Japanese corvette Kaimon

Japanese armed sloop Kaimon 1886-1887
History
Empire of Japan
Name:	Kaimon
Ordered:	1877 Fiscal Year
Builder:	Yokosuka Naval Arsenal, Japan
Laid down:	1 September 1877
Launched:	28 August 1882
Commissioned:	13 March 1884
Struck:	21 May 1905
Fate:	Mined off Port Arthur 5 July 1904
General characteristics
Type:	Steam corvette
Displacement:	1,358 long tons (1,380 t)
Length:	64.68 m (212 ft 2 in)
Beam:	10.9 m (35 ft 9 in)
Draft:	5.2 m (17 ft 1 in)
Propulsion:	Horizontally-mounted reciprocating engine, 1,267 hp (945 kW) 4 boilers 1 shaft
Sail plan:	bark-rigged sloop
Speed:	12 knots (14 mph; 22 km/h)
Range:	256 tons coal
Complement:	210
Armament:	1 × 170 mm (6.7 in) Krupp breech-loading guns 6 × 120 mm (4.7 in) Krupp guns 1 × 80 mm (3.1 in) gun 4 × 25 mm (1 in) quadruple Nordenfelt guns 1 × 11.5 mm (0.45 in) quadruple Nordenfelt guns

Kaimon (海門, Sea Gate^?) was a sail-and-steam corvette of the early Imperial Japanese Navy. Although the name Kaimon translates to "sea gate", the ship was named for Mount Kaimon, although written with different kanji, located in Kagoshima prefecture.

Kaimon was a three-masted bark-rigged sloop-of-war with a coal-fired double expansion reciprocating steam engine with four boilers driving a single screw. She was laid down at the Yokosuka Naval Arsenal on 1 September 1877, launched on 28 August 1882 and commissioned on 13 March 1884. Her construction required over six years, due to numerous technical issues and problems with funding.

The design of Kaimon was almost identical to the corvette Tenryū, completed a year later at the Yokosuka Naval Arsenal. Both ships were designed by French foreign advisors to the early Meiji government in the employ of the Yokosuka Naval Arsenal. During her launching ceremony, a flock of white doves (the traditional messengers of the war god Hachiman) was released, setting a precedent for all future launchings of Japanese warships. Her first captain was Lieutenant Commander Tsuboi Kōzō.