History | |
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Name: | Ryūjō |
Builder: | Alexander Hall and Company,Aberdeen |
Laid down: | 1868 |
Launched: |
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Completed: |
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Decommissioned: | 2 December 1893 |
Fate: |
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General characteristics | |
Displacement: | 2,530 long tons (2,571 t) standard |
Length: |
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Beam: |
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Draught: | 6 m (19 ft 8 in) |
Propulsion: | 1-shaft reciprocating; 800 hp (600 kW) |
Speed: | 6 knots (6.9 mph; 11 km/h) |
Complement: | 275 people capacity in October 1873 |
Armament: | 6 × 64 lb Krupp guns, other |
Armour: |
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Ryūjō (龍驤?), was a steam ironclad warship of the Imperial Japanese Navy, designed by Thomas Blake Glover and built in Scotland for the private navy of the fief of Kumamoto, where it was called the Jo Sho Maru. It was delivered to the new Imperial Japanese Navy on 8 May 1870, and sailed from Nagasaki to Yokohama with a British captain, and named Ryōshō (龍驤? りょうしょう), later called Ryūjō (龍驤? りゅうじょう). Until the commissioning of the ironclad Fusō in 1878, she was the flagship (and the most powerful ship) of the Imperial Japanese Navy.
Ryūjō was honored by a visit by Emperor Meiji in 1871, and formed part of the escort of Russian Crown Prince (later Emperor) Nicholas II, when he visited Japan in 1872. Although completed too late for the Boshin war, the ship participated in the battles of the early Meiji period, including the Saga Rebellion, Seinan War and the first Taiwan Expedition of 1874.