Minatsuki (水無月) ("Month of the submerged rice field") was one of 32 Kamikaze-class destroyers built for the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) in the first decade of the 20th century.
![]() Sister ship Ayanami
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History | |
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Name | Minatsuki |
Builder | Mitsubishi, Nagasaki |
Laid down | 25 February 1906 |
Launched | 5 November 1906 |
Completed | 14 February 1907 |
Decommissioned | 1 June 1930 |
Renamed | W-10, 1 August 1928 |
Reclassified | As a minesweeper, 1 December 1924 |
Fate | Scrapped after June 1930 |
General characteristics (as built) | |
Class and type | Kamikaze-class destroyer |
Displacement | |
Length | |
Beam | 21 ft 7 in (6.6 m) |
Draught | 6 ft (1.8 m) |
Installed power | 4 boilers; 6,000 ihp (4,500 kW) |
Propulsion | 2 shafts; 2 triple-expansion steam engines |
Speed | 29 knots (54 km/h; 33 mph) |
Range | 1,200 nmi (2,200 km; 1,400 mi) at 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph) |
Complement | 70 |
Armament |
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Design and description
editThe Kamikaze-class destroyers were improved versions of the preceding Harusame class.[1] They displaced 381 long tons (387 t) at normal load and 450 long tons (460 t) at deep load. The ships had a length between perpendiculars of 227 feet (69.2 m) and an overall length of 234 feet (71.3 m), a beam of 21 feet 7 inches (6.6 m) and a draught of 6 feet (1.8 m). The Kamikazes were powered by two vertical triple-expansion steam engines, each driving one shaft using steam produced by four Kampon water-tube boilers. The engines produced a total of 6,000 indicated horsepower (4,500 kW) that gave the ships a maximum speed of 29 knots (54 km/h; 33 mph). They carried a maximum of 100 long tons (102 t) of coal[2] which gave them a range of 1,500 nautical miles (2,800 km; 1,700 mi) at a speed of 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph). Their crew consisted of 70 officers and ratings.[3]
The main armament of the Kamikaze-class ships consisted of two 40-calibre quick-firing (QF) three-inch (76 mm) 12 cwt guns[Note 1] on single mounts; the forward gun was located on superstructure, but the aft gun was at the stern. Four 28-calibre QF three-inch 8 cwt guns on single mounts were positioned abreast the superstructure, two in each broadside. The ships were also armed with two single rotating mounts[1][3] for 450-millimetre (17.7 in)[4] torpedoes between the superstructure and the stern gun. When Minatsuki was converted into a minesweeper in 1924, she was rearmed with a pair of 12-centimetre (4.7 in) 3rd Year Type guns taken from older ships on single mounts and the three-inch 8 cwt guns were removed.[1]
Construction and career
editMinatsuki was laid down at Mitsubishi's shipyard in Nagasaki on 25 February 1906, launched on 5 November 1906 and completed on 14 February 1907.[2] The ship saw service in World War I and was converted into a minesweeper on 1 December 1924. She was renamed W-10 on 1 August 1928. The ship was decommissioned on 1 June 1930[5] and subsequently broken up.[3]
Notes
edit- ^ "Cwt" is the abbreviation for hundredweight, 12 cwt referring to the weight of the gun.
Citations
editBooks
edit- Friedman, Norman (1985). "Japan". In Gardiner, Robert & Gray, Randal (eds.). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-907-3.
- Friedman, Norman (2011). Naval Weapons of World War One. Barnsley, South Yorkshire, UK: Seaforth. ISBN 978-1-84832-100-7.
- Jentschura, Hansgeorg; Jung, Dieter & Mickel, Peter (1977). Warships of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1869–1945. Annapolis, Maryland: United States Naval Institute. ISBN 0-87021-893-X.
- Todaka, Kazushige; Fukui, Shizuo; Eldridge, Robert D. & Leonard, Graham B. (2020). Destroyers: Selected Photos from the Archives of the Kure Maritime Museum; the Best from the Collection of Shizuo Fukui's Photos of Japanese Warships. Japanese Naval Warship Photo Album. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1-59114-630-8.
- Watts, Anthony J. & Gordon, Brian G. (1971). The Imperial Japanese Navy. London: Macdonald. ISBN 0-35603-045-8.