Chilean cruiser Esmeralda (1883)

The Chilean cruiser Esmeralda was the first modern protected cruiser, a ship type named for the arched armored deck that protected its most vital areas, including its propulsion plant and magazines.

For the later armored cruiser, see Chilean cruiser Esmeralda (1896).

Esmeralda
History
Chile
Name: Esmeralda
Namesake: Spanish frigate Esmeralda
Builder: Armstrong Mitchell, Elswick, United Kingdom
Laid down: 5 April 1881
Launched: 6 June 1883
Completed: 15 July 1884
Commissioned: 16 October 1884
Fate: Sold to Japan, 1894
Empire of Japan
Renamed: Izumi
Namesake: Izumi Province
Stricken: 1 April 1912
Fate: Scrapped
General characteristics
Type: Protected cruiser
Displacement: 2,950 long tons (2,997 t)
Length: 270 ft (82 m) (pp)
Beam: 42 ft (13 m)
Draft: 18 ft 6 in (5.64 m)
Installed power:
  • 4 double-ended boilers
  • 6,803 ihp (5,073 kW)
Propulsion:
Speed: 18.3 knots (33.9 km/h; 21.1 mph)
Complement: 296
Armament:
  • 2 × 10 in (254 mm)/30
  • 6 × 6 in (152 mm)/26
  • 2 × 6 pdr (2.25 in (57 mm)) guns
  • 5 × 37 mm (1.5 in) revolving cannon
Armor: Up to 2 in (51 mm) deck armor

Built by the British shipbuilders Armstrong Mitchell in the early 1880s, Esmeralda was hailed as "the swiftest and most powerfully armed cruiser in the world" by William Armstrong, the company's founder. Esmeralda was completed in 1884, and the ship was quickly deployed to Panama in the following year to show the Chilean flag and conduct gunboat diplomacy during an emerging crisis in the region. The cruiser was later used to support the Congressionalist cause during the 1891 Chilean Civil War.

In 1894, Esmeralda was sold to the Empire of Japan via Ecuador, an action which brought down the latter's government. Renamed Izumi,[upper-alpha 1] the cruiser arrived too late to participate in the major naval battles of the First Sino-Japanese War, but saw active service during the Russo-Japanese War. In the latter, Izumi was one of the first ships to make visual contact with the Russian fleet just before the decisive Battle of Tsushima. After the conflict, the aging cruiser was decommissioned and stricken from the Imperial Japanese Navy in 1912.

Design

Designed by George Wightwick Rendel, Esmeralda was a development of the Tsukushi-class cruisers, which were originally built by Armstrong for Japan and China.[upper-alpha 2] Like those ships, Esmeralda mounted a heavy armament and was constructed out of lightweight steel, something enabled by the Siemens process.[2] Unlike the Tsukushis, Esmeralda was far larger and had much more seaworthy design, including a freeboard that was 5 feet (1.5 m) higher.[3] It was also the fastest cruiser in the world upon its completion; had a better secondary armament; was able to steam longer distances before needing additional coal; and had deck armor that extended the length of the ship, with particular attention paid to the areas above the propulsion machinery and other important areas of the ship.[4][5][6]

Despite these improvements, Esmeralda's freeboard was still only 10 feet 9 inches (3.28 m) from the waterline, and its design came under heavy criticism from the British Admiralty, who believed that it was outclassed by their own protected cruisers of the Mersey class. Among other critiques, they highlighted Esmeralda's lack of a double bottom, a proper conning tower, and any provision for emergency steering should the primary position be destroyed in battle. They also criticized the design of its coal bunkers, which could allow water into a good portion of the ship if hit by an enemy shell in certain areas.[7] Moreover, the Admiralty's comparison of Esmeralda to the Mersey design found that the former carried nearly 400 tons less armor, which measured out to about 3.5 percent of the ship's total displacement. For Mersy, the same figure came out to 12.5 percent when a full load of coal was embarked.[8]

Esmeralda's design was followed closely by improved designs for the Japanese (the Naniwa class) and the Italians (Giovanni Bausan). However, as small cruisers were usually tasked with fighting other cruisers or armed merchant ships rather than full-fledged capital ships, Armstrong-built cruisers would subsequently never mount guns larger than 8.2 inches (210 mm).[9]

Public reaction

As the first modern protected cruiser, Esmeralda's construction attracted much publicity. Within Chile, it was financed in part by a public subscription and the country's newspapers published lengthy treatises on its potential power.[10] While in the United Kingdom, Esmeralda was visited by the Prince of Wales, who would later inherit the British throne as Edward VII, and was the subject of a weighty article in the Times of London—albeit one written anonymously by Armstrong's chief naval architect.[3]

The attention lavished on the ship was given a boost by William Armstrong, the founder of the original Armstrong company, who boasted that Esmeralda was "the swiftest and most powerfully armed cruiser in the world" and that it was "almost absolutely secure from the worst effects of projectiles."[11][12] He believed that the protected cruiser warship type, exemplified by Esmeralda, would usher in the end of the ironclad era. For the price of one ironclad, several cruisers could be built and sent out as commerce raiders, much like the Confederate Alabama during the United States' civil war.[13]

In an additional comment directed at the British Royal Navy, Armstrong noted that it was fortunate that the ship had gone to Chile instead of a hostile nation.[11][12][13] His remarks were later summarized in press outlets:

Happily ... she had passed into the hands of a nation which is never likely to be at war with England, for he could conceive no more terrible scourge for our commerce than she would be in the hands of an enemy. No cruiser in the British navy was swift enough to catch her or strong enough to take her. We have seen what the Alabama could do ... what might we expect from such an incomparably superior vessel as the Esmeralda[?][11]

Armstrong's intention in delivering this message was to obtain Royal Navy orders for his new warship type lest he should choose to sell to British enemies.[12] His anticipation of additional orders was well-founded: by the time Esmeralda was completed in 1884, Armstrong had was or would soon be constructing protected cruisers for over a dozen countries.[12] Nathaniel Barnaby, a Director of Naval Construction at the British Admiralty, the department in charge of Britain's Royal Navy, would later write that the ship type "made the fortune" of Armstrong's company.[3]

Across the Atlantic, the US Army and Navy Journal published an interview with an American naval officer which expressed his belief that Esmeralda could stand off San Francisco and drop shells into the city while being in no danger from the shorter-ranged shore-based batteries covering the Golden Gate strait. "Chili [sic] has today the finest, fastest, and most perfectly equipped fighting war ship of her size afloat," he said. "She could destroy our entire Navy, ship by ship, and never be touched."[14] This perspective was only one of several published during this time which intended to sound alarms about the underfunded and underequipped state of the United States Navy.[15]

Specifications

Esmeralda measured in at a length of 270 feet (82 m) between perpendiculars. It had a beam of 42 feet (13 m), a mean draft of 18 feet 6 inches (5.6 m), and displaced 2,950 long tons (3,000 t). It was designed for a crew of nearly 300.[16]

For armament, Esmeralda's main battery was originally equipped with two 10-inch (254 mm)/30 caliber guns in two single turrets, one each fore and aft.[16] The ten-inch weapons were able to be trained to either side of the ship, raised to an angle of 12°, and depressed to 5°. They weighed 25 tons each, while the shells they fired weighed 450 pounds (200 kg) and required a powder charge of 230 pounds (100 kg).[17] Its secondary armament consisted of six 6-inch (152 mm)/26 caliber guns in single Vavasseur central pivot mountings; two 6-pounder guns located on the bridge wings; and five 37 mm (1.5 in) Hotchkiss revolving cannons located in elevated positions.[18][16] The ship was additionally fitted for but not with three 14 inches (360 mm) torpedo tubes.[17]

The propulsion machinery consisted of two horizontal compound steam engines built by R and W Hawthorn, which were fed by four double-ended boilers. The engines were placed in separate compartments. On Esmeralda's sea trials, its machinery proved good for 6,803 indicated horsepower (5,070 kW), making a speed of 18.3 knots (34 km/h; 21 mph).[17]

To protect itself, Esmeralda had an arched protective deck below the waterline that ran from bow to stern; it was 1 inch (25 mm) over the important machinery, and .5 inches (13 mm) near the ends of the ship. It also had cork mounted along its belt with the intention of limiting flooding and increasing buoyancy in the case of shell penetration, but the cork's practicality was limited. The ship's coal bunkers were also designed to be part of the protective scheme, but as they were not subdivided, their utility if damaged in battle were also severely questionable. The ship's main guns were provided with shields up to 2 inches (51 mm) thick, and the conning tower was provided with its own 1-inch armor.[18][upper-alpha 3]

While in Japanese service, Esmeralda was renamed Izumi and fitted with two 6-inch (150 mm)/40 caliber quick-firing guns (in 1901–02), six 4.7-inch (120 mm)/40 caliber quick-firing guns (in 1899), several smaller guns, and three 18-inch (460 mm) torpedo tubes. These changes lightened the ship, making for a displacement of 2,800 long tons (2,800 t) even while its machinery could still manage 6,500 ihp (4,800 kW).[19][20]

Chilean service

Esmeralda's keel was laid by Armstong Mitchell in Elswick, Newcastle upon Tyne, on 5 April 1881. It was launched on 6 June 1883 and completed on 15 July 1884, making for a construction time of just over three years.[17] The cruiser arrived in Chile on 16 October 1884,[6] too late for service in Chile's War of the Pacific against Peru and Bolivia. Nevertheless, with Esmeralda Chile was able to lay claim to possessing the most powerful navy in the Americas: their fleet was centered around the protected cruiser, two well-maintained 1870s central-battery ironclads, and two 1860s armored frigates. Moreover, they could staff them with foreign-trained officers and highly trained and disciplined sailors.[21][22]

In April 1885, the Chilean government sent Esmeralda on an unusual and statement-making voyage to Panama, where it showed the Chilean flag alongside the great powers of France, the United Kingdom, and the United States.[23] The ship was able to complete the run north in 108 hours, or about four and a half days, maintaining a high average speed of 12.6 knots (23.3 km/h; 14.5 mph) for the first hundred of those hours.[24] At least one historian has stated that Esmeralda was ordered to block an annexation of Panama by the United States, which had sent marines and several warships to the area,[25] but another has argued that the various sources of information about the incident are contradictory and do not agree with that interpretation.[23]

During the Chilean Civil War, Esmeralda was one of the most powerful units possessed by the Congressionalist faction which rebelled against the president. In February 1891, Esmeralda bombarded the city of Iquique. Seven months and an amphibious landing at Quintero Bay later, Esmeralda and its fellow cruiser O'Higgins engaged presidential ground forces during the Battle of Concon. Their fire did not kill many soldiers, but did severely demoralize the presidential forces.[19][26]

After the conflict, which ended with a victory for the navy-supported Congressionalists, in March 1894 the Chilean Navy briefly considered modernizing Esmeralda amidst the quickly worsening Argentine–Chilean naval arms race. They approached Armstrong about upgrading the cruiser's weapons and replacing its boilers, but in November of that year they instead sold the ship to the Imperial Japanese Navy. As that nation was in the midst of the First Sino-Japanese War and the Chileans did not want to appear to be violating its official neutrality, the latter induced the Ecuadorian government and its president Luis Cordero Crespo to serve as an intermediary: the ship would first be sold and sailed to Ecuador, who would briefly take formal possession of the ship before selling it to Japan.[19] This arrangement was facilitated with a considerable payment given to the Ecuadorian president.[27]

Although there was some initial speculation in press outlets that Esmeralda would join the Ecuadorian Navy for potential use against the Peruvian Navy, the ship was only under the Ecuadorian flag from Chile to the Galapagos Islands, where it was handed to the Japanese. Back in Ecuador, however, Cordero's political opponents revolted against the government and after a brief conflict, Cordero was forced into exile.[28][29][30]

Japanese service
See also: Order of battle at the Battle of Tsushima

Although the Japanese purchased Esmeralda with the intention of using it in the First Sino-Japanese War, the cruiser saw no active service during the conflict. Renamed Izumi, the Japanese Navy replaced the ship's secondary armament with quick-firing 4.7-inch guns in 1899. At the same time, they removed the ship's fighting tops to improve its stability. Two years later, Izumi's ten-inch guns were removed in favor of quick-firing 6-inch weapons.[19]

Izumi did play an active role in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–05. After the cruiser Akashi struck a mine in December 1904, Izumi was deployed on a patrol line south of Dalian Bay. Later that month, the ship was sent back to the Japan for minor repairs so that it would be fit for service in the coming Battle of Tsushima, as the Japanese were aware of the approaching Russian Baltic Sea fleet. When the navy deployed to engage the Russian ships, Izumi was one of four cruisers to make up the Sixth Division within the Third Squadron, under the commands of Rear Admiral Togo Masaji and Vice Admiral Kataoka Shichirō (respectively).[31]

Russian and Japanese navy movements prior to and after the Battle of Tsushima

Prior to the battle, Izumi was assigned to support a collection of auxiliary cruisers that were charged with the Russian fleet so its Japanese counterpart could move into position to engage. However, the deployment of this line was later described by historian Julian Corbett as "ill-covered," and Izumi compounded the issue by being 8–9 miles (13–14 km) out of position on the morning of the battle (27 May 1905). Moreover, its crew had trouble finding the Russians after erroneously located spotting reports were radioed in by the auxiliary Shinano Maru at 4:45 am.[32]

Around 6:30 or 6:40 am, Izumi finally made visual contact with the opposing Russian fleet; it was the first proper warship to do so. Correcting the previously mistaken spotting, Izumi shadowed the opposing warships for several hours, correctly identifying the lead Russian flagship as a cruiser of the Izumrud class, while reporting their movements back to the main Japanese fleet.[33][34][35] Izumi also warned off an army hospital ship and troop transport in the area so that they were not caught by the Russians.[36]

When the two fleets drew near for battle, Izumi was forced to turn away from heavy fire at around 1:50 pm; the change in course allowed it to cut off two of the Russian fleet's hospital ships, which were later captured by two of the Japanese auxiliary cruisers.[37] Later in the battle, after the Japanese main battle line had 'crossed the T' of the Russian fleet and forced it to turn around, Izumi and several other lighter ships from various Japanese squadrons were caught in close proximity to heavy Russian ships. Izumi, however, escaped with minimal damage, in part due to the intervention of the Japanese battleships of the Second Squadron.[38]

After the battle, Izumi and the rest of the Sixth Division was deployed to support the invasion of Sakhalin by escorting the army's transport ships.[39]

With the conclusion of the war in September 1905, the aging Izumi was utilized for auxiliary tasks for several years. It was stricken from Japan's navy list on 1 April 1912.[33] It was later sold for scrapping in Yokosuka for ¥90,975 .[40][41]

Footnotes
  1. This Japanese name has also been transliterated as Idzumi. Corbett, Maritime Operations, 465.
  2. Tsukushi, the Japanese ship, was originally laid down for Chile. After the War of the Pacific, however, the Chilean government either ceased making payments on the incomplete ship (leading to the shipyard selling it to Japan instead) or sold it outright to Japan prior to completion.[1]
  3. Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships states that the protective deck was a maximum of 2 inches thick and the conning tower's armor was also 2 inches.[16]

Endnotes
  1. Brook, Warships for Export, 51.
  2. Brook, Warships for Export, 53; Brook, "Armstrongs and the Italian Navy," 94.
  3. Brook, Warships for Export, 53.
  4. Brook, Warships for Export, 53.
  5. Perrett, "Some Notes," 211.
  6. Crucero "Esmeralda" 3°, Armada de Chile. Accessed 9 June 2020.
  7. Brook, Warships for Export, 54.
  8. Brook, Warships for Export, 54–55.
  9. Brook, Warships for Export, 58 and 62.
  10. Grant, Rulers, 122.
  11. "The 'Esmeralda,'" Record (Valparaiso) 13, no. 183 (4 December 1884): 5.
  12. Bastable, Arms and the State, 176.
  13. "Home," Graphic 30, no. 775 (4 October 1884): 347.
  14. "We Cannot Fight the Chilean Navy," Army and Navy Journal 23, no. 1 (1 August 1885): 16.
  15. Sater, Chile and the United States, 51–52.
  16. Lyon, "Chile," in Conway's, 411.
  17. Brook, Warships for Export, 52.
  18. Brook, Warships for Export, 52–53.
  19. Brook, Warships for Export, 55.
  20. Jentschura, Jung, and Mickel, Warships of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 98–99.
  21. Grant, Rulers, 121–123.
  22. Scheina, Latin America, 43–46.
  23. Tromben, "Naval Presence," n.p.
  24. Bainbridge-Hoff, Examples, 121.
  25. Sater, Chile and the United States, 52.
  26. Scheina, Latin America's Wars, 1:402.
  27. Scheina, Latin America's Wars, 1:146.
  28. Lauderbaugh, History of Ecuador, 79–80.
  29. "Ecuador Buys a Cruiser," The New York Times, 2 December 1894, 9.
  30. "Speculations About the Sale; The Esmeralda Could Easily Be Transferred from Ecuador to Japan," The New York Times, 3 December 1894, 5.
  31. Corbett, Maritime Operations, 110, 130, 216.
  32. Corbett, Maritime Operations, 221—223.
  33. Brook, Warships for Export, 56.
  34. Pleshakov, The Tsar's Last Armada: The Epic Journey to the Battle of Tsushima, 262–263.
  35. Corbett, Maritime Operations, 226.
  36. Corbett, Maritime Operations, 235.
  37. Corbett, Maritime Operations, 273–274.
  38. Corbett, Maritime Operations, 278–279.
  39. Corbett, Maritime Operations, 356–357, 365.
  40. Jentschura, Jung, and Mickel, Warships of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 99.
  41. The Japan Chronicle, 1913, 180.

References
  • Bainbridge-Hoff, W.M. Examples, Conclusions, and Maxims of Modern Naval Tactics. General Information Series, no. 3. Washington, D.C.: Office of Naval Intelligence, Bureau of Navigation, US Naval Department, 1884.
  • Bastable, Marshall J. Arms and the State: Sir William Armstrong and the Remaking of British Naval Power, 1854–1914. Aldershot, UK: Ashgate, 2004.
  • Brook, Peter. "Armstrongs and the Italian Navy." In Warship 2002–2003, edited by Antony Preston, 94–115. London: Conway Maritime Press, 2003.
  • Brook, Peter. Warships for Export: Armstrong Warships, 1867–1927. Gravesend, UK: World Ship Society, 1999.
  • Corbett, Julian S. Maritime Operations in the Russo-Japanese War, 1904—1905. Volume 2. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1994. First published in 1915.
  • Grant, Jonathan A. Rulers, Guns, and Money: The Global Arms Trade in the Age of Imperialism. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2007.
  • Jentschura, Hansgeorg, Dieter Jung, and Peter Mickel. Warships of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1869–1945. Translated by Antony Preston and J.D. Brown. Annapolis, MD, US: United States Naval Institute, 1977.
  • Lauderbaugh, George. The History of Ecuador. Santa Barbara, CA, US: Greenwood, 2012.
  • Perrett, J.R. "Some Notes on Warships; Designed and Constructed by Sir W.G. Armstrong, Whitworth, & Co., Ltd." Mechanical Engineer 34, no. 867 (4 September 1914): 211–13.
  • Pleshakov, Constantine. The Tsar's Last Armada: The Epic Journey to the Battle of Tsushima. New York: Basic Books, 2008.
  • Sater, William F. Chile and the United States: Empires in Conflict. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1990.
  • Scheina, Robert. Latin America: A Naval History 1810–1987. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 1987.
  • Scheina, Robert. Latin America's Wars. 2 vols. Dulles, VA: Brassey's, 2003.
  • Tromben, Carlos. "Presencia Naval. El Cruero 'Esmeralda' En Panamá [Naval Presence: The Cruiser Esmeralda in Panama]." International Journal of Naval History 1, no. 1 (April 2002).

Further reading
  • Evans, David C. and Mark R. Peattie. Kaigun: Strategy, Tactics, and Technology in the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1887–1941. Annapolis, MD, US: Naval Institute Press, 1997.
  • Rodger, N.A.M. "The First Light Cruisers." The Mariner's Mirror 65, no. 3 (1979): 209–230. doi:10.1080/00253359.1979.10659148.
  • Schencking, J. Charles. Making Waves: Politics, Propaganda, And The Emergence Of The Imperial Japanese Navy, 1868-1922. Stanford, CA, US: Stanford University Press, 2005.

 

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