Talk:Japanese cruiser Matsushima

Latest comment: 8 years ago by AnnaGoFast in topic Wounded

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Does this ship have a 32 inch cannon, or a 320mm cannon? The article mentions both. -- 59.167.1.40 08:45, 17 September 2006 (UTC) --The article also gives both 1906 and 1908 as the date of the ship's demise.Reply

The ship had a 320 mm (12.6 inch) Canet gun. Date of demise was 1908, and article has been corrected accordingly.--MChew 03:54, 10 February 2007 (UTC)Reply

Issue regarding a source

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A reader contacted Wikimedia via OTRS to report:

Each of the following pages in Wikipedia has the same error:

Japanese cruiser Matsushima Japanese cruiser Itsukushima Japanese cruiser Hasidate Japanese cruiser Naniwa Japanese cruiser Takachiho Japanese cruiser Yoshino

Each of these warships participated in the Battle of the Yalu fought on 9/17/1894. Each of the above Wikipedia articles gives specific details about the number of shells fired, and/or hits received. In each and every case the source of reference for those details is the same. The source is quoted as a book entitled "The Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895: Perceptions, Powers and Primacy" by S.C.M. Paine. Each reference lists the pages 133-134 as the source.

I have a copy of the book and the pages 133-134 refer to a prior naval engagement that took place on 7/25/1894 and only the Naniwa was present. The book does describe the Battle of the Yalu but only in general terms; not even the names of the ships involved are mentioned.

The writer may have cited the wrong source, but the source cited in each of the above articles is most assuredly incorrect.

I believe the book used to cite the claims is:

  • S. C. M. Paine (11 April 2005). The Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895: Perceptions, Power, and Primacy. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-61745-1.

I did not find the information in the book. I hope some editor can either verify that the information is in the source, identify a different source to support the claims, or remove the claims.--S Philbrick(Talk) 02:14, 11 January 2014 (UTC)Reply

Wounded

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In the battle of Tsushima, it first says that a shell hits the ship, "killing 28 and wounding 68 others". It then says he "lost 57 men and 54 wounded". I notice there is a disparity there. Are we to assume that 14 of the initial 68 later died of their wounds? That would be possible, but only if none of the the other hits wounded anyone. For every man wounded, you'd have to add one more to the list of the the wounded-who-died-later of the initial hit, and you'd quickly come to a very high proportion of the wounded dying later on. Perhaps that's realistic, though. Who knows what proportion of men wounded by such a powerful strike usually died rather than recovering in that era. And I suppose smaller shells really mostly wreck the superstructure, and there is no reason to think any of them would kill or wound more than a handful of men.

  "One failed to detonate, and passed through both sides of the hull. The other exploded, destroying the No.4 120-mm gun on the gun deck as it was being loaded, killing 28 crewmen and wounding 68 others. The fire from this explosion knocked three other guns out of commission, and only the quick action by a non-commissioned officer who stuffed his uniform into cracks in a bulkhead prevented the fire from spreading to an ammunition magazine. Matsushima also took numerous hits from smaller caliber artillery, damaging her smokestack, masts, and deck equipment, forcing her withdrawal from combat. In all, Matsushima lost 57 men (including three officers) and 54 wounded (including four officers) in the battle – more than half of the Japanese casualties during the entire battle."

AnnaGoFast (talk) 20:16, 14 February 2016 (UTC)Reply