Japanese cruiser Chitose
| |
| History | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Name | Chitose |
| Ordered | 1896 Fiscal Year |
| Builder | Union Iron Works, United States |
| Laid down | 16 May 1897 |
| Launched | 23 January 1898 |
| Completed | 1 March 1898 |
| Commissioned | March 1898 |
| Decommissioned | 1 April 1928 |
| Fate | Scuttled, 19 July 1931 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | Kasagi-class cruiser |
| Displacement | 4,836 t (4,760 long tons) |
| Length | 115.3 m (378 ft 3 in) w/l |
| Beam | 15 m (49 ft 3 in) |
| Draft | 5.4 m (17 ft 9 in) |
| Installed power | 11,600 kW (15,600 hp) |
| Propulsion | list error: <br /> list (help) 2 × VTE; 12 × boilers 2 × shafts |
| Speed | 22.5 kn (41.7 km/h; 25.9 mph) |
| Range | 4,000 nmi (7,400 km; 4,600 mi) at 10 kn (19 km/h; 12 mph) |
| Complement | 405 |
| Armament | 2 × 203 mm (8.0 in) guns, 10 × 120 mm (4.7 in) guns, 12 × 12-pounder guns, 5 × 47 mm (1.9 in) guns, 4 × 360 mm (14 in) torpedo tubes |
| Armor |
|
Chitose (千歳) was a Kasagi-class protected cruiser of the Imperial Japanese Navy. It was the sister ship to the Kasagi. It should not be confused with the later aircraft carrier Chitose. Its name comes from Chitose, Hokkaidō.
Design and development
Chitose was designed and built in San Francisco in the United States by the Union Iron Works, with specifications very similar to that of the Takasago. It was intended for naval support and supply operations.
Service
Its launch was filmed by Thomas Edison. It was christened by May Budd, niece of California governor James Budd, with a bottle of California wine. Gladys Sullivan, niece of San Francisco mayor James Phelan, pressed the button that sent the ship down the slipway. To symbolize the peace-keeping role of the warship, 100 doves were released as it was launched. Japanese Consul General Segawa explained in a speech at the following luncheon that "Chitose" meant "a thousand years of peace" in Japanese, and that he hoped that the ship would fulfill that wish.
Chitose arrived at Yokosuka on 30 April 1898, and was thus commissioned too late to see service during the First Sino-Japanese War. However, it was active in the Russo-Japanese War as a component of the Japanese 1st Fleet in the Siege of Port Arthur, and it saw combat in the Battle of the Yellow Sea and the final decisive Battle of Tsushima.
From 1 April-16 November 1907, Chitose made a round-the-world voyage, first stopping in the United States to attend the 300th anniversary celebrations of the founding of the Jamestown Settlement, and continuing onwards to Europe.
During World War I, Chitose was assigned to the Japanese 2nd Fleet, and participated in the Battle of Tsingtao against the Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial German Navy). Later in the war, it was assigned to patrol the sea lanes between Singapore and Borneo, as part of Japan's contribution to the Allied war effort under the Anglo-Japanese Alliance.
Downgraded to a "Second Class Coastal Defense Vessel" on 1 September 1921, Chitose was deemed obsolete on 1 April 1928 and removed from the active list. It was scuttled on 19 July 1931 off Kochi, Shikoku.
References
- Evans, David. Kaigun: Strategy, Tactics, and Technology in the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1887-1941. US Naval Institute Press (1979). ISBN 0870211927
- Howarth, Stephen. The Fighting Ships of the Rising Sun: The Drama of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1895-1945. Atheneum; (1983) ISBN 0689114028
- Jane, Fred T. The Imperial Japanese Navy. Thacker, Spink & Co (1904) ASIN: B00085LCZ4
- Jentsura, Hansgeorg. Warships of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1869-1945. Naval Institute Press (1976). ISBN 087021893X
- Schencking, J. Charles. Making Waves: Politics, Propaganda, And The Emergence Of The Imperial Japanese Navy, 1868-1922. Stanford University Press (2005). ISBN 0804749779