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	Sister ship Ayanami
History
Empire of Japan
Name	Kisaragi
Builder	Yokosuka Naval Arsenal
Launched	6 September 1905
Completed	19 October 1906
Decommissioned	1 April 1928
Out of service	12 October 1928
Reclassified	As a minesweeper, 1 December 1924
Fate	Scrapped, 1928
General characteristics (as built)
Class and type	Kamikaze-class destroyer
Displacement	381 long tons (387 t); 450 long tons (460 t) (full load);
Length	227 ft (69.2 m) (pp); 234 ft (71 m) (o/a);
Beam	21 ft 7 in (6.6 m)
Draught	6 ft (1.8 m)
Installed power	4 boilers; 6,000 ihp (4,500 kW)
Propulsion	2 shafts; 2 triple-expansion steam engines
Speed	29 knots (54 km/h; 33 mph)
Range	1,200 nmi (2,200 km; 1,400 mi) at 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph)
Complement	70
Armament	2 × single 3 in (76 mm) 12 cwt guns; 4 × single 3 in (76 mm) 8 cwt guns; 2 × single 450 mm (17.7 in) torpedo tubes;

Kisaragi (如月) ("February") was one of 32 Kamikaze-class destroyers built for the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) in the first decade of the 20th century.

Design and description

The Kamikaze-class destroyers were improved versions of the preceding Harusame class.^[1] They displaced 381 long tons (387 t) at normal load and 450 long tons (460 t) at deep load. The ships had a length between perpendiculars of 227 feet (69.2 m) and an overall length of 234 feet (71.3 m), a beam of 21 feet 7 inches (6.6 m) and a draught of 6 feet (1.8 m). The Kamikazes were powered by two vertical triple-expansion steam engines, each driving one shaft using steam produced by four Kampon water-tube boilers. The engines produced a total of 6,000 indicated horsepower (4,500 kW) that gave the ships a maximum speed of 29 knots (54 km/h; 33 mph). They carried a maximum of 100 long tons (102 t) of coal^[2] which gave them a range of 1,500 nautical miles (2,800 km; 1,700 mi) at a speed of 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph). Their crew consisted of 70 officers and ratings.^[3]

The main armament of the Kamikaze-class ships consisted of two 40-calibre quick-firing (QF) three-inch (76 mm) 12 cwt guns^{[Note 1]} on single mounts; the forward gun was located on superstructure, but the aft gun was at the stern. Four 28-calibre QF three-inch 8 cwt guns on single mounts were positioned abreast the superstructure, two in each broadside. The ships were also armed with two single rotating mounts^[1]^[3] for 450-millimetre (17.7 in)^[4] torpedoes between the superstructure and the stern gun. When Kisaragi was converted into a minesweeper in 1924, she was rearmed with a pair of 12-centimetre (4.7 in) 3rd Year Type guns taken from older ships on single mounts and the three-inch 8 cwt guns were removed.^[1]

Construction and career

Kisaragi was launched at Yokosuka Naval Arsenal on 6 September 1905^[1] and completed on 19 October. The ship saw service in World War I and participated in the Siberian Expedition. She was converted into a minesweeper on 1 December 1924 and was decommissioned on 1 April 1928, although Kisaragi remained in use until 12 October,^[5] and was subsequently broken up for scrap.^[3]

Notes

^ "Cwt" is the abbreviation for hundredweight, 12 cwt referring to the weight of the gun.

Citations

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Friedman 1985, p. 241
^ Watts & Gordon, p. 243
^ ^a ^b ^c Jentschura, Jung & Mickel, p. 133
^ Friedman 2011, p. 349
^ Todaka, et al., p. 218

Books

Friedman, Norman (1985). "Japan". In Gardiner, Robert & Gray, Randal (eds.). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-907-3.
Friedman, Norman (2011). Naval Weapons of World War One. Barnsley, South Yorkshire, UK: Seaforth. ISBN 978-1-84832-100-7.
Jentschura, Hansgeorg; Jung, Dieter & Mickel, Peter (1977). Warships of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1869–1945. Annapolis, Maryland: United States Naval Institute. ISBN 0-87021-893-X.
Todaka, Kazushige; Fukui, Shizuo; Eldridge, Robert D. & Leonard, Graham B. (2020). Destroyers: Selected Photos from the Archives of the Kure Maritime Museum; the Best from the Collection of Shizuo Fukui's Photos of Japanese Warships. Japanese Naval Warship Photo Album. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1-59114-630-8.
Watts, Anthony J. & Gordon, Brian G. (1971). The Imperial Japanese Navy. London: Macdonald. ISBN 0-35603-045-8.