JAPANESE CRUISER NISSHIN

Armoured cruiser ''Nisshin'' in 1905
Career	Japanese Navy Ensign
Ordered:	FY 1903 to Ansaldo Yards, Italy
Laid down:	May 1902
Launched:	9 February 1903
Commissioned:	7 January 1904
Fate:	Scuttled 1936
Struck:	18 January 1942
General Characteristics
Displacement:	7,698 tons
Length:	357 feet waterline (108.8 m), 366 feet 6 inches overall (111.73 m)
Beam:	61 feet 6 inches (18.9 m)
Draft:	24 feet (7.32 m)
Propulsion:	Two Shaft Reciprocating Vertical Triple Expansion (VTE) Engines; 13,500 shp
Speed:	20 knots
Range:	5,500 nautical miles @ 10 knots
Complement:	600
Armament:	★ 4 × 203 mm guns ★ 14 × 152 mm rapid fire guns (1×14) ★ 10 × 80 mm rapid fire guns (1×10) ★ 6 × 47 mm rapid fire guns ★ 2 × Maxim machine guns ★ 4 × 450 mm torpedo tubes
Armor:	★ belt 70-150 mm ★ deck 25-38 mm ★ barbette 100-150 mm ★ casemate 150 mm ★ conning tower 150 mm

, also transliterated as '''Nissin''', was a ''Kasuga''-class armored cruiser of the Imperial Japanese Navy designed and built by Ansaldo in Genoa Italy, where the type was known as the ''Garibaldi'' class cruiser. Designed as a cross between a battleship and a cruiser, but with a very small displacement, it had the ability to stand in the line of battle and the speed to avoid action with battleships. Its armor belt was only 6 inches thick, but covered a far greater percentage of the hull than previous armored cruiser designs.
The ''Nisshin'' had a sister ship, the ''IJN Kasuga''.

Contents

Background

Service Record

Gallery

References

Background

The ''Nisshin'' was the last of the ''Garibaldi''-class armored cruisers to be built. Originally ordered by the Italian Navy as the ''Roca'' in the spring of 1902, it was sold immediately after launch to the Argentine Navy, who renamed it the ''Mariano Moreno''. However, the possibility of war between Argentina and Chile abated before the ship was completed on 7 January 1904, making it surplus. The Japanese quickly purchased it due to increasing tension with Russia.

Service Record

Completed in January 1904, the ''Nisshin'' was convoyed to Japan by British sailors under Royal Navy escort, so that she could arrive in Japan safely (the Imperial Russian Navy was shadowing her with the intention of sinking her as soon as the conflict started). The British sailors were welcomed as heroes in Japan, and the British captain had the honor of an interview with Emperor Meiji.
At the start of the Russo-Japanese War in 1904, the Imperial Japanese Navy had six modern battleships. This was slightly fewer than the number of Russian battleships at Port Arthur, but Japan had an edge in armored cruisers. On 15 May 1904 in a major disaster for the Imperial Japanese Navy, two Japanese battleships were lost to Russian mines, and the ''Kasuga'' accidentally rammed and sunk the cruiser ''Yoshino'' in a fog bank. With a third of Japan's battleships thus depleted, the unprecedented decision was taken to use the ''Nisshin'' and ''Kasuga'' in the line of battle together with the remaining four first line battleships ''Mikasa'', ''Asahi'', ''Shikishima'' and ''Fuji'' during Battle of the Yellow Sea (10 August 1904). The ''Nisshin'' received significant damage but stayed in the fight.
At the subsequent Battle of Tsushima on 26 May 1905, ''Nisshin'', as flagship of Vice-Admiral Misu Sotaru (second in command after Admiral Tōgō Heihachirō), was 6th and last in the line of battle, following the ''Kasuga''. At 14:15, ''Nisshin'' opened fire on the ''Oslayaba'', the lead ship in the second column of the Russian fleet at a range of 7,000 yards.　At 14:40 ''Nisshin'' received her first hit as a Russian 12-inch shell cut her right 8-inch gun of the forward turret in half. Between 14:57 and 15:05, the Japanese fleet reversed course to block Russian northward movement, which put the ''Nisshin'' as first ship in the battle line. At 15:00, a Russian 12-inch shell punched through the armor belt of ''Nisshin'' one foot below the waterline and flooded a coal bunker. Another 12-inch shell hit the belt about three feet above the waterline but did not penetrate. At 15:06, the Russian cruiser ''Jemtchug'' charged the Japanese line for a torpedo attack but was driven off by fire from ''Nisshin'', ''Kasuga'' and ''Iwate'' at 3300 yards.
At 15:30, the Japanese line again reversed course, placing ''Nisshin'' at the rear again. Another 12-inch hit was made on the ''Nisshin'' but without any significant damage. At 16:05, ''Nisshin'' was hit once more A 9-inch hit on the fore turret sent shell splinters into the conning tower, wounding Admiral Misu. By 17:07, the Japanese line was firing into the light of the setting sun and the Russian line had better visibility. ''Nisshin'' was hit again at 17:20 by another 12-inch shell, which cut the left 8-inch gun of the aft turret in half. She was now down to half her main armament. As daylight was dying, ''Nisshin'' was hit yet again at 19:00 by a 12-inch shell with her left 8-inch gun of the forward turret being cut in half. She now just had a single 8-inch gun operable, the right gun of the aft turret. After nightfall, the action of the main Japanese line concluded. ''Nisshin'' had expended 181 8-inch shells during the battle. Her rate of expenditure obviously decreased significantly as she lost first one, then two and finally three of her four 8-inch guns.
While serving on the ''Nisshin'' at the Battle of Tsushima, then ensign Yamamoto Isoroku lost two fingers on his left hand.
Of the battle damage received by the Japanese, ''Nisshin'' received the second most hits after ''Mikasa''. ''Mikasa'' received over 40 hits, of which ten were from 12-inch shells. ''Nisshin'' was hit 13 times, including six 12-inch and one 9-inch hits. Given the number of hits on the ''Nisshin'' and the fact that she stayed in line throughout the battle, it can certainly be said that she had validated the hopes of the designer: a cruiser able to stand in the line of battle. The performance of the Japanese armored cruisers during the Battle of Tsushima and that of ''Nisshin'' in particular was such that it led to a burst of construction of armored cruisers in the world's navies and also directly led to the battlecruiser designs that were shortly to follow.
From 1917, the ''Nisshin'' participated in World War I in the Mediterranean theater, where she led a group of eight Japanese destroyers based in Malta, in a mission to protect Allied shipping against German and Austrian submarine attacks, as part of Japan’s contribution to the Allied war effort under the Anglo-Japanese Alliance.
During the 1920s, ''Nisshin'' was partially disarmed in accordance with the Washington Naval Treaty. It was used to transport Japanese soldiers and supplies to Siberia in 1922 as part of Japan's Siberian Intervention. She was then used as a training ship until decommissioned in 1935. In 1936, she was scuttled.
In a strange footnote in history, the ''Nisshin'' was later raised, and towed as a target by the battleship ''Mutsu'' at the Kamegakubi Naval Proving Ground, Inland Sea, 15 miles SW of Kure. There, on 18 January 1942, it was sunk again by the battleship ''Yamato'' with her new 18.1 inch shells.
The city of Nisshin in Aichi District, Aichi prefecture was named after the cruiser Nisshin in 1905.

Gallery

References

★ "Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860-1905"

★ Delorme, Pierre, ''Les Grandes Batailles de l'Histoire, Port-Arthur 1904'', Socomer Editions (French)

★ Dull, Paul S. (1978) ''A Battle History of the Imperial Japanese Navy'' ISBN 0-85059-295-X

★ Evans, David. ''Kaigun: Strategy, Tactics, and Technology in the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1887-1941''. US Naval Institute Press (1979). ISBN: 0870211927

★ Gardiner, Robert (editor) (2001) ''Steam, Steel and Shellfire, The Steam Warship 1815-1905'', ISBN 0-7858-1413-2

★ Howarth, Stephen. ''The Fighting Ships of the Rising Sun: The Drama of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1895-1945''. Atheneum; (1983) ISBN: 0689114028

★ Jane, Fred T. ''The Imperial Japanese Navy''. Thacker, Spink & Co (1904) ASIN: B00085LCZ4

★ Jentsura, Hansgeorg. ''Warships of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1869-1945''. Naval Institute Press (1976). ISBN: 087021893X

★ Kofman,V.L. ''Armored Cruiser Type Garibaldi, Morskaya Kollektsia 3-1995''
★ Schencking, J. Charles. ''Making Waves: Politics, Propaganda, And The Emergence Of The Imperial Japanese Navy, 1868-1922''. Stanford University Press (2005). ISBN: 0804749779

★ Tōgō Shrine and Tōgō Association (東郷神社・東郷会), ''Togo Heihachiro in images, illustrated Meiji Navy'' (図説東郷平八郎、目で見る明治の海軍), (Japanese)