Naval battle of Shimonoseki

Battle of Shimonoseki Straits

The USS Wyoming battling in the Shimonoseki Straits against the Choshu steam warships Daniel Webster, the brig Lanrick, and the steamer Lancefield.

Date	16 July 1863
Location	Shimonoseki Straits, Honshu, Japan
Result	American withdrawal

Belligerents

Chōshū

United States

Commanders and leaders

Mōri Takachika

David McDougal

Strength

Land:
4 shore batteries
Sea:
1 bark
1 brig
1 steamer

1 sloop-of-war
198 sailors and
marine infantry

Casualties and losses

1 brig sunk
1 steamer sunk
1 bark damaged
40 killed
4 shore batteries damaged

1 sloop-of-war damaged
4 killed
7 wounded

The Battle of Shimonoseki Straits (Japanese:下関海戦, Shimonoseki Kaisen) is a little-known naval engagement fought on July 16, 1863, by a warship of the United States Navy, the USS Wyoming, against the powerful feudal Japanese daimyo Lord Mori Takachika of the Chōshū clan based in Shimonoseki.

The USS Wyoming under Captain David McDougal, sailed into the strait and single-handedly engaged the US-built but poorly manned Japanese fleet. Engaged for almost two hours before withdrawing, McDougal sank two enemy vessels and severely damaged the other one, and inflicted some forty Japanese casualties. The Wyoming suffered considerable damage with four crew dead and seven wounded.

The battle was a prelude to the larger-scale 1863 and 1864 Shimonoseki Campaign by allied foreign powers. It took place among the troubled events of the Late Tokugawa shogunate from 1854 to 1868, associated with the opening of Japan to the European and American powers.

In 1863, the Japanese Emperor Kōmei, breaking with centuries of imperial tradition and dissatisfied with Japan's opening to the United States and Europe, began to take an active role in matters of state and issued on March 11 and April 11, 1863, an "Order to expel barbarians" (攘夷実行の勅命). The Shimonoseki-based Chōshū clan, under Lord Mori, followed the order and began to take action to expel all foreigners by the date fixed as a deadline, May 10 on a lunar calendar. Openly defying the shogunate, Mori ordered his forces to fire without warning on all foreign ships traversing Shimonoseki Strait.

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