The was a three-ship class of composite hulled, sail-and-steam corvettes of the early Imperial Japanese Navy. page 87
Design and description The Katsuragi vessels were designed as iron-ribbed, wooden-hulled, three-masted barque-rigged sloops-of-war, with a basic design based on experience gained in building and sloops. The planking was a combination of teak and native keyaki wood. The Katsuragi-class ships had an overall length of , a beam of , and a normal draught of . They displaced at normal load.Chesneau, All the World’s Fighting Ships, p. 233. The crew numbered about 231 officers and enlisted men.
Propulsion was by a coal-fired double-expansion reciprocating steam engine with six cylindrical boilers driving a double screw. The engines were rated at , and designed to reach a top speed of .
The Katsuragi-class ships were armed with two Krupp Krupp breech-loading guns, five Krupp breech-loading guns, one Krupp QF gun, four quadruple 1-inch Nordenfelt guns and torpedo tubes. A major improvement over previous Japanese corvette designs was the use of recessed gun ports, which allowed the two forward guns to fire on a forward arc instead of only on a broadside.
The design for the Katsuragi-class ships was by British-educated Japanese naval architect Sasō Sachū, director of the Yokosuka Naval Arsenal. Two of the three vessels (Katsuragi and Musashi) were built at Yokosuka, and one (Yamato) by built by the private-contractor, Onohama Shipyards in Kobe (a predecessor of Hitachi Zosen Corporation). In late 1900, the ships were extensively refitted, during which time their sail rigging was removed, and armament changed to eight QF 2.5 pdr guns and six quadruple 1-inch Nordenfelt guns. The torpedoes were upgraded from 15 inch to 18-inch torpedo tubes. However, during the Russo-Japanese War, the ships were regarded as obsolete and were assigned as guard ships in ports in the Japanese home islands.
In 1907, the armament was changed again, this time to four 3-inch and two 2.5-inch guns, and the ships were reclassified as survey ships or as a second-class coastal patrol vessels. Katsuragi was removed from the navy list on 11 April 1913, and Musashi on 1 April 1928.Nishida, Ships of the Imperial Japanese Navy Yamato was removed from the navy list 1 April 1935, but survived as a floating prison until the end of World War II.
Ships ShipBuilderLaid downLaunchedCompletedFateYokosuka Naval Arsenal, Japan18 August 1883 31 March 18854 November 1887Broken up, 4 November 1913 Onohama Shipyards, Kobe23 November 18831 May 188516 November 1887decommissioned 1 April 1935sank in typhoon 18 September 1945Yokosuka Naval Arsenal, Japan1 October 1884 30 March 18869 February 1888Decommissioned 1 April 1928Broken up, 4 November 1913
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