Kawachi class battleship

The nihongo|"Kawachi" class|河内型戦艦|Kawachi-gata senkan was a two-ship class of dreadnought battleships of the Imperial Japanese Navy. The "Kawachi" class vessels were the first battleships to be built for Japan exceeding 20,000 tons displacement, and the last to be built as dreadnoughts.

Background

"Kawachi" and "Settsu" were ordered under in 1907 Fleet Expansion Program as one of the first steps in full implementation of the Eight-Eight Fleet Program. The Japanese Navy projected that a fleet of eight front-line battleships was the minimum necessary against potential threats from China, Russia or the United States.

Design

The design of the "Kawachi" class was a modified version of the previous "Satsuma class.

Armament

For its main battery, the "Kawachi" class carried four Type 41 12-inch (305 mm)/50 caliber naval guns mounted two per turret; one centerline forward, one centerline aft and eight Type 41 12-inch (305 mm)/45 caliber naval guns mounted in one wing turret on each side that could fire forward and to its side and one wing turret on each side that could fire aft and to its side. These main guns were very unusual in that the centerline guns were longer than the ones in the wing turrets. Although the different calibers were used for budgetary considerations, this had the unexpected benefit of reducing topside weight, and the unexpected demerit of proper gunnery control as the shells from the different length guns had different trajectories.

Secondary armament was very heavy, as per the previous "Aki" class design, with ten Type 41 6-inch (152 mm)/40-caliber quick firing guns to counter torpedo boat attacks.

Tertiary armament consisted of eight Type 41 4.7-inch (120 mm)/40-caliber naval guns and 12 Type 41 3-inch (7.62 cm)/40-caliber naval guns, commonly known as "twelve pounders" plus an additional four Type 41 3-inch (7.62 cm)/25-caliber naval guns

Propulsion

The engines on the "Kawachi" class vessels were coal-fired Brown Curtiss turbine engines with 16 Miyabara water tube boilers. The engines produced Auto shp|25000|-1, yielding a design speed of convert|20|kn|km/h|0.

Ships in class

* " Kawachi " Commissioned on 1912-03-31, "Kawachi" played a minor role in World War I, and was lost in an accidental explosion with massive loss of life on 1918-07-12.

* " Settsu"Commissioned on 1912-07-01, "Settsu" played a minor role in World War I. She was disarmed as part of Japan’s compliance with the Washington Naval Agreement in 1924, and used as a radio-controlled target ship thereafter until the end of World War II.

References

*cite book
last = Brown
first = D. K.
year = 1999
title = Warrior to Dreadnought, Warship Development 1860-1906
publisher = Naval Institute Press
location =
id = ISBN 1-84067-529-2
*cite book
last = Evans
first = David
year = 1979
title = Kaigun: Strategy, Tactics, and Technology in the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1887-1941
publisher = US Naval Institute Press
location =
id = ISBN 0870211927
*cite book
last = Howarth
first = Stephen
year = 1983
title = The Fighting Ships of the Rising Sun: The Drama of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1895-1945
publisher = Atheneum
location =
id = ISBN 0689114028
*cite book
last = Jentsura
first = Hansgeorg
year = 1976
title = Warships of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1869-1945
publisher = Naval Institute Press
location =
id = ISBN 087021893X

External links

* [http://homepage2.nifty.com/nishidah/e/stc0118.htm Materials of the Imperial Japanese Navy]
* [http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/japan/settsu-bb.htm Global Security site]