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Japanese cruiser Miyako
IJN despatch vessel MIYAKO in 1902
Miyako in 1902
Career Naval Ensign of Japan
Name: Miyako
Ordered: 1893 Fiscal Year
Builder: Kure Naval Arsenal, Japan
Laid down: 26 May 1894
Launched: 27 October 1898
Completed: 31 March 1899
Out of service: 14 May 1904
Struck: 21 May 1905
Fate: Sunk by mine
General characteristics
Type: unprotected cruiser
Displacement: 1,772 long tons (1,800 t)
Length: 314 ft (95.7 m)
Beam: 34 ft (10.4 m)
Draft: 14 ft (4.3 m)
Propulsion: 2-shaft reciprocating VTE, 6,130 ihp (4,570 kW), 8 locomotive boilers, 400 tons coal
Speed: 20 knots (23 mph; 37 km/h)
Complement: 200
Armament: • 2 × QF 4.7 inch Gun Mk I–IVs
• 8 × QF 3 pounder Hotchkiss guns
• 2 × 18 in (460 mm) torpedo tubes

Miyako (宮古?) was an unprotected cruiser of the Imperial Japanese Navy. The name Miyako comes from the Miyako Islands, one of the three island groups making up current Okinawa prefecture. Miyako was used by the Imperial Japanese Navy primarily as an aviso (dispatch boat) for scouting, reconnaissance and delivery of high priority messages.

Background[]

Miyako was designed under the supervision of French military advisor Emile Bertin, and built in Japan by the Kure Naval Arsenal. With a small displacement, powerful engines, and a 20-knot (37 km/h) speed, the lightly armed and lightly armored Miyako was an example of the Jeune Ecole philosophy of naval warfare advocated by Bertin. Due to its small size it is sometimes classified as a corvette or gunboat.

Design[]

Similar in design to Yaeyama and the French unprotected cruiser Milan (1885), Miyako was the first warship produced by the new Kure Naval Arsenal. She had a steel hull, and retained a full barque rigging with two masts for auxiliary sail propulsion in addition to her steam engine. Miyako was armed with two QF 4.7 inch Gun Mk I–IVs guns and eight QF 3 pounder Hotchkiss guns. In addition, she carried two torpedoes, mounted on the deck.[1]

Service record[]

Miyako was not completed in time for the First Sino-Japanese War. During the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905, Miyako participated in the naval Battle of Port Arthur and subsequent blockade of that port. Miyako struck a mine and sank off Port Arthur on the night of 14 May 1904, with the loss of two crewmen.[2] She was official struck from the navy list on 21 May 1905. Her wreckage was raised and sold for scrap on 4 July 1906.

References[]

  • Chesneau, Roger (1979). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships, 1860–1905.. Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-133-5. 
  • Evans, David C.; Peattie, Mark R. (1997). Kaigun: Strategy, Tactics, and Technology in the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1887-1941. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-192-7. 
  • Howarth, Stephen (1983). The Fighting Ships of the Rising Sun: The Drama of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1895-1945. Atheneum. ISBN 0-689-11402-8. 
  • Jentsura, Hansgeorg (1976). Warships of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1869-1945. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-893-X. 
  • Roberts, John (ed). (1983). 'Warships of the world from 1860 to 1905 - Volume 2: United States, Japan and Russia. Bernard & Graefe Verlag, Koblenz. ISBN 3-7637-5403-2. 
  • Roksund, Arne (2007). The Jeune École: The Strategy of the Weak. Leiden: Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-15723-1. 
  • Schencking, J. Charles (2005). Making Waves: Politics, Propaganda, And The Emergence Of The Imperial Japanese Navy, 1868-1922. Stanford University Press. ISBN 0-8047-4977-9. 

External links[]

Notes[]

  1. Chesneau, Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships, 1860–1905, p. 234.
  2. Conways, p. 234



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