Japanese cruiser Mogami (1908)
 | This article includes a list of references, related reading, or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. (June 2008) |
.jpg) Mogami in 1908
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| History | |
|---|---|
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| Name | Mogami |
| Ordered | 1904 Fiscal Year |
| Builder | Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Nagasaki, Japan |
| Laid down | 3 March 1907 |
| Launched | 25 March 1908 |
| Commissioned | 16 September 1908 |
| Decommissioned | 1 April 1928 |
| Fate | Scrapped, 31 January 1929 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | Yodo-class cruiser |
| Displacement | 1,372 t (1,350 long tons) |
| Length | 96.3 m (316 ft) o/a |
| Beam | 9.5 m (31 ft) |
| Draft | 3 m (9.8 ft) |
| Installed power | 6,000 kW (8,000 hp) |
| Propulsion | list error: <br /> list (help) 3 × Parsons-type steam turbines 6 × Miyabara boilers 3 × shafts |
| Speed | 23 kn (43 km/h; 26 mph) |
| Capacity | Coal: 68 tons; Fuel Oil: 352 tons |
| Complement | 134 |
| Armament | 2 × 120 mm (4.7 in) guns, 4 × 80 mm (3.1 in) guns, 1 × machine gun, 2 × 450 mm (18 in) torpedo tubes |
| Armor |
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Mogami (最上 通報艦, Mogami tsūhōkan) was the second ship in the Yodo-class of high-speed cruisers in the Imperial Japanese Navy. Officially rated as a tsūhōkan, meaning dispatch boat or aviso, it was named after the Mogami River in northern Honshū, Japan.
Background
Designed and built domestically in Japan, the lightly armed and lightly armored Yodo-class vessels were intended for high speed reconnaissance, and to serve as dispatch vessels. However, they were already obsolete when designed, with the development of wireless communication used during the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905.
Mogami has the distinction of being the first turbine-powered vessel in the Imperial Japanese Navy. However, as the Japanese could not produce reduction gears, Mogami had an unwieldy system of three direct-drive turbines, two for cruising and one for high speed. It was also the first warship to be produced by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in Nagasaki.
Service life
Completed after the end of the Russo-Japanese War, Mogami was used initially for training and coastal patrol duties. Mogami was re-classified as a 1st-class gunboat on 12 October 1912.
Mogami was part of the Japanese fleet at the Battle of Tsingtao in World War I, and assisted in the sinking of the German torpedo boat S90. From 1917-1921, it was assigned to patrol duties in the Caroline Islands and Mariana Islands after Japan's capture of those island groups from Germany.
From 1921-1928, Mogami was assigned to patrols off of the Siberian coast, and to fishery patrol duties.
Mogami was scrapped on 1 April 1928. Although Mogami was considered the more modern and advanced in design, with its higher speed and its turbine engine, it was retired much earlier than its sister ship, Yodo, largely due to performance and maintenance issues with its engines.
While being dismantled at Osaka, a spark from a welding torch ignited the remaining oil in Mogami's bunkers, causing an explosion and fire which destroyed the hulk of the vessel in two hours. The mainmast of Mogami is preserved at the Nakanoshima Park in downtown Osaka as a peace memorial.
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