Harusame-class destroyer
Japanese destroyer Murasame at Sasebo, 1919
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| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Harusame class |
| Builders: | Yokosuka Naval Arsenal, Kure Naval Arsenal, Japan |
| Operators: |
 Imperial Japanese Navy
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| Preceded by: | Shirakumo class |
| Succeeded by: | Kamikaze class |
| In commission: | June 1903 - April 1923 |
| Completed: | 7 |
| Lost: | 2 |
| Retired: | 5 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Destroyer |
| Displacement: | 375 tons normal, 435 tons full load |
| Length: |
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| Beam: | 6.57 m (21.6 ft) |
| Draught: | 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in) |
| Propulsion: | 2-shaft reciprocating, 4 coal-fired boilers, 6,000 ihp (4,500 kW) |
| Speed: | 29 kn (54 km/h) |
| Range: | 1,200 nmi (2,200 km) at 12 kn (22 km/h) |
| Complement: | 55 |
| Armament: |
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The Harusame-class destroyers (春雨型駆逐艦 Harusamegata kuchikukan?) was a class of seven torpedo boat destroyers (TBDs) of the Imperial Japanese Navy. The Harusame class of destroyers were the first destroyers to be built in Japan.
The Harusame-class destroyers were part of the 1894 Imperial Japanese Navy ten-year expansion and modernization plan for based on lessons learned in the First Sino-Japanese War. In the second phase of this plan, from fiscal 1897, after 12 destroyers had been imported from the United Kingdom, budget cutbacks reduced the number of new vessels to only four more (two each from the Akatsuki and Shirakumo classes).
In fiscal year 1900, the Imperial Japanese Navy decided to cancel plans for a torpedo boat tender, which freed funds to purchase four additional destroyers. Likewise, in fiscal 1903, the cancellation of six planned utility vessels freed funds to produce an additional three destroyers.
In order to cut costs and to help develop the Japanese shipbuilding industry, it was decided to construct all seven of the new destroyers at Japanese yards. The first four were built at the Yokosuka Naval Arsenal, and the remaining three at the Kure Naval Arsenal.
The Harusame-class ships attempted to incorporate the best features of the existing destroyer designs in the Navy's inventory. The bow design and front half of the vessel was substantially identical to the previous Yarrow-built Ikazuchi class, whereas the aft section was a copy of the previous Thornycroft-built Murakumo class.
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