Maya (摩耶) was an iron-hulled, steam gunboat, serving in the early Imperial Japanese Navy.[1] She was the lead vessel in the four vessel Maya class, and was named after Mount Maya in Kobe.
 Japanese gunboat Maya off Kure in 1892
| |
| History | |
|---|---|
 Empire of Japan | |
| Name | Maya |
| Ordered | 1883 |
| Builder | Onohama Shipyards |
| Laid down | 1 June 1885 |
| Launched | 18 August 1886 |
| Commissioned | 10 January 1888 |
| Decommissioned | 16 May 1908 |
| Stricken | 1 December 1911 |
| Fate | Scrapped 1932 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | Maya-class gunboat |
| Displacement | 614 long tons (624 t) |
| Length | 47.0 m (154.2 ft) |
| Beam | 8.2 m (26 ft 11 in) |
| Draught | 2.95 m (9 ft 8 in) |
| Propulsion |
|
| Speed | 11.0 knots (12.7 mph; 20.4 km/h) |
| Range | 60 tons coal |
| Complement | 104 |
| Armament |
|
| Service record | |
| Operations: | Siege of Port Arthur |
Background
editMaya was an iron-ribbed, iron-sheathed, two-masted gunboat with a horizontal double expansion reciprocating steam engine with two cylindrical boilers driving two screws.[2] She also had two masts for a schooner sail rig.
Maya was laid down at the Onohama Shipyards in Kobe on 1 June 1885 and launched on 18 August 1886. She was completed on 20 January 1888.[3]
Operational history
editMaya saw combat service in the First Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 under the command of Lieutenant Commander Hashimoto Masaaki, patrolling between Korea, Dairen and escorting Japanese transports.
On 21 March 1898, Maya was re-designated as a second-class gunboat, and was used for coastal survey and patrol duties.[3]
During the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905, Maya assisted in the Siege of Port Arthur, and also made a sortie up the Yalu River to attack Russian positions, and was part of the Japanese fleet for the invasion of Sakhalin. [4] She was rearmed with four 4.7 in (120 mm) QF guns and two quadruple 1-inch Nordenfelt guns in 1906.
She was removed from active combat status on 16 May 1908, and was used as a training vessel at the Yokosuka Naval District. Maya was removed from the navy list and transferred to the Home Ministry on 1 December 1911[3] for use as a police boat in Kobe harbor. She was subsequently demilitarized and sold in December 1918 to a commercial trading firm, Ikeda Shoji, who used her as a transport until she was scrapped in 1932.
Notes
edit- ^ Jentsura, Hansgeorg (1976). Warships of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1869-1945. Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-893-X. page 115
- ^ Chesneau, All the World’s Fighting Ships, p. 236.
- ^ a b c Nishida, Ships of the Imperial Japanese Navy
- ^ Corbett, Maritime Operations in The Russo-Japanese War 1904-1905.
References
edit- Corbett, Sir Julian. Maritime Operations in The Russo-Japanese War 1904-1905. (1994) Originally classified, and in two volumes, ISBN 1-55750-129-7
- Chesneau, Roger and Eugene M. Kolesnik (editors), All The World's Fighting Ships 1860-1905, Conway Maritime Press, 1979 reprinted 2002, ISBN 0-85177-133-5
- Jentsura, Hansgeorg (1976). Warships of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1869-1945. Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-893-X.