Japanese battleship Asahi
Asahi was a pre-dreadnought battleship built for the Imperial Japanese Navy in the late 1890s. She became flagship of the Standing Fleet, the IJN’s primary combat fleet. Asahi saw no combat during World War I, although the ship participated in the Siberian Intervention in 1918. Reclassified as a coastal defence ship in 1921, Asahi was disarmed two years later to meet the terms of the Washington Naval Treaty. She was modified into a submarine salvage and rescue ship before being placed in reserve in 1928. In 1938, she was converted into a repair ship and based first at Japanese-occupied Shanghai, China, and then Cam Ranh Bay, French Indochina, from late 1938 to 1941. The ship
About Japanese battleship Asahi in brief
Asahi was a pre-dreadnought battleship built for the Imperial Japanese Navy in the late 1890s. She became flagship of the Standing Fleet, the IJN’s primary combat fleet. Asahi saw no combat during World War I, although the ship participated in the Siberian Intervention in 1918. Reclassified as a coastal defence ship in 1921, Asahi was disarmed two years later to meet the terms of the Washington Naval Treaty. She was modified into a submarine salvage and rescue ship before being placed in reserve in 1928. In 1938, she was converted into a repair ship and based first at Japanese-occupied Shanghai, China, and then Cam Ranh Bay, French Indochina, from late 1938 to 1941. The ship was transferred to occupied Singapore in early 1942 to repair a damaged light cruiser and ordered to return home in May. It was sunk en route by the American submarine USS Salmon, although most of her crew survived. Her main battery consisted of the same four Elswick Ordnance Company 40-calibre twelve-inch guns used in all of Japan’s preceding battleships. She carried a maximum of 2,000 long tons of coal which allowed her to steam for 9,000 nautical miles at a speed of 10 knots. The ship’s secondary armament consisted of eight 40-firing 12-pounders in casemates on the main deck and the other six guns were placed above them in the superstructure.
They fired 100-pound shells at a muzzle velocity of two,300ft. The ships were paid for from the £30,000,000 indemnity paid by China after losing the First Sino-Japanese War. Japan lacked the technology and capability to construct its own battleships, and turned again to the United Kingdom for the four remaining battleships of the programme. The design was a modified version of the Formidable-class battleship of the Royal Navy, with two additional 6-inch guns. She had an overall length of 425 feet 3 inches, a beam of 75 feet, and a normal draught of 27 feet 3 inches. She displaced 15,200 long tons at normal load. Her hull was also subdivided into 223 watertight compartments, including the admiral’s staff. Her crew numbered about 773 officers and enlisted men, and her crew numbered 773 officers and enlisted men, including the admiral’s staff. The engines were rated at 15,000 indicated horsepower, using forced draught, and designed to reach a top speed of 18 knots although Asahi reached 18. 3 knots from 16,335 ihp during her sea trials on 23 March 1900. She was powered by two vertical triple-expansion steam engines built by Humphrys, Tennant, each driving one propeller, using steam generated by 25 Belleville boilers at a working pressure of 1,703 kPa; 247 psi.
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This page is based on the article Japanese battleship Asahi published in Wikipedia (as of Oct. 31, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
