Battle of Shimonoseki Straits

Naval Battle of Shimonoseki
The USS Wyoming battling in the Shimonoseki Straits against the Choshu steam warships Daniel Webster, the brig Lanrick (Kosei), and the steamer Lancefield (Koshin).
Date 16 July 1863 Location Shimonoseki Straits Result US victory
Belligerents
Chōshū clan, Japan: Daniel Webster, 6 guns. Lanrick (Kosei), 10 guns. Lancefield (Koshin), 4 guns.	US Navy: USS Wyoming
Commanders and leaders
Mori Takachika	David McDougal
Strength
3 steam warships shore batteries	1 steam warship
Casualties and losses
2 ships sunk 1 ship damaged 40 killed	1 ship damaged 4 killed, 7 wounded

The naval battle of Shimonoseki (Japanese:下関海戦, Shimonoseki Kaisen) is a little-known naval engagement fought on July 16th, 1863, by a warship of the US Navy, the USS Wyoming, against the powerful feudal Japanese warlord or daimyo Lord Mori Takachika of the Chōshū clan based in Shimonoseki, Japan. It was a prelude to the larger-scale September 1864 Bombardment of Shimonoseki by Allied foreign powers. It took place among the troubled events of the Late Tokugawa shogunate (1854–1868) associated with the opening of Japan to the West.

Background

In 1863 the Japanese Emperor Kōmei, breaking with centuries of imperial tradition and dissatisfied with Japan's opening to the West, began to take an active role in matters of state and issued on March 11th and April 11th 1863 an "Order to expel barbarians" (攘夷実行の勅命). The Shimonoseki-based Chōshū clan, under Lord Mori Takachika, followed on the Order, and began to take actions to expel all foreigners from the date fixed as a deadline (May 10th, Lunar calendar). Openly defying the shogunate, Takachika ordered his forces to fire without warning on all foreign ships traversing Shimonoseki Strait.

The Chōshū clan was equipped with mostly antiquated cannon firing cannonballs (round shot), but also some modern armament, such as five 8-inch Dahlgren guns which had been presented to Japan by the United States, and three steam warships of American construction: the bark Daniel Webster (six guns), the brig Lanrick (Kosei, ten guns), and the steamer Lancefield (Koshin, four guns).

Attacks on foreign shipping

The first attack occurred on June 25, 1863. The U.S. merchant steamer Pembroke, under Captain Simon Cooper, was riding at anchor outside Shimonoseki Strait, when intercepted and unexpectedly fired upon by two European-built warships belonging to the rebel forces. The crew of one enemy vessel taunted the frantic American seamen with the loud and unnerving cry, "Revere the Emperor and drive out the barbarians!" ("尊皇攘夷", pronounced "Sonnō Jōi"). Under incessant cannon fire, Pembroke managed to get underway and escape through the adjacent Bungo Strait, miraculously with only slight damage and no casualties. Upon arrival in Shanghai, Cooper filed a report of the attack and dispatched it to the U.S. Consulate in Yokohama, Japan.

Next day, June 26, the French naval dispatch steamer Kienchang was also riding at anchor outside the strait when rebel Japanese artillery atop the bluffs surrounding Shimonoseki opened fire on her. Damaged in several places, the French vessel was lucky to get away with but one wounded sailor.

Attack on the French warship Kienchang.

On July 11, despite warnings from the crew of the Kienchang, whom they had rendezvoused with earlier, the 16-gun Dutch warship Medusa cruised into Shimonoseki Strait. Her skipper, Captain François de Casembroot was convinced that Lord Mori would not dare fire on his vessel, due to the strength of his ship and longstanding relations between the Netherlands and Japan. But Takachika did just that, pounding Medusa with more than thirty shells and killing or wounding nine seamen. De Casembroot returned fire and ran the rebel gauntlet at full speed, fearful of endangering the life of the Dutch Consul General, who was then aboard Medusa.

Within a short time, the Japanese warlord had managed to fire on most of the foreign flags of those nations with consulates in Japan.

Operations

David McDougal, captain of the USS Wyoming, photographed circa 1860.

In the morning of July 16, 1863, under sanction by Minister Pruyn, in an apparent swift response to the attack on the Pembroke, the U.S. frigate USS Wyoming under Captain David McDougal sailed into the strait and single-handedly engaged the US-built but poorly manned rebel fleet. For almost two hours before withdrawing, McDougal sank one enemy vessel and severely damaged the other two, along with some forty Japanese casualties, while the Wyoming suffered extensive damage with ten crew dead or wounded.

At 4:45 a.m. on 16 July, Comdr. McDougal called all hands; and Wyoming got underway 15 minutes later, bound for the strait. After a two-day voyage, she arrived off the island of Hime Shima on the evening of 15 July and anchored off the south side of that island.

At five o'clock the following morning, Wyoming weighed anchor and steamed toward the Strait of Shimonoseki. She went to general quarters at nine, loaded her pivot guns with shell, and cleared for action. The warship entered the strait at 10:45 and beat to quarters. Soon, three signal guns boomed from the landward, alerting the batteries and ships of the daimyo Choshiu of Wyoming's arrival.

USS Wyoming.

At about 11:15, after being fired upon from the shore batteries, Wyoming hoisted her colors and replied with her 11-inch pivot guns. Momentarily ignoring the batteries, McDougal ordered Wyoming to continue steaming toward a bark, a steamer, and a brig at anchor off the town of Shimonoseki. Meanwhile, four shore batteries took the warship under fire. Wyoming answered the Japanese cannon "as fast as the guns could be brought to bear" while shells from the shore guns passed through her rigging.

Wyoming then passed between the brig and the bark on the starboard hand and the steamer on the port, steaming within a pistol shot's range. One shot from either the bark or brig struck near Wyoming's forward broadside gun, killing two men and wounding four. Elsewhere on the ship, a Marine was struck dead by a piece of shrapnel.

Wyoming, in hostile territory, then grounded in uncharted waters shortly after she had made one run past the forts. The Japanese steamer, in the meantime, had slipped her cable and headed directly for Wyoming —possibly to attempt a boarding. The American man-of-war, however, managed to work free of the mud and then unleashed her 11-inch Dahlgrens on the enemy ship, hulling her (i.e., making holes in her hull) and damaging her severely. Two well-directed shots exploded her boilers and, as she began to sink, her crew abandoned the ship.

Wyoming then passed the bark and the brig, firing into them steadily and methodically. Some shells were "overs" and landed in the town ashore. As Comdr. McDougal wrote in his report to Gideon Welles on 23 July, "the punishment inflicted (upon the daimyo) and in store for him will, I trust, teach him a lesson that will not soon be forgotten."

Wyoming sinking the Japanese Lancefield (Kosei).

After having been under fire for a little over an hour, Wyoming returned to Yokohama. She had been hulled 11 times, with considerable damage to her smokestack and rigging. Her casualties had been comparatively light: four men killed and seven wounded—one of whom later died. Significantly, Wyoming had been the first foreign warship to take the offensive to uphold treaty rights in Japan.

The two Japanese steamers sunk by the Wyoming were raised again by Chōshū in 1864 and attached to the harbor of Hagi.

Aftermath

The results of the battle were not sufficient to stop the actions of the Choshu clan against foreign shipping and the shore batteries of Choshu remained intact, and the shelling of foreign ships continued. Foreign powers would later combine into a powerful fleet in 1864 in order to conduct the Bombardment of Shimonoseki, with successful results.

References

• "A Diplomat in Japan", Sir Ernest Satow, 2006 Stone Bridge Press, ISBN 9781933330167
• Polak, Christian (2002). 日仏交流の黄金期　Soie et Lumière, L'Âge d'or des échanges Franco-Japonais (in Japanese and French). Hachette Fujingaho.