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Tsukuba-class cruiser
Japanese cruiser Tsukuba 2
The Japanese battlecruiser Tsukuba
Class overview
Name: Tsukuba
Builders: Kure Naval Arsenal, Japan
Operators: Japanese Navy Ensign Imperial Japanese Navy
Preceded by: Kasuga class
Succeeded by: Ibuki class
Built: 1905–1908
In service: 1907–1922
Planned: 6
Completed: 2
Cancelled: 4
Lost: 1
Scrapped: 1
General characteristics
Type: Armored cruiser
Displacement: 13,750 tons
Length: 134.11 m (440.0 ft)
Beam: 22.80 m (74.8 ft)
Draft: 7.95 m (26.1 ft)
Propulsion: Two Shaft Reciprocating VTE steam engine; 20 boilers, 20,500 shp (15,290 kW)
Speed: 20.5 knots (38 km/h)
Range: 2000 tons coal; 160 tons oil
5,000 nautical miles (9,000 km) at 14 knots (26 km/h)
Complement: 876
Armament:
Armour:
  • belt: 100-180 mm
  • barbette & turret: 180 mm
  • conning tower: 200 mm
  • deck: 75 mm
  • The Tsukuba-class cruisers (筑波型 巡洋戦艦 Tsukuba-gata jun'yōsenkan?) were armored cruisers built for the Imperial Japanese Navy. Both vessels participated in World War I.

    Background[]

    Construction of the Tsukuba-class armored cruisers was ordered under the 1904 Emergency Fleet Replenishment Budget of the Russo-Japanese War, spurred on by the unexpected loss of the Yashima to a naval mine in the early stages of the war.

    Armament[]

    The main battery on the Tsukuba-class were four 12-inch 41st Year Type guns, mounted in twin gun turrets to the fore and aft, along the centerline of the vessel. Secondary armament consisted of twelve 6-inch guns and twelve 4.7-inch 41st Year Type guns.

    Propulsion[]

    Propulsion was by two vertical triple-expansion steam engines, with twenty boilers, yielding 20,500 shp (15,300 kW) design speed of 20.5 knots (38.0 km/h; 23.6 mph) and a range of 5,000 nautical miles (9,000 km) @ 14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph). During speed trials in Hiroshima Bay prior to commissioning, Ikoma attained a top speed of 21.75 knots (40.28 km/h; 25.03 mph)

    Ships in class[]

    Tsukuba

    Tsukuba served patrol duty during World War I primarily in the Pacific Ocean and in Southeast Asia. On 14 January 1917, she exploded while in port at Yokosuka, and sank with a loss of 305 men.

    Ikoma

    Ikoma circumnavigated the southern hemisphere of the globe in 1908. She served patrol duty during World War I primarily in the Pacific Ocean and in Southeast Asia. Ikoma was a victim of the Washington Naval Agreement of 1923.

    References[]

    • Evans, David (1979). Kaigun: Strategy, Tactics, and Technology in the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1887-1941. US Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-192-7. 
    • Gardiner, Robert; Gray, Randal, eds (1984). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships: 1906–1921. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-85177-245-5. 
    • 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. 

    External links[]