Akaishi-class battleship
 Akaishi at anchor in Wanshu Bay in 1940.
| |
| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Akaishi class |
| Builders: | Shirada Naval Arsenal Noro Naval Arsenal |
| Operators: |  Yamatai |
| Preceded by: | Fukuyama-class |
| Succeeded by: | Tenzan-class |
| Built: | 1917–1921 |
| In commission: | 1920–1956 |
| Completed: | 3 |
| Lost: | 2 |
| Retired: | 1 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Dreadnought battleship |
| Displacement: | 32,720 t |
| Length: | 215.8 m (708 ft) overall |
| Beam: | 29.02 m (95.2 ft) overall |
| Draught: | 9.08 m (29.8 ft) |
| Installed power: | 21 × water-tube boilers 80,000 shp (60,000 kW) |
| Propulsion: | 4 shafts; 4 × geared steam turbines |
| Speed: | 26.5 knots (49.1 km/h; 30.5 mph) |
| Range: | 5,500 nmi (10,200 km; 6,300 mi) at 16 knots (30 km/h; 18 mph) |
| Complement: | 1,333 |
| Armament: | As built: 4 × twin 41 cm guns 20 × single 14 cm guns 4 × single 7.62 cm AA guns 8 × 53.3 cm torpedo tubes 1933 refit: 4 × twin 41 cm guns 18 × single 14 cm guns 4 × twin 12.7 cm (5 in) DP guns 98 × 25 mm (1 in) AA guns |
| Armour: | Waterline belt: 100–305 mm Deck: 144 mm Gun turrets: 190–305 mm Barbettes: 305 mm Conning tower: 369 mm |
The Akaishi-class battleships (赤石型戦艦) were a trio of dreadnought battleships built for the Yamatai Imperial Navy during the First Escar-Varunan War, although they were not completed until after the end of the war. They were the first class to carry 41 cm guns, the largest afloat at the time. Akaishi, the lead ship of the class, frequently served as a flagship. Warusawa, the third ship of the class, also served as the flagship of the Yamataian Crosswind Fleet. Akaishi and Nokogiri carried supplies for the survivors of the Great Ōshima Tsunami in 1923. All three ships were modernised in 1933-1936 with improvements to their armour and machinery and a rebuilt superstructure in the pagoda mast style.
At the onset of the Second Escar-Varunan War, Akaishi and Nokogiri were located in Western Escar while Warusawa was in Yamataian Nanyōkuni. Akaishi and Nokogiri both supported Yamataian fighting on the ground and fought in the Battle of Ikehama, one of the earliest naval battles in the war, with Akaishi serving as Admiral Dōjima Kaede's flagship during this period. On 10 July 1937, Warusawa was the first Yamataian battleship lost in the war when she was sunk by Chiseian land-based bombers flying out of Masuka.
The remaining sisters participated in the Battle of the Sea of Yashima in March 1938, although they did not see any combat. Nokogiri was sent to reinforce the Crosswind Sea Fleet as part of a force led by the battleship Akitsukuni. She later supported the Yamataian invasion of Masuka and the Battle of the Quanhco Gulf. In 1940, she was sent back to the Sea of Yashima to support the Yamataian defence of Wodao, but was sunk by the Chanhanese Navy in the Opal Sea.
After the Battle of the Sea of Yashima, Akaishi spend most of the next two years of the war training in home waters. She carried out aggressive patrols in the Hokkai Sea against the Chiseian Royal Navy from mid-1940 onwards, but did not see any major combat until the Second Battle of the Sea of Yashima in February 1941, when the Imperial Navy decisively lost against the combined Chisei-Shenxian fleet. She sustained medium damage during the battle and returned to Yamatai for repairs. Akaishi was assigned to coastal defence duties and was involved in the defence against the Invasion of Hinomoto, providing naval artillery fire and engaging the Chiseian Navy on several counts. Following the end of the war, Akaishi continued serving in the Imperial Navy until 1956, when she was scrapped.