 Ryūjō at anchorc. 1871–1872 | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 Empire of Japan | |
| Name | Ryūjō |
| Builder | Alexander Hall,Aberdeen |
| Launched | 27 March 1869 |
| Completed | 26 July 1869 |
| Commissioned | 6 June 1870 |
| Decommissioned | 2 December 1893 |
| Out of service | September 1906 |
| Renamed |
|
| Fate | Sold forscrap, 1908 |
| General characteristics (as built) | |
| Type | Ironcladcorvette |
| Displacement | 2,530long tons (2,571 t) |
| Length | 210 ft (64 m) (p/p) |
| Beam | 38 ft (11.6 m) |
| Draught | 18 ft 6 in (5.6 m) |
| Installed power | |
| Propulsion | 1 shaft; 2direct-acting steam engines |
| Sail plan | Ship rigged |
| Speed | 9knots (17 km/h; 10 mph) |
| Complement | 275 (October 1873) |
| Armament |
|
| Armour | Waterline belt: 4.5 in (114 mm) |
Ryūjō (龍驤,Prancing Dragon), was a British-builtironcladcorvette of theImperial Japanese Navy (IJN). She was purchased on behalf of a Japanesedaimyo or clan lord in 1870 who donated the ship to the fledgling IJN shortly after receiving the ship. As the largest ship in the IJNRyūjō was frequently visited by theEmperor Meiji and was used to escort a diplomatic mission toImperial China. She played minor roles in suppressing several of the rebellions that plagued Japan in the 1870s.
The shipran aground in 1877 and was notrefloated for almost six months.Ryūjō became atraining ship after repairs were completed in 1880 and made several long training cruises throughout thePacific Basin during the 1880s. Her second cruise in 1882–1883 was interrupted when nearly half the crew developedberiberi. A Japanese naval physician,Takaki Kanehiro, had developed a theory that the disease was caused by adietary deficiency and was able to persuade the government to repeat the voyage with a different ship using a more nutritious diet. The only cases of beriberi that developed on that cruise were by sailors who did not eat the new diet, confirming the theory.
Ryūjō was converted into a stationary training ship when her propulsion machinery was removed in 1887–1888 and was assigned to thenaval gunnery school in 1890. She remained in that role through 1906 even after the ship wasdecommissioned in 1893.Ryūjō was sold forscrap in 1908.
A wooden-hulled ironclad corvette was ordered by a British merchant for the private navy of the fief ofKumamoto.[1][Note 1] Known by the builder asJho Sho Maru, she was 210 feet (64 m) longbetween perpendiculars with abeam of 38 feet (11.6 m) and adraught of 18 feet 6 inches (5.6 m) atdeep load.[Note 2] Using theMoorsom System in use at the time of her construction for estimating cargo space, the ship had agross register tonnage of 992 tons if the propulsion machinery spaces is excluded.[1] The corvettedisplaced 2,530 long tons (2,570 t)[8] and was fitted with anaval ram at herbow.[1] Her crew numbered 275 in October 1873.[9]
Ryūjō was fitted with a pair of horizontaldirect-acting steam engines[1][Note 3] that drove a singlepropeller shaft using steam that was provided by four rectangularboilers at a working pressure of 1.4 atm (142 kPa; 21 psi).[10] The engines were rated at a total of 280nominal horsepower[1] (800indicated horsepower (600 kW)) and gave the ship a speed of 9knots (17 km/h; 10 mph).[2][7] She carried a maximum of 450 long tons (460 t) of coal, but her endurance is unknown. The corvette wasship rigged with threemasts.[1]
Ryūjō was initially armed with a pair of 100-pounder (6.5-inch (165 mm)) guns onpivot mounts aschase guns and herbroadside armament consisted of eight 64-pounder 5.5-inch (140 mm) guns, all of which weresmoothboremuzzle-loading guns made byJosiah Vavasseur'sLondon Ordnance Works. After her delivery to the Japanese in 1870, her armament was augmented with a pair of 6-pounder (2.2-inch (57 mm))Armstrong guns and twoParrottrifled muzzle-loading guns of unknown size. By 1872 the Parrott rifles had been replaced by another pair of 64 pounders[1][11] By 1887 her armament reportedly consisted of two17 cm RK L/25Krupprifled breech-loading guns (actually 17.26-centimetre (6.8 in)) and six 70-pounder Vavasseur guns.[12] When the ship was converted into a gunnery training ship in 1894, she was armed with one Krupp 17 cm gun and five 6.3-inch (160 mm) rifled muzzle-loaders.[7]
The ship'swaterline was protected by an armouredbelt that weighed 130 long tons (132 t). It consisted of two rows of wrought-iron plates with a total height of 5 feet (1.5 m) and was 4.5 inches (114 mm) thick.[1] The guns may have been covered by 4 inches (102 mm) of armour.[7][12][Note 4]
Thomas Blake Glover, a British merchant with extensive commercial interests in Japan, ordered an armoured corvette from theAberdeen, Scotland,shipyard ofAlexander Hall for the price of£42,032. The ship was launched on 27 March 1869[1] and was completed on 24 July.[14] She departed for Japan on 11 August[1] and arrived atNagasaki in January 1870 where Glover sold it to the Kumamoto Domain for the price of 270,000 goldRyō on 12 April. They renamed itRyōshō (龍驤, りょうしょう) (she was later renamedRyūjō (龍驤, りゅうじょう) at an unknown date).[14]
The corvette was transferred to the new Imperial Japanese Navy on 6 June and was theflagship (and the most powerful ship) of the navy until the completion of the ironcladFusō in 1878.[14]Ryūjō sailed toYokohama with a British captain shortly afterwards.[15][3]Ryūjō was inspected by Emperor Meiji during a visit toYokosuka Naval Arsenal on 21 November 1871 and he was hosted aboard the ship during a tour on 23 May 1872. The Emperor reviewed the fleet during its manoeuvres on 26 October.[14][3][16] The ship participated in exercises off the island ofSarushima inTokyo Bay on 19 January 1873 and escortedForeign MinisterSoejima Taneomi on his mission to Imperial China later in the year to demand recompense for the murders of Japanese sailors byTaiwanese aborigines in 1871. During theSaga Rebellion, the ship played a small role by ferrying the government'scommander-in-chief and his staff to nearby Nagasaki in March 1874. Later that year she hosted theHome MinisterŌkubo Toshimichi.[14]
On 5 March 1875 the Emperor visitedRyūjō while in Yokosuka Naval Arsenal to attend the launching of the unprotected corvetteSeiki. From 13 April 1876 to 27 July, the ship visitedVladivostok,Russia, and various ports inKorea. She was inKobe when theSatsuma Rebellion began in February 1877 andRyūjō played a minor role in putting down the rebellion. The ship ran aground on a rock inKagoshima Bay during a storm on 26 October and was not refloated until 15 May 1878. Towed by thesloop-of-warNisshin to Yokosuka on 24–29 July, repairs were not completed until 1880. On 30 October she became a training ship of theImperial Naval Academy.[10]
Her first training cruise was a voyage toAustralia in 1881 and she was transferred to the Tōkai Naval Station inYokohama on 7 April 1882. The ship made a second long-distance navigational training voyage from 19 December to 15 October 1883[10] that visitedWellington,New Zealand,Valparaíso,Chile,Callao,Peru, andHonolulu,Kingdom of Hawai'i. The ship had to stop in Honolulu because 169 crewmen (of a crew of 376) had developed beriberi and were unfit to continue, of which 23 died.Takaki Kanehiro, a naval physician, had been investigating the possible causes of beriberi over the previous several years and had developed a theory that it was the result of some sort of dietary deficiency, possiblyprotein. Trained in epidemiological methods during his medical training in London, Takaki was able to persuade the navy to experiment with a new, higher-protein diet and send the training shipTsukuba following an identical itinerary to minimise the variables. That ship departed Japan on 3 February 1884 and return on 16 November, with her crew only developing 14 cases of beriberi among the 333 crewmen. Further investigation revealed that the crew members who had not followed the new diet were the only ones who developed beriberi. The IJN adopted the new diet across the board and eliminated the disease in a few years.[17]
Ryūjō steamed fromShinagawa on 26 December 1884 for a cruise off the coast ofKorea.[10] From 1 February 1887 to 11 September, she made a third long-distance navigational training voyage to Australia and Hawaii.[18] When the ship returned, her machinery was removed over the next year. On 23 December 1890 she was rerated as a 3rd type ship and became a training ship at the gunnery school;Ryūjō was further reduced to a 5th type ship (decommissioned) on 2 December 1893, and was no longer permanently manned.[10][15] During theFirst Sino-Japanese War, she was used afloating battery at the entrance to Yokosuka Harbour with a crew of 137 men from 12 September 1894 to 17 February 1895 when she reverted to her earlier role. She continued to be used as a gunnery training ship until a new shore-based facility was completed in September 1906. On 31 July 1908 the government ordered that her bow ornamentation and name board should be sent toKumamoto Castle for preservation beforeRyūjō was sold for scrap later that year.[1][Note 5]
