History | |
---|---|
Empire of Japan | |
Name | Shirataka |
Ordered | 1885 |
Builder | Schichau-Werke, Danzig, Germany |
Laid down | 3 March 1899 |
Launched | 10 June 1899 |
Completed | 22 June 1900 |
Decommissioned | 15 November 1923 |
Fate | Sold 6 April 1927 |
General characteristics | |
Type | Torpedo boat |
Displacement | 126 long tons (128 t) |
Length | 152 ft 6 in (46.48 m) |
Beam | 16 ft 9 in (5.11 m) |
Draught | 4 ft 3 in (1 m) |
Propulsion | Coal-fired engine, 2,600 ihp (1,939 kW) |
Speed | 28 knots (32 mph; 52 km/h) |
Complement | 26 |
Armament |
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The Shirataka (”White hawk”) was a 1st class torpedo boat (suiraitei) of the Imperial Japanese Navy. She was ordered under the Ten Year Naval Expansion Programme [1] passed in 1896 from the shipbuilder Schichau-Werke (as Yard No. 629) in Danzig, Germany, where she was built during 1897–98 in parts along Japanese specifications, and then re-assembled by Mitsubishi in Nagasaki, Japan.
She participated in the Russo-Japanese War (1904–1905). She was decommissioned on 15 November 1923, and sold to break up on 6 April 1927. [2]
In common with all the other early torpedo boat destroyers and 1st class torpedo boats, the Shirataka had a "turtle-back" forecastle intended to prevent seawater covering the forecastle and throwing excessive spray over the control area. Unlike the two-funnel Hayabusa class, the Shirataka had a single funnel amidships, and was completed with three 3-pounder (42mm) QF guns (two abreast just forward of the funnel, and one aft on the centreline). [3] These were later replaced by two 57mm guns and one 47mm 40-cal gun. [4] She also carried three 14-inch torpedo tubes (two abreast just abaft of the funnel, and one aft of the gun on the centreline).
Her machinery comprised two Schichau water-tube boilers, and two 3-cylinder VTE engines developing 2,600 ihp. She carried 30 tons of coal.