Japanese cruiser Tenryū
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| Image:Tenryu h42260.jpg Japanese light cruiser Tenryū | |
| Career |  |
|---|---|
| Builder: | Yokosuka Naval Yards, Japan |
| Ordered: | FY1915 |
| Laid down: | May 07, 1917 |
| Launched: | March 11, 1918 |
| Commissioned: | November 20, 1919 |
| Fate: | Torpedoed December 18, 1942 |
| General Characteristics (initial – final) | |
| Displacement: | 3,948 tons (normal); 4,350 tons (max) |
| Length: | 142.9 meters overall |
| Beam: | 12.3 meters |
| Draft: | 4.0 meters |
| Propulsion: | Three Shaft Geared Turbine Engines; 10 Kampon boilers; 51,000 shp |
| Speed: | 33 knots |
| Fuel & Range: | 920 tons oil, 150 tons coal 5,000 nm @ 14 knots |
| Complement: | 327 |
| Armament: |
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IJN Tenryū (天龍) was the lead ship in the Tenryū class of light cruisers of the Imperial Japanese Navy. This design was essentially an enlarged destroyer, inspired by and designed with similar concept to the British Arethusa class and C class cruisers. These ships were designed to lead destroyer squadrons and act as flagships to destroyer flotillas. With oil-fired single-reduction Brown-Curtis geared turbine engines providing more than twice the horsepower of the engines in the previous Chikuma-class, the Tenryū-class cruisers were capable of the high speed of 33 knots. In terms of armaments, these ships were the first in the Imperial Japanese Navy to use 5.5 inch (140 mm) guns and were also the first armed with triple 550 mm torpedoes.
The Tenryū had one sister ship, the IJN Tatsuta. The Tenryū is named after the Tenryū River in Shizuoka prefecture.
The Tenryū was refitted between March 1927 and March 1930, when she was given a tripod foremast. She served in the January 28 Incident at Shanghai in 1932. Later, two 13 mm AA were added in 1939.
Both the Tenryū and the Tatsuta, as part of the 18th Cruiser Squadron, supported the attack on Wake Island at the start of the Pacific War. They remained as part of the 4th Fleet in the south-west Pacific in early 1942, and supported the landings at Kavieng and various operations around New Guinea. In May 1942 they supported the amphibious landings at Port Moresby and Tulagi.
After the Battle of Midway the Tenryū and Tatsuta were assigned to the 8th fleet, still operating as the 18th Cruiser Squadron, and landed troops to occupy Buna, New Guinea, in July. The Tenryū fought at the Battle of Savo Island on 9 August 1942. The Tenryū is credited with sinking the US cruiser USS Quincy (CA-39) but was hit by shells from the USS Chicago (CA-29), which killed 23 crewmen.
The Tenryū was damaged by USAAF B-17 Flying Fortress bombers at Rabaul on 2 October 1942, while operating in support of the Guadalcanal campaign. This task extended until the end of the year, when, on 18 December 1942, Tenryū was torpedoed and sunk by the submarine USS Albacore (SS-218) east of Madang at [05.11S, 145.57E]. Twenty three crewmen were killed. It was struck from the Navy list on 20 January 1943.
Contents |
[edit] References
[edit] Books
- Brown, David (1990). Warship Losses of World War Two. Naval Institute Press. ISBN 155750914X.
- D'Albas, Andrieu (1965). Death of a Navy: Japanese Naval Action in World War II. Devin-Adair Pub. ISBN 081595302X.
- Dull, Paul S. (1978). A Battle History of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1941-1945. Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-097-1.
- Lacroix, Eric; Linton Wells (1997). Japanese Cruisers of the Pacific War. Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0870213113.
[edit] External links
- Parshall, Jon; Bob Hackett, Sander Kingsepp, & Allyn Nevitt. Imperial Japanese Navy Page (Combinedfleet.com). Retrieved on June 14, 2006.
[edit] Notes
[edit] Gallery
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Imperial Japanese Navy  |
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| Admirals | Battles | List of ships | List of aircraft | List of weapons | ||||||||||||
| Tenryū-class cruiser |
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Tenryū | Tatsuta |
| List of ships of the Japanese Navy |
