was the second and last armored cruiser (Sōkō jun'yōkan) built for the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) in the late 1890s. As Japan lacked the industrial capacity to build such warships herself, the ship was built in Britain. She played minor roles in the Boxer Rebellion of 1900 and World War I, but was very active during the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–05 where she participated in the Battle of Port Arthur, the Battle off Ulsan, and the Battle of Tsushima. After the war she was sometimes used as a training ship for naval cadets.
Tokiwa was converted into a minelayer in 1922–24. She was placed in reserve in 1927 after she was damaged by an accidental explosion of several mines. The ship was deployed to Northern China in 1932–33 after the Japanese invasion of Manchuria. After her refit in 1937, Tokiwa returned to active duty and was assigned to the 4th Fleet in 1939. During the Pacific War, she participated in the occupation of the Gilbert Islands and Rabaul and Kavieng in New Guinea. Damaged by American aircraft shortly afterwards, the ship was forced to return to Japan for repairs. Tokiwa laid minefields during 1944–45 until she was twice damaged by American mines in 1945. After repairs were completed, the ship was badly damaged by American aircraft and her crew was forced to beach her lest she sink shortly before the end of the war. Tokiwa was salvaged in 1947 and subsequently broken up for scrap.
Background and description The 1896 Naval Expansion Plan was made after the First Sino-Japanese War and included four armored cruisers in addition to four more battleships, all of which had to be ordered from British shipyards as Japan lacked the capability to build them itself. Further consideration of the Russian building program caused the IJN to believe that the battleships ordered under the original plan would not be sufficient to counter the Imperial Russian Navy. Budgetary limitations prevented ordering more battleships and the IJN decided to expand the number of more affordable armored cruisers to be ordered from four to six ships. The revised plan is commonly known as the "Six-Six Fleet".Evans & Peattie, pp. 57–62 Unlike most of their contemporaries which were designed for commerce raiding or to defend colonies and trade routes, Tokiwa and her half-sisters were intended as fleet scouts and to be employed in the battleline.Milanovich, p. 72
The ship was long overall and between perpendiculars. She had a beam of and had an average draft of . Tokiwa displaced at normal load and at deep load. The ship had a metacentric height of .Milanovich, pp. 74, 80 Her crew consisted of 676 officers and enlisted men.Jentschura, Jung & Mickel, p. 72
Tokiwa had two 4-cylinder triple-expansion steam engines, each driving a single propeller shaft.Milanovich, p. 81 Steam for the engines was provided by a dozen cylindrical boilers and the engines were rated at a total of . The ship had a designed speed of and reached during her sea trials from . She carried up to of coalBrook 1999, p. 109 and could steam for at a speed of .
The main armament for all of the "Six-Six Fleet" armored cruisers was four eight-inch guns in twin-gun turrets fore and aft of the superstructure. The secondary armament consisted of 14 Elswick Ordnance Company "Pattern Z" quick-firing (QF), guns. Only four of these guns were not mounted in armored casemates on the main and upper decks and their mounts on the upper deck were protected by gun shields. Tokiwa was also equipped with a dozen QF 12-pounder 12-cwt guns"Cwt" is the abbreviation for hundredweight, 12 cwt referring to the weight of the gun. and eight QF 2.5-pounder Yamauchi guns as close-range defense against torpedo boats. The ship was equipped with five torpedo tubes, one above water in the bow and four submerged tubes, two on each broadside.Milanovich, p. 78
All of the "Six-Six Fleet" armored cruisers used the same armor scheme with some minor differences, of which the most important was that the two Asama-class ships used less tough Harvey armor. The waterline belt ran the full length of the ship and its thickness varied from amidships to at the bow and stern. It had a height of , of which was normally underwater. The upper strake of belt armor was thick and extended from the upper edge of the waterline belt to the main deck. It extended from the forward to the rear barbette. The Asama class had oblique 127 mm armored bulkheads that closed off the ends of the central armored citadel.Milanovich, pp. 80–81
The barbettes, gun turrets and the front of the casemates were all 152 millimeters thick while the sides and rear of the casemates were protected by of armor. The deck was also 51 millimeters thick and the armor protecting the conning tower was in thickness.Chesneau & Kolesnik, p. 224
Construction and career The contract for Tokiwa was signed on 6 July 1897 with Armstrong Whitworth. The ship had already been laid down at their shipyard in Elswick on 6 January 1897 as a speculative venture. She was launched on 6 July 1898 and completed on 18 May 1899. The ship departed for Japan the next day and arrived in Yokosuka on 16 July.Milanovich, p. 73 Captain Dewa Shigetō had been appointed on 5 April to supervise her construction and bring her to Japan. He was relieved of command after his arrival by Captain Nakayama Nagaaki.Hackett & Kingsepp The following year, Tokiwa supported Japanese forces during the Boxer Rebellion in China.Dix, p. 307
Russo-Japanese War
Sublieutenant Kichisaburō Nomura, later Foreign Minister, was appointed to the ship in July 1903 until the ship's return after the Battle off Ulsan in August 1904.Mauch, pp. 25–27 Captain Shigetarō Yoshimatsu assumed command of Tokiwa on 18 January 1904. At the start of the Russo-Japanese War a few weeks later, the ship was assigned to the 2nd Division of the 2nd Fleet.Kowner, p. 465 She participated in the Battle of Port Arthur on 9 February 1904, when Vice Admiral Tōgō Heihachirō led the Combined Fleet in an attack on the Russian ships of the Pacific Squadron anchored just outside Port Arthur. Tōgō had expected the surprise night attack by his destroyers to be much more successful than it was, anticipating that the Russians would be badly disorganized and weakened, but they had recovered from their surprise and were ready for his attack. The Japanese ships were spotted by the protected cruiser , which was patrolling offshore and alerted the Russians. Tōgō chose to attack the Russian coastal defenses with his main armament and engage the ships with his secondary guns. Splitting his fire proved to be a poor decision as the Japanese eight- and six-inch guns inflicted little damage on the Russian ships, which concentrated all their fire on the Japanese ships with some effect.Forczyk, pp. 42–43 Although many ships on both sides were hit, Russian casualties numbered some 150, while the Japanese suffered roughly 90 killed and wounded before Tōgō disengaged.Corbett, I, p. 105
In early March, Tokiwa was detached from the 2nd Division and reassigned to Rear Admiral Dewa's 3rd Division. On 10 March, Tokiwa and the protected cruiser attempted to capture the disabled destroyer , but were driven off by heavy fire from the shore defenses, although they managed to rescue the wounded crewmen.Corbett, I, pp. 142, 149–50 Tōgō successfully lured out a portion of the Russian Pacific Squadron on 13 April, including Vice Admiral Stepan Makarov's flagship, the battleship . During this action, Tokiwa engaged the Russian cruisers that preceded the battleships before falling back on Tōgō's battleships.Warner & Warner, pp. 236–38 When Makarov spotted the five Japanese battleships, he turned back for Port Arthur and his flagship ran into the minefield just laid by the Japanese. The ship sank in less than two minutes after one of her magazines exploded, and Makarov was one of the 677 killed. In addition to this loss, the battleship was damaged by a mine.Forczyk, pp. 45–46
Tokiwa rejoined the 2nd Division a few days later and Kamimura was ordered north in mid-April to cover the Sea of Japan and defend the Korea Strait against any attempt by the Vladivostok Independent Cruiser Squadron, under the command of Rear Admiral Karl Jessen, to break through and unite with the Pacific Squadron. The two units narrowly missed each other on the 24th in heavy fog and the Japanese proceeded to Vladivostok where they laid several minefields before arriving back at Wonsan on the 30th.Corbett, I, pp. 188–89, 191–96
The division failed to intercept the Russian squadron as it attacked several transports south of Okinoshima Island on 15 June due to heavy rain and fog. The Russians sortied again on 30 June and Kamimura finally was able to intercept them the next day near Okinoshima. The light was failing when they were spotted and the Russians were able to disengage in the darkness. Jessen's ships sortied again on 17 July headed for the eastern coast of Japan to act as a diversion and pull Japanese forces out of the Sea of Japan and the Yellow Sea. The Russian ships passed through Tsugaru Strait two days later and began capturing ships bound for Japan. The arrival of the Russians off Tokyo Bay on the 24th caused the Naval General Staff to order Kamimura to sail for Cape Toi Misaki, Kyūshū, fearing that Jessen would circumnavigate Japan to reach Port Arthur. Two days later he was ordered north to the Kii Channel and then to Tokyo Bay on the 28th. The General Staff finally ordered him back to Tsushima Island on the 30th; later that day he received word that Jessen's ships had passed through the Tsugaru Strait early that morning and reached Vladivostok on 1 August.Corbett, I, pp. 283–89, 319–25, 337–51
Battle off Ulsan
On 10 August, the ships at Port Arthur attempted a breakout to Vladivostok, but were turned back in the Battle of the Yellow Sea. Jessen was ordered to rendezvous with them, but the order was delayed. His three armored cruisers, , , and , had to raise steam, so he did not sortie until the evening of 13 August. By dawn he had reached Tsushima, but turned back when he failed to see any ships from the Port Arthur squadron. north of the island he encountered Kamimura's squadron, which consisted of four modern armored cruisers, , , , and Tokiwa. The two squadrons had passed during the night without spotting one another and each had reversed course around first light. This put the Japanese ships astride the Russian route to Vladivostok.Brook 2000, pp. 34, 37
Jessen ordered his ships to turn to the northeast when he spotted the Japanese at 05:00 and they followed suit, albeit on a slightly converging course. Both sides opened fire around 05:23 at a range of . The Japanese ships concentrated their fire on Rurik, the rear ship of the Russian formation. She was hit fairly quickly and began to fall astern of the other two ships. Jessen turned southeast in an attempt to open the range, but this blinded the Russian gunners with the rising sun and prevented any of their broadside guns from bearing on the Japanese. About 06:00, Jessen turned 180° to starboard in an attempt to reach the Korean coast and to allow Rurik to rejoin the squadron. Kamimura followed suit around 06:10, but turned to port, which opened the range between the squadrons. Azuma then developed engine problems and the Japanese squadron slowed to conform with her best speed. Firing recommenced at 06:24 and Rurik was hit three times in the stern, flooding her steering compartment; she had to be steered with her engines. Her speed continued to decrease, further exposing her to Japanese fire, and her steering jammed to port around 06:40.Brook 2000, pp. 39, 43