Naval Battle of Miyako

Battle of Miyako Bay
Part of the Boshin War
The Imperial Japanese Navy's revolutionary ironclad Kōtetsu was the main target of the Naval Battle of Miyako Bay
Date 6 May 1869 Location Miyako Bay, Iwate, Japan 39°40′N 142°00′E / 39.66°N 142.00°E / 39.66; 142.00 Result Imperial victory
Belligerents
Empire of Japan Kōtetsu Kasuga Hiryū Teibō Yōshun Mōshun Chōyō	Ezo Republic Kaiten Banryū Takao
Commanders and leaders
Masuda Toranosuke Shirō Nakajima	Arai Ikunosuke Eugène Collache
Strength
8 steam warships	3 steam warships
Casualties and losses
3 ships damaged	Chōyō-maru scuttled
Location within Japan#Japan Iwate Prefecture Show map of Japan Location within Japan#Japan Iwate Prefecture Show map of Iwate Prefecture

 Empire of Japan

Ezo Republic

The Battle of Miyako Bay (宮古湾海戦, Miyakowan Kaisen) was a naval action on 6 May 1869. It was part of the overall Battle of Hakodate at the end of the Boshin War, a civil war in Japan between Imperial forces of the new Meiji government, and samurai loyalists to the former Tokugawa shogunate.

The military forces loyal to the former Tokugawa shogunate were defeated by the Satchō Alliance at the Battle of Ueno and Battle of Aizu. With the Ōuetsu Reppan Dōmei in tatters, rather than surrender, a portion of the Tokugawa navy led by Admiral Enomoto Takeaki fled to the northern island of Hokkaidō, together with several thousand soldiers and a handful of French military advisors and established the Republic of Ezo.

The new Imperial Japanese Navy departed Tokyo on 9 March 1869, and reached Miyako Bay in what is now the city of Miyako in central Iwate Prefecture, on 20 March. The imperial fleet had been rapidly constituted around the French-built ironclad warship Kōtetsu, which had been purchased from the United States. Other ships included Kasuga, ’’Hiryū, Teibō, Yōshun, and Mōshun, which had been supplied by the domains of Saga, Chōshū and Satsuma to the new central government in 1868. There were altogether eight Imperial ships: Kōtetsu, Kasuga, three small corvettes and three transport ships. Future commander in chief of the Imperial Japanese Navy, Tōgō Heihachirō was an officer on Kasuga during this battle