Armored Cruiser Kasuga

Kasuga

Country	Japan
Ship Class	Kasuga-class Armored Cruiser
Builder	Gio. Ansaldo & C., Genoa, Italy
Ordered	23 Dec 1901
Laid Down	10 Mar 1902
Launched	22 Oct 1902
Commissioned	7 Jan 1904
Sunk	18 Jul 1945
Displacement	7,700 tons standard
Length	367 feet
Beam	61 feet
Draft	24 feet
Machinery	8 Scotch marine boilers, 2 Vertical triple-expansion steam engines, 2 Shafts
Power Output	13,500 shaft horsepower
Speed	20 knots
Range	5,500nm at 10 knots
Crew	560
Armament	1x10in/40 Type 41 gun, 1x2x8in/45 Type 41 guns, 14x6in/40 Type 41 guns, 10x3in/40 Type 41 guns, 6x3pdr Hotchkiss guns, 4x457mm torpedo tubes
Armor	70-150mm waterline belt, 20-40mm deck, 100-150mm barbette, 150mm conning tower

Contributor: Hugh Martyr

ww2dbaseThe Kasuga was originally one of the famous armoured cruisers of Admiral Heihachiro Togo's fleet during the Russo-Japanese War 1904-05. The cruiser, together with her sister ship, the Nisshin, were built in Italy for the Argentine Republic's Navy. Before the ships were completed and only a few months prior to the outbreak of the war with Russia, the two ships were offered to both Russia and Japan with Japan purchasing them. The cruiser was delivered to Japan by a crew of British Royal Naval Reservists. During that war Kasuga participated in the Battle of the Yellow Sea and was slightly damaged during the subsequent Battle of Tsushima. In addition she frequently bombarded the defences of Port Arthur (now Lushunkou District, Dalian, Liaoning Province, China). The ship played a limited role in World War I and was used to escort Allied convoys and search for German commerce raiders in the Indian Ocean and Australasia. She was then used as a training vessel until 1942 when she was given the role of a harbour defence vessel.

ww2dbaseHer main armament consisted of one 40-caliber Armstrong Whitworth 10-inch/40 Type 41 gun in a single turret forward and two 8-inch/45 Type 41 guns, in a twin-gun turret aft. Both guns being made at the Armstrong factory in Newcastle upon Tyne in England, Uinted Kingdom that also made the ten of the 6-inch/40 Type 41 guns that comprised her secondary armament that were arranged in casemates amidships on the main deck. The remaining four guns were mounted on the upper deck. Kasuga also had ten QF 3-inch/40 Type 41 guns and six rapid firing 3-pounder Hotchkiss guns to defend herself against torpedo boats. She was fitted with four submerged 457-millimeter (18.0-inch) torpedo tubes, two starboard and two portside.

ww2dbaseThe ship's waterline armoured belt had a maximum thickness of 5.9 inches amidships that tapered to 2.8 inches towards the ends of the ship. Between the main gun barbettes it covered the entire side of the ship up to the level of the upper deck. ww2dbaseKasuga capsized at her mooring at Yokosuka, Japan in Jul 1945 during a raid conducted by aircraft of US Navy squadron TF-38. Her wreck was salvaged in Aug 1948 and broken up for scrap by the Uraga Dock Company.

Last Major Revision: Aug 2019

Armored Cruiser Kasuga Interactive Map

Photographs

Kaga, Hiei, Kasuga, and a Takao-class cruiser in harbor, 1932-1934

Kasuga Operational Timeline

23 Dec 1901	Argentina placed the order for the construction of what would later become the Japanese cruiser Kasuga.
10 Mar 1902	The keel of San Mitra/Bernardino Rivadavia was laid down by the Ansaldo shipyard in Genoa, Italy.
22 Oct 1902	San Mitra/Bernardino Rivadavia launched at the Ansaldo shipyard in Genoa, Italy.
30 Dec 1903	San Mitra was sold to Japan while the ship was in Genoa, Italy.
1 Jan 1904	The Japanese Navy renamed the cruiser San Mitra to Kasuga while the ship was in Genoa, Italy.
7 Jan 1904	Kasuga was commissioned into Japanese service in Genoa, Italy.
9 Jan 1904	Kasuga departed Genoa, Italy under the command of British captains and manned by British seamen and Italian stokers.
14 Jan 1904	Kasuga arrived at Port Said, Egypt.
2 Feb 1904	Kasuga arrived at Singapore.
16 Feb 1904	Kasuga arrived at Yokosuka, Japan.
15 Apr 1904	Kasuga bombarded Russian positions near Port Arthur in Manchuria Region, China at a range of 9.5 kilometers (5.9 miles).
15 May 1904	Kasuga collided with protected cruiser Yoshino while sailing in heavy fog in the Yellow Sea. Yoshino capsized and sank with the loss of 318 lives.
10 Aug 1904	Kasuga partcipated in the Battle of the Yellow Sea as a member of the rear battle line. She suffered 3 hits, with 11 crewmen wounded.
26 May 1905	Kasuga participated in the Battle of Tsushima as the fifth in the line of battle.
27 May 1905	Kasuga hit Russian battleship Imperator Nikolai I with one hit, damaging the funnel.
2 Sep 1911	Kasuga escorted torpedo depot ship Anegawa to Vladivostok, Russia, where the depot ship, originally a Russian Navy ship, could be returned to Russia.
13 Dec 1915	Kasuga was made the flagship of Destroyer Squadron 3.
13 May 1916	Kasuga was relieved as the flagship of Destroyer Squadron 3.
12 Sep 1916	Kasuga was made the flagship of Destroyer Squadron 3.
13 Apr 1917	Kasuga was relieved as the flagship of Destroyer Squadron 3.
11 Jan 1918	Kasuga ran aground on a sand bank in the Bangka Strait in the Dutch East Indies. She would remain stuck in that position for five months.
3 Jul 1920	Kasuga arrived at Portland, Maine, United States to attend the centennial celebrations of the state.
22 Aug 1920	Kasuga arrived at Cristóbal, Panama Canal Zone.
25 Aug 1920	Kasuga departed Cristobal, Panama for San Francisco, California, United States.
15 Jun 1926	Kasuga helped in the rescue of the crew of the freighter SS City of Naples that struck a rock off the coast of Japan and broke up. Two of Kasuga crewmen were later awarded medals by King George V for their gallantry during the rescue.
27 Jul 1928	Kasuga rescued the crew of the semi-rigid airship N3 after it exploded in heavy weather during fleet maneuvers.
18 Jul 1945	Kasuga capsized in her mooring during a US Navy raid on Yokosuka, Japan.

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Kasuga