Japanese gunboat Tsukushi

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Career

Builder:	Armstrong Whitworth, United Kingdom
Ordered:	1883 Fiscal Year
Laid down:	2 October 1879
Launched:	8 November 1880
Commissioned:	18 June 1883
Fate:	Retired 26 May 1906; Scrapped 1910
General characteristics
Displacement:	1350 tons
Length:	64.0 meters overall
Beam:	9.7 meters
Draft:	4.4 meters
Propulsion:	Two Shaft, Reciprocating Engine; 4 boilers; 2887 shp
Speed:	16.5 knots
Fuel & Range:	300 tons coal
Complement:	186
Armament:	2 × 250 mm guns (fore and aft) 4 x 120 mm guns (side) 2 x 9 pounder gun 1 x Hotchkiss gun 2 x 450 mm torpedoes

IJN Tsukushi (筑紫 (巡洋艦), Tsukushi junyōkan^?) was a gunboat in the early Imperial Japanese Navy. It was named for Tsukushi, the old name for Kyūshū island. Its sister ship Chinese cruiser Chaoyong was acquired by the Beiyang Fleet, and was sunk at the Battle of the Yellow Sea.

[edit] History

Tsukushi was designed by Edward James Reed and at the Armstrong Whitworth shipyards at Newcastle upon Tyne in the United Kingdom as the Arturo Prat for Chilean Navy. However, in the middle of construction, Chile cancelled the order for economic reasons, and the Japanese Navy picked up the contract for the semi-completed vessel. It was the first vessel in the Japanese navy to have hydraulically-operated equipment and incandescent light fixtures.

Tsukushi arrived in Japan after its shakedown cruise from England on 16 June 1883.

Tsukushi saw combat service in the First Sino-Japanese War, patrolling between Korea, Dairen and Weihaiwei in a reserve capacity in the Western Fleet.

After the war, Tsukushi was designated a first-class gunboat patrol duties. During the Boxer Rebellion it was stationed at Amoy and Shanghai to protect Japanese civilians and interests at the Japanese concession.

During the Russo-Japanese War, Tsukushi served as a guard ship patrolling the Tsushima Straits between Korea and Kyūshū, and as an escort vessel covering the transport of Japanese troops to Korea. It was present as the Battle of Tsushima. Afterwards, it was assigned to the Kure Naval District and served as a guard ship at the Port of Kobe.

After the war, Tsukushi was used briefly as a torpedo training vessel, and was retired in 1911.

[edit] References

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
Jentsura, Hansgeorg. Warships of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1869-1945. Naval Institute Press (1976). ISBN 087021893X