Japanese corvette Hiei (1877)
Japanese armored corvette Hiei in 1877
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| History | |
|---|---|
 Empire of Japan
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| Name: | Hiei |
| Namesake: | Mount Hiei |
| Ordered: | 24 September 1875 |
| Builder: | Milford Haven Shipbuilding & Engineering Co., Pembroke Dock, Wales |
| Laid down: | 24 September 1875? |
| Launched: | 11 June 1877 |
| Completed: | February 1878 |
| Reclassified: |
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| Struck: | 1 April 1911 |
| Fate: | Sold for scrap, before 25 March 1912 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Kongō-class ironclad corvette |
| Displacement: | 2,248 long tons (2,284 t) |
| Length: | 220 ft (67.1 m) |
| Beam: | 41 ft (12.5 m) |
| Draft: | 19 ft (5.8 m) |
| Installed power: | |
| Propulsion: | 1 shaft, 1 Horizontal-return connecting-rod steam engine |
| Sail plan: | Barque rigged |
| Speed: | 13 knots (24 km/h; 15 mph) |
| Range: | 3,100 nmi (5,700 km; 3,600 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph) |
| Complement: | 234 |
| Armament: | |
| Armor: | Belt: 3–4.5 in (76–114 mm) |
Hiei (比叡 Hiei?) was the second and last vessel of the Kongō-class ironclad corvettes built for the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) in the 1870s. They were built in the United Kingdom because the Japanese were unable to build ironclad warships in Japan. She became a training ship in 1887 and made training cruises to the Mediterranean and to countries on the edge of the Pacific Ocean. The ship returned to active duty during the First Sino-Japanese War of 1894–95 where she was damaged during the Battle of the Yalu River. Hiei also participated in the Battle of Weihaiwei and the invasion of Formosa in 1895. The ship resumed her training duties after the war, although she played a minor role in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–05. She was reclassified as a survey ship in 1906 and was sold for scrap in 1912.
During the brief Japanese occupation of Taiwan in 1874, tensions heightened between China and Japan, and the possibility of war caused the Japanese government to realize that it needed to reinforce its navy. The following year the government placed an order for the armored frigate Fusō and two Kongō-class ships, designed by the British naval architect Sir Edward Reed, from British shipyards as no Japanese shipyard was able to build a ship of this size.
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