Japanese torpedo boat Kotaka facts for kids
Kotaka (1887)
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Quick facts for kids History |
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 Empire of Japan |
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| Name | Kotaka |
| Ordered | 1885 |
| Builder | Yarrow & Company, United Kingdom |
| Laid down | 1887 |
| Launched | 21 January 1887 |
| Completed | 10 October 1888 |
| Commissioned | 19 August 1890 |
| Decommissioned | 1 April 1908 |
| Fate | Scrapped 27 January 1927 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Torpedo boat |
| Displacement | 203 long tons (206 t) |
| Length | 50.3 m (165 ft) |
| Beam | 5.8 m (19 ft) |
| Draught | 1.7 m (5 ft 7 in) |
| Propulsion | Coal-fired engine (mixed coal/oil from 1904), 1,400 hp (1,044 kW) |
| Speed | 19 knots (22 mph; 35 km/h) |
| Armament |
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Kotaka (小鷹, ”Little Falcon”) was a special type of small, fast warship called a torpedo boat. She belonged to the Imperial Japanese Navy. Kotaka means "Little Falcon" in Japanese.
This ship was ordered in 1885 from a company called Yarrows in London, Great Britain. She was built in pieces according to Japan's plans. Then, all the parts were sent to Yokosuka Naval Arsenal in Japan to be put together.
Kotaka was an important ship. She fought in two major wars: the First Sino-Japanese War (from 1894 to 1895) and the Russo-Japanese War (from 1904 to 1905). After her active service, she was taken out of duty on April 1, 1908. She then became a training ship, helping to teach new sailors. She was officially retired on March 1, 1916. However, she was brought back into service in 1917 for a short time. Her long career finally ended in January 1927.
Building the Kotaka
The idea to build Kotaka first came up in 1881. But there were money problems, which caused delays. The final order for the ship was placed with the British shipbuilders Yarrows on April 29, 1885.
When Kotaka was launched in 1887, she was the biggest torpedo boat in the world. She weighed 203 tons! People even said she was like an early version of the destroyer ships that appeared about ten years later.
Ship's Weapons and Features
Kotaka was armed with four small guns, each 37 millimeters (about 1.5 inches) wide. She also had six torpedo tubes. Torpedoes are underwater weapons that can sink enemy ships.
In the years after Kotaka was built, the Japanese Navy got many smaller torpedo boats. But Kotaka was special. During tests in 1899, she proved she could do more than just defend the coast. She was fast enough to travel with larger warships on the open ocean. The British shipbuilder Yarrow even thought that Japan had "effectively invented the destroyer" with Kotaka's design.
Advanced Design
A newspaper called The Engineer reported about Kotaka on July 2, 1886. It said that the Yarrow & Co. shipyard built a torpedo boat for Japan that was very unusual. She was much larger than other torpedo boats of her time. Her important parts, like the engine, were protected by one-inch thick steel armor. This armor helped protect her from machine-gun fire.
Kotaka was 50.3 meters (165 feet) long and 5.8 meters (19 feet) wide. She weighed 203 tons. Her powerful 1,400-horsepower engines used two propellers. This allowed her to reach a speed of 19 to 20 knots (about 22 to 23 miles per hour).
The ship was taken apart and shipped to Japan. There, she was put back together. She had two torpedo tubes at the front, which fired torpedoes using gunpowder. In the middle and back of the ship, there were turning platforms. Each platform held two more torpedo guns, which could fire almost parallel to the ship. Yarrow had built torpedo boats for Japan eight years earlier, designed by Sir Edward John Reed.
In 1904, Kotaka was updated. Her original engine, which only used coal, was changed to an experimental engine that could use both oil and coal. This was a new technology at the time.
