- turret: 280 mm
- conning tower: 150 mm
- deck: 30mm
|
The Kawachi ( 河内 (戦艦), Kawachi (senkan)?) was the lead ship of the two ship Kawachi class dreadnought battleships of the Imperial Japanese Navy. She was built at Yokosuka Naval Arsenal and launched in 1910. The name Kawachi comes from Kawachi Province, now a part of Osaka prefecture.
Kawachi had a sister ship, the Settsu, which had a clipper bow as opposed to the straight bow of the Kawachi.
[edit] Background
Kawachi was ordered under the 1907 Fleet Expansion Program as one of the first steps in full implementation of the Eight-Eight Fleet Program. The Japanese Navy projected that a fleet of eight front-line battleships was the minimum necessary against potential threats from China, Russia or the United States. Construction was delayed by a severe world economic depression. The 12-inch (305 mm) guns were acquired from Great Britain, but the 25,000 shp (18640 kW) Brown-Curtis turbine engines were built under license by Kawasaki Heavy Industries in Japan.
[edit] Operational History
Commissioned on 1912-03-31, Kawachi had a short operational history. During World War I, Kawachi was assigned to patrol the sea lanes south of Japan, in the South China Sea and the Yellow Sea, as part of Japan’s contribution to the war effort under the terms of the Anglo-Japanese Alliance. She was also at the Battle of Tsingtao.
Kawachi was sunk by an explosion caused by spontaneous ignition of instable cordite in its ammunition magazine on 1918-07-12, while anchored at Tokuyama Bay, with the loss of 621 officers and crew out of a complement of 1059 men. Stricken on 1918-09-02, its hulk was later salvaged and scrapped.
[edit] Gallery
IJN Kawachi in early postcard
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[edit] References
- Brown, D. K. (1999). Warrior to Dreadnought, Warship Development 1860-1906. Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-84067-529-2.
- Evans, David (1979). Kaigun: Strategy, Tactics, and Technology in the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1887-1941. US Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0870211927.
- Howarth, Stephen (1983). The Fighting Ships of the Rising Sun: The Drama of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1895-1945. Atheneum. ISBN 0689114028.
- Jentsura, Hansgeorg (1976). Warships of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1869-1945. Naval Institute Press. ISBN 087021893X.
[edit] External links
