Niitaka class Cruiser (1902)

Called the Tsushima class in some publications but today more generally the Niitaka class, these two protected cruisers were built at Yokosuka and Kure between 1901 and 1904, one named after a sacred mountain, and the second after the strait, which later became the famous battle that completely changed the maritime landscape and ambitious of Japan for the next decades. They derived from IJN Suma, another Japanese protected cruiser design (1895) but were larger and improved on many points albeit remaining quite conservative in general layout. Still they had a lower center of gravity and proved more stable and seaworthy, better armed than most protected cruisers of their era, and among the last of their kind. Both took part in the closing stages of the Russo-Japanese war, and in WWI they took part in the siege of Tsingtao, and patrolled against German commerce raiders after chasing off Von Spee from the Pacific, patrolling the Indian Ocean and Southern African waters. They also took part in the Siberian Intervention until 1921. However Niiitaka was lost in a typhoon in 1923 while her sister survived the treaties of Washington and London, kept as training vessels, Tsushima being struck in 1936 and sunk as target in 1944…

IJN Niitaka in 1918 (AI colorized)

Development

The two Niitaka-class (Niitaka-gata bōgojun’yōkan) were protected cruisers ordered for the Imperial Japanese Navy in 1897 and to be built to a completely Japanese design. Both were ordered as part of the 2nd Emergency Fleet Replenishment Program. The budget was escured through the massive indemnity awarded to Japan by China after the Treaty of Shimonoseki putting an end to the First Sino-Japanese War in 1894. These were two 3,000 tonnes cruisers intended for high speed reconnaissance, well before the conept of scout cruiser took traction with the development of turbines. From the start they were indeed planned to have VTE machinery. The design was planned at Yokosuka, which had the largest design team and facilities to draw large plans and make models, even test them in pools.

The admiralty took experience of past protected cruisers, notably those built in Britain at Armstrong Elswick, like the Naniwa and Takachiho back in 1885. In between, and with the help of French engineer Bertin, Yokosuka was developed as a beating hart of the IJN, with all its modern design and testing facilities, complementary to the Kure naval arsenal, providing artillery and fitting out equipment. Since the Naniwa class, and the French-built vessels that took part in the Sino-Japanese war, the Japanese learned a great deal and comparing designs, they found the nice middle spot by marrying the best concepts of both.

IJN Akashi of the Suma class. Albeit they were designed at Yokosuka, a Brtitish-looking design with still many French elements. They enabled the design later of the Niitaka ordered in 1897.

The first truly Japanese, mature unprotected cruiser design (Mubōbina jun’yōkan) were the two Takao class, followed by the British IJN Chiyoda protected cruiser (Bōgo jun’yōkan) and French unprotected Chishima (1892). Of the very perculiar Matsushima class that proved critically a bad concept in 1894 as the design had the last in class, Hashidate, made at Yokosuka. After the loss of Unebi, built in France, however, Japanese designs started to but more national-oriented. The first mature design that really counts was IJN Suma, also from Yokosuka, which put the basis for later Japanese protected cruiser designs. There was an update to German designs (IJN saien), US designs (Chitose class) and back to British designs with the 4,000 tonnes Kasago. The new Niitaka class planned were to be back to a Japanese design incorporating many aspects of the recently acquired ships. The choice of protected versus unprotected cruisers seemed cemented after the construction of Miyako and Chihaya, both more gunboat-size at 1700 and 1200 tonnes.
After this the IJN decided to concentrate only on protected cruisers, which were built at home until the Chikuma class of 1912, that were both protected and scouts cruisers.

The lead ship, IJN Niitaka (hence the class name in most publications, as she was both launched and completed earlier, was ordered in 1897 from the Yokosuka Naval Arsenal, Yokosuka, Kanagawa, which already had considerable experiencing in building small cruisers. Her sister ship, Tsushima, was built at the new Kure Naval Arsenal, at Kure, Hiroshima and took considerably longer to complete as Kure was less experienced: Kure indeed only built the small Miyako prior to this.

Design of the class

Hull and general design

The new Niitaka class were still very conservative in layout, originally ordered as enlarged version of the 2-funneled IJN Suma. The displacement was mych increase, and they had a heavier armor, but calculations ensured a lower center of gravity. This overall resulted in a better seaworthiness. They were also more powerful, better armed. So much so they were considered a step ahead, outclassing many other contemporary protected cruisers of their day in 1900. But this changed rapidly. The machinery benefited from sixteen Niclausse boilers, a great improvement on the locomotive boilers of the Suma class.
In size, the Niitaka class displaced 3,366 long tons (3,420 t) for an overall length of 102 m (334 ft 8 in) at the waterline and a beam of 13.44 m (44 ft 1 in), draft of 4.92 m (16 ft 2 in). As customary for the time they had a reinforced ram bow. But the greatest change in outlook was their triple funnels, in accordance to their new machinery. Otherwise, they were a typically British design with foreccastle and sterncastle, the artillery partly on these and partly in sponsons on the lower amidship deck, completed by many light QF guns to deal with torpedo boats.

Powerplant

Profile and top view, Kombrig kit (src below)

The great improvement this class brought over the Suma class, was to swap from eight locomotive style coal-burning boilers for an output of 6,250 hp (4,660 kW). Instead, the Niitaka class adopted more modern French boilers of the water tube type, Niclausse, with a licence acquired. They were also smaller, and the number was double at sixteen total, for a 1/3 output rise at 9,500 hp (7,100 kW). However their machinery remained almost the same, with two engines mated on two shafts propellers, they adopted the same VTE reciprocating engines (triple expansion). The next result, with a favourable hull ratio, was a top speed of 20 knots (23 mph; 37 km/h), not better than the Suma though. But they carried a bit more coal, 600-700t versus 550t on the Suma, but for 4,000 nmi (10) versus 11,000 nmi (20,000 km) at 10 knots for some sources.

Protection

As classic protected cruisers, they had a turtleback protection system above the vitals, machinery spaces and ammunitions magazines:
-The armour deck was 38 mm thick (1.5 in) with 64mm (2.5 in) slopes.
-The machinery was protected by additional 76 mm (3 inches) glacis.
-The Guns were protected by 25 mm (1 inch) shields.
-The Conning Tower had 102 mm (4 inches) walls.

Armament

The Niitaka-class cruisers had no torpedoes. The Japanese recoignized early on they could be a safety issue ans did not fit their tactical requirements. It was also the resulmt of the issues of the USN in the 1898 Spanish–American War with torpedo reliability and a possible sympathetic detonation after a hit. The main battery was standardized to the QF 6 inch/40 naval gun of british origin (Armstrong pattern) made under licence by Kure arsenal. They were common to most IJN protected cruiser.

6 inches(152mm)/40 Armstrong Z

The Niitaka class came with six main guns, all of the new 6 inches(152mm)/40 Armstrong Z pattern made under licence at Kure arsenal, with A and X located on their respectiove forecastle and stern castle, firing in the axis, and thus with the best foring arc and the remainder four in classic lower deck sponsoned positions fore and aft in order to have three firing forward or aft, in chase and retreat and a broadside of four gun. They were typical of the Arsmtrong 6-in, Specs:
6.6 tons, 240 inches (6.096 m) barrel, Shell QF, separate cartridge 100 pounds (45 kg)
ROF 5–7 rpm at 2,154 feet per second (657 m/s)
Elevation +20 degrees, Max range 10,000 yards (9,140 m).

3-in(76mm)/40 Armstrong N

In addition to their main guns, they had ten 3-inches secondary guns, located on the lower deck under shields behind the bulwark and between the two main guns sponson positions, five per side.
Specs were the same as the result 3-in/40 Arsmtrong N (licenced to Kure).
Specs QF 12 pounder 12 cwt naval gun:
Mass 0.6 tons, 510 kg for 10 ft 3 in (3.12 m) oa, barrel 10 ft (3 m).
Shell Separate-loading QF 7.62 cm. Breech: single-motion screw.
ROF 15 rpm, at 2,210 ft/s (670 m/s), 11,750 yd (10,740 m) at 40° elevation.

47mm/30 21/2pdr Hotchkiss Mk I

The two ships were completed with the standard 2-pdr Hotchkiss guns located in the strucures fore and aft. Specs were the same as the regular pattern used in the Royal Navy.
The only long term change was to swap the two 3-in/40 guns for four 47mm/30guns in 1922 on Tushima. One 3-in/40 AA gun (76 mm) Type 3 was installed in 1924.

⚙ specifications
Displacement	3,366 long tons (3,420 t)
Dimensions	102 x 13.44 x 4.92m (334 ft 8 in x 44 ft 1 in x 16 ft 2 in)
Propulsion	2 shafts VTE, 16 Niclausse boilers 9,500 hp (7,100 kW)
Speed	20 knots (23 mph; 37 km/h)
Range	c4000 nm/10 kts
Armament	6x 6-in/40, 10x 3-in/40, 4x 2-pdr Hotchkiss
Protection	Deck 76 mm (3 in), CT 100 mm (4 in), see notes
Crew	287 to 320

Career of the Tsushima class

IJN Niitaka was ordered in 1897, launched 15 November 1902, and completed 27 January 1904 at Yokosuka. She was commissioned just in time for the Russo-Japanese War, seeing combat at the Battle of Chemulpo Bay on 2 February 1904, duelling with the Russian cruiser Varyag. She took part in the shore bombardment of Russian positions at the Battle of Port Arthur on 9 March 1904. From April, Niitaka was then ordered to patrol the Korea Strait and Sea of Japan. She thus missed the Battle off Ulsan on 14 August 1904. She rescued Russian sailors adrift from Rurik after the battle however. At the Battle of the Yellow Sea, Niitaka entered the 4th Detachment, 2nd Fleet chasing the Russian cruiser Askold. She ended at Makung, Pescadores Islands, watiing for the arrival of the relief Russian Baltic Fleet.

Nitaka thus did not took part in the Battle of Tsushima on 27 May 1905, as she shadowed the fleet and joined however the Japanese squadron attacking the Oleg, Aurora and Zhemchug and the battleship Knyaz Suvorov. Niitaka took only one hit, killed one crewman, wounding three while spending most of her 6-in shells stocks. On 28 May 1905, Niitaka and Otowa intercepted and sank Svetlana attempting to escape towards Korea. On 28 May she was also part of the final engagement against the cruiser Dmitrii Donskoi. She then escorted troop convoys back to Japan before an overhaul at Sasebo Naval Arsenal from September 1905. Postwar she sailed along the China coast, and Manila to protect Japanese citizens. In October she escorted for the passenger liner Awa Maru with Prince Karl Anton of Hohenzollern.

As World War I commenced, Niitaka took part in the siege and Battle of Tsingtao, and was later assigned to the Japanese 3rd Fleet in Singapore, protecting British shipping to and from Australia and New Zealand from German commerce raiders. 158 marines from Otowa and Niitaka in February 1915 defeated the Singapore Mutiny by Indian Sepoy.
From mid-1915 to 1918, Tsushima and Niitaka ended based at Cape Town to patrol sea lanes to and from the Indian Ocean and towards Europe.

Niitaka in 1918

From September to July 1920, Niitaka assisted landings in Petropavlovsk as part of the 1919 Siberian Intervention helping White Russian forces but also to protect Japanese fishermen along the Kamchatka Peninsula from Russian rogue fishing vessels. She then patrolled the coasts of southern China down to the Netherlands East Indies, South China Sea until September 1921, assigned as a 2nd class coastal defense vessel. On 26 August 1922 close to the Ust-Bolsheretsky District, southern coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula, she landed a party of 15 led by Lt. Shigetada Gunji as part of the intervention aaginst the Bolsheviks when a typhoon fell on her and drove her ashore, onto rocks. She capsized and snak with 284 on boatd, with the only survivors being shore party, having no ship to pick them up. A salvage team was sent in 1923 but she was declared a total loss and was finished off by explosives. A concrete obelisk was erected on a hill north of the site. She was written off on 1 April 1924.

Tsushima was ordered in 1897 from Kure naval arsenal, launched 15 December 1902, and completed 14 February 1904, a month after her sister, just in tim to train and being thrown in the middle of the Russo-Japanese War. She was present with the 4th Detachment, 2nd Fleet for the shore bombardment of Russian positions part of the siege of Port Arthur on 9 March 1904. From April she patrolled of the Korea Strait and Sea of Japan but missed the Battle off Ulsan on 14 August. On 15 August, Tsushima and Chitose chased the cruiser Novik, which ended with the Battle of Korsakov during which she scored 14 hits on Novik but was hit below the waterline and needed repairs. She however rescued Russian sailors from Novik. She was present at the Battle bearing her name on 27 May 1905, concentrating on Oleg, Aurora and Zhemchug, Knyaz Suvorov for her unit. She took six hits (4 KiA, 10 wounded). On 28 May 1905, she took part in the chase and sinking of the cruiser Dmitrii Donskoi.

Postwar, Tsushima patorlled the China coast. in World War I, she patrolled between Borneo and Timor to find German commerce raiders, then joined the 1st Southern Expeditionary Squadron based in Fiji form December 1914, protect British shipping off Australia-New Zealand alongside IJN Kurama, two destroyers, Chikuma, Yahagi and Ikoma. She joined the Japanese-American Expeditionary Squadron with Izumo and Asama, Hizen in pursuit of von Spee’s East Asia Squadron. In February 1915 she was in Singapore, helpint to supress the Mutiny by Indian Sepoy (see above). From mid-1915 until the end of the war like her sisster she was based in South Africa to patrol the Indian Ocean. She took part in 1919 to the Japanese intervention in Siberia. On 1 September 1921, she became a 2nd class coastal defense vessel and was rearmed in 1922 and 1924 and patrol the Yangtze River as flagship for Kichisaburō Nomura, a fleet of gunboats. Disarmed in 1930, she was used as a training vessel until struck in 1936, then training hulk Hai Kan No. 10 in Yokosuka. From 1 April 1939 she was used a utility hulk until sunk as target by torpeodes off Miura, Kanagawa, in 1944.

Read More/Src

Books

Evans, David C.; Peattie, Mark R. (1997). Kaigun: Strategy, Tactics, and Technology in the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1887–1941.
Chesneau, Roger (1979). Conway’s All the World’s Fighting Ships 1860–1905. Conway Maritime Press.
Howarth, Stephen (1983). The Fighting Ships of the Rising Sun: The Drama of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1895–1945. Atheneum.
Jane, Fred T. (1904). The Imperial Japanese Navy. Thacker, Spink & Co.
Jentsura, Hansgeorg (1976). Warships of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1869–1945. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press.
Roberts, John (ed). (1983). ‘Warships of the world from 1860 to 1905 – Volume 2: United States, Japan and Russia. Bernard & Graefe Verlag, Koblenz.
Schencking, J. Charles (2005). Making Waves: Politics, Propaganda, And The Emergence Of The Imperial Japanese Navy, 1868–1922. Stanford University Press.
Tucker, Spencer C (2005). Encyclopedia of World War I: A Political, Social, And Military History. ABC-Clio Inc.
Warner, Dennis & Peggy (1974). The Tide at Sunrise; A History of the Russo-Japanese War, 1904–1905. Charterhouse.

Links

https://web.archive.org/web/20241208181907/https://www.navypedia.org/ships/japan/jap_cr_niitaka.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niitaka-class_cruiser

Model Kits

on scalemates.com/