Japanese torpedo boat Shirataka

History
Empire of Japan
NameShirataka
Ordered1885
BuilderSchichau-Werke, Danzig, Germany
Laid down3 March 1899
Launched10 June 1899
Completed22 June 1900
Decommissioned15 November 1923
FateSold 6 April 1927
General characteristics
TypeTorpedo boat
Displacement126 long tons (128 t)
Length152 ft 6 in (46.48 m)
Beam16 ft 9 in (5.11 m)
Draught4 ft 3 in (1 m)
PropulsionCoal-fired engine, 2,600 ihp (1,939 kW)
Speed28 knots (32 mph; 52 km/h)
Complement26
Armament
  • 3 × 42 mm (1.7 in) QF guns
  • 3 × 355 mm (14.0 in) torpedo tubes

The Shirataka (”White hawk”) was a 1st class torpedo boat (suiraitei) of the Imperial Japanese Navy. She was ordered under the Ten Year Naval Expansion Programme[1] passed in 1896 from the shipbuilder Schichau-Werke (as Yard No. 629) in Danzig, Germany, where she was built during 1897–98 in parts along Japanese specifications, and then re-assembled by Mitsubishi in Nagasaki, Japan.

She participated in the Russo-Japanese War (1904–1905). She was decommissioned on 15 November 1923, and sold to break up on 6 April 1927.[2]

Design

In common with all the other early torpedo boat destroyers and 1st class torpedo boats, the Shirataka had a "turtle-back" forecastle intended to prevent seawater covering the forecastle and throwing excessive spray over the control area. Unlike the two-funnel Hayabusa class, the Shirataka had a single funnel amidships, and was completed with three 3-pounder (42mm) QF guns (two abreast just forward of the funnel, and one aft on the centreline).[3] These were later replaced by two 57mm guns and one 47mm 40-cal gun.[4] She also carried three 14-inch torpedo tubes (two abreast just abaft of the funnel, and one aft of the gun on the centreline).

Her machinery comprised two Schichau water-tube boilers, and two 3-cylinder VTE engines developing 2,600 ihp. She carried 30 tons of coal.

References

  • Kaigun: Strategy, Tactics, and Technology in the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1887–1941, David C. Evans, Mark R. Peattie, Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, Maryland ISBN 0-87021-192-7
  • The Origins of Japanese Trade Supremacy: Development and Technology in Asia from 1540 to the Pacific War, Christopher Howe, The University of Chicago Press, ISBN 0-226-35485-7
  • Lengerer, Hans (2017). "Torpedo Boats of the Imperial Japanese Navy, Part III". Warship International. LIV (4): 293–306. ISSN 0043-0374.
  • The Imperial Japanese Navy of the Russo-Japanese War. Mark E. Stille, Osprey Publishing, Oxford, 2016. ISBN 978-1-4728-1119-6
  • The Imperial Japanese Navy, 1869–1945. Anthony John Watts & Brian Glynn Gordon, Macdonald & Co. (Publishers) Ltd, London, 1971. ISBN 0-356-03045-8
  • Warships of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1869–1945. Hansgeorg Jentschura, Dieter Jung & Peter Mickel, Arms & Armour, London, 1977. ISBN 1-85409-525-0
  1. ^ The Ten Year Programme provided for (among other ship types) 23 torpedo boat destroyers and 63 torpedo boats;the latter comprised 16 1st class (the Shirataka and 15 Hayabusa class), 37 2nd class and 10 3rd class TBs.
  2. ^ Jentschura, op.cit. p.127.
  3. ^ Watts, op.cit. p.233.
  4. ^ Jentschura, op.cit. p.127.