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Shinano Maru (1900)

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Shinano Maru (信濃丸) was a 6,388 gt merchantman operated by the Nippon Yusen K.K Shipping Company. She was built by W. Henderson Co in Glasgow, completed in April, 1900 and had a length of 135.6 m. During the Russo-Japanese War Shinano Maru was converted into an armed merchantman. It has the distinction of discovering the Russian Fleet near Tsushima Strait on the eve of the Battle of Tsushima. After the war Shinano Maru reverted to civilian use, being scrapped in 1951.

Battle of Tsushima

In March 1905,[1] the Shinano was armed and converted into an auxiliary cruiser, mounting 2 x 6 inch guns (one fore and one aft), and was commissioned into the Imperial Japanese Navy under the command of Captain Morikawa[2]). Shortly before the Battle of Tsushima it was assigned to the Auxiliary Squadron of the Combined Fleet along with six other armed merchantmen and three torpedo boat tenders.[3]

On the night of May 26-27 Shinano, America, Sado and Manshu were deployed as a lookout screen in the strait between Gotō Islands and Jeju-do.[4] At 2:45 Shinano sighted a suspicious ship, but the rising moon prevented proper identification.[2] Shinano steamed ahead and properly sighted the opponent at 4:30.[2] It was an unarmed, apparently hospital ship, communicating signals to other enemy ships, invisible in the morning haze.[2] It turned out to be the Russian hospital transport Orel.[5] The rest of the Russian fleet had already sailed past Orel, undetected by the Japanese.[2] Morikawa settled to search and seize Orel and closed in, only to notice half a dozen other Russian ships nearby.[6] He fled the scene and broadcast the report of the sighting on the wireless.[6] However, grid coordinates reported by Shinano were incorrect by 10 to 20 miles, owing either to Morikawa's errors in dead reckoning or to his misunderstanding of Orel's position in the Russian order of battle.[6] The Japanese Third Division hurried to the grid square reported by Morikawa, but could not find the trace of the enemy.[7]

At 6:05 Shinano reestablished visual contact with the Russians, and continued shadowing it at four to five miles distance.[6] Russian officers advised admiral Zinovy Rozhestvensky to interfere but Rozhestvensky refused, insisting on continuing his course in strict radio silence.[7] At 6:40 Shinano was relieved by Izumi.[8] Confusion caused by Morikawa's first report was resolved, and now the Combined Fleet had precise information on the Russian advance.[9] This intelligence ultimately led to the decisive Battle of Tsushima.

In the aftermath of the battle the Shinano Maru and Dainan Maru located the sinking Russian battleship Sissoi Veliky and forced the captain to surrender it[10]. The Shinano Maru took the Russian survivors to captivity in Sasebo.


Notes

  1. ^ Corbett, p. 154.
  2. ^ a b c d e Corbett, p. 222.
  3. ^ Corbett, p. 218.
  4. ^ Corbett, p. 221, uses Quelpart for Jeju-do.
  5. ^ Not the battleship of the same name.
  6. ^ a b c d Corbett, p. 223.
  7. ^ a b Corbett, p. 224.
  8. ^ Idzumi in Corbett, p. 226.
  9. ^ Corbett. p. 226.
  10. ^ Corbett, p. 308.

References

  • Corbett, J. S. (1994 reprint). Maritime operations in the Russo-Japanese War, 1904-1905. Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-55750-129-7.
  • Wilson, H. W. (1969, 1999 revised edition). Battleships in Action. Scholarly Press. ISBN 0-85177-642-6. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |year= (help)CS1 maint: year (link)
  • [1] — In Japanese
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