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Japanese battlecruiser Ibuki

Japanese cruiser Ibuki ca 1910.jpg
Ibuki
History
Empire of Japan
Name: Ibuki
Namesake: Mount Ibuki
Ordered: 1904 Fiscal Year
Builder: Kure Naval Arsenal
Laid down: 22 May 1907
Launched: 21 October 1907
Commissioned: 11 November 1907
Struck: 20 September 1923
Fate: Scrapped, 20 September 1923
General characteristics
Class and type: Ibuki-class battlecruiser
Displacement:
  • 14,871 t (14,636 long tons) (standard);
  • 15,845 t (15,595 long tons) (max)
Length: 140 m (450 ft) p.p.; 148 m (485 ft) oa
Beam: 23 m (75 ft 6 in)
Draft: 8 m (26 ft 3 in)
Installed power: 24,000 shp (18,000 kW)
Propulsion:
Speed: 21.5 kn (39.8 km/h; 24.7 mph)
Range: 5,000 nmi (9,300 km; 5,800 mi) at 14 kn (26 km/h; 16 mph)
Capacity:
  • Coal: 610 t (600 long tons) (normal); 2,000 t (2,000 long tons) (maximum)
  • Fuel Oil: roughly 250 t (250 long tons)
Complement: 844
Armament:
  • 4 × 30.5 cm (12 in) guns
  • 8 × 20.3 cm (8 in) guns
  • 14 × 12 cm (4.7 in) guns
  • 4 × 8 cm (3.1 in) guns
  • 3 × 45 cm (17.7 in) torpedo tubes
Armor:
  • Belt:
    • Amidships: 10–18 cm (4–7 in)
    • Ends: 10 cm (4 in)
  • Barbettes: 18 cm (7 in)
  • Turrets:
    • Main: 18 cm (7 in)
    • Secondary: 12.5 cm (5 in)
  • Conning Tower:
    • Forward: 20 cm (7.9 in)
    • Aft: 15 cm (6 in)
  • Deck:
    • Main: 5.2 cm (2 in)
    • Lower Deck Redoubt: 12.7 cm (5 in)
Notes: Armor is Krupp steel.

Ibuki (伊吹 巡洋戦艦 Ibuki jun'yōsenkan?) was the lead ship in the Ibuki class of armored cruisers in the Imperial Japanese Navy. Ibuki was named after Mount Ibuki, located between Gifu and Shiga prefectures in Honshū. On 28 August 1912, the Ibukis were re-classified as battlecruisers.

Problems with her turbine engines delayed the construction of Ibuki, and construction began almost two years later than her sister ship, Kurama, which used standard reciprocating engines. Ibuki was built at Kure Naval Arsenal and was laid down on 22 May 1907, launched on 21 October 1907, and commissioned on 11 November 1907.

Shortly after she was commissioned, Ibuki was sent on a voyage to Thailand to attend the coronation ceremony of the Thai king Rama VI Vajiravudh. Ibuki served in World War I, participating in the hunt for the German light cruiser SMS Emden. She escorted a convoy of 10 troop transports carrying the Main Body of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force, crossing the Tasman Sea with the British protected cruiser HMS Pyramus and armoured cruiser HMS Minotaur to Albany, Western Australia in November. Together with the Australian light cruiser HMAS Sydney, Ibuki escorted the ANZACs, consisting of 20,000 men and 7,500 horses, across the Indian Ocean.


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