Japanese ironclad Kōtetsu
Kōtetsu (甲鉄, literally "Ironclad"), later renamed Azuma (東, "East"), was the first ironclad warship of the Imperial Japanese Navy. She was designed as an armored ram for service in shallow waters, but also carried three guns. The ship was built in Bordeaux, France, for the Confederate States Navy under the cover name Sphinx, but was sold to Denmark after the sale of warships by French builders to the Confederacy was forbidden in 1863. The Danes refused to accept the ship and sold her to the Confederates which commissioned her as CSS Stonewall in 1865. The ship did not reach Confederate waters before the end of the American Civil War in April and was turned over to the United States.
Kōtetsu, Japan's first ironclad warship, as CSS Stonewall c. 1865 | |
| History | |
|---|---|
| Confederate States of America | |
| Name | Stonewall |
| Namesake | General Stonewall Jackson |
| Builder | Arman Brothers, Bordeaux |
| Laid down | 1863 |
| Launched | 21 June 1864 |
| Completed | January 1865 |
| Fate | Turned over to the United States, May 1865 |
| Empire of Japan | |
| Name | Kōtetsu |
| Acquired | 3 February 1869 from the United States |
| Decommissioned | 28 January 1888 |
| Renamed | Azuma, 7 December 1871 |
| Fate | Sold for scrap, 12 December 1889 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | Ironclad ram |
| Displacement | 1,390 long tons (1,410 t) |
| Length | 186 ft 9 in (56.9 m) (o/a) |
| Beam | 32 ft 6 in (9.9 m) |
| Draft | 14 ft 3 in (4.3 m) |
| Installed power | |
| Propulsion | 2 shafts; 2 direct-acting steam engines |
| Sail plan | Brig rigged |
| Speed | 10.5 knots (19.4 km/h; 12.1 mph) |
| Range | 3,000 nmi (5,600 km; 3,500 mi) |
| Complement | 135 |
| Armament |
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| Armor |
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The Tokugawa shogunate of Japan bought her from the United States in 1867 and renamed her Kōtetsu, but delivery was held up by the Americans until after the Imperial faction had established control over most of the country. She was finally delivered in March 1869 to the new government and had a decisive role in the Naval Battle of Hakodate Bay in May, which marked the end of the Boshin War, and the completion of the military phase of the Meiji Restoration.
Renamed Azuma in 1871, she played minor roles in the Saga Rebellion and the Taiwan Expedition, both in 1874. The ship ran aground later that year, but was refloated and repaired. During the Satsuma Rebellion three years later, she was little used. Azuma was stricken in 1888 and was sold for scrap the following year.