Furutaka Class, Japanese
Heavy Cruisers (original) (raw)
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The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia | |
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| Tonnage | 8700 tons standard displacement |
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| Dimensions | 607'6" by 55'6" by 18'4"185.17m by 16.92m by 5.59m |
| Maximum speed | 33 knots |
| Complement | 639 |
| Aircraft | 1 Model 3 catapult2 seaplanes |
| Armament | 3x2 8"/50 Mark 2 guns4x1 4.7"/45 dual-purpose guns4x2 25mm/60 AA guns2x2 13mm/76 machine guns2x4 Long Lance torpedo tubes (1 reload) |
| Protection | 1200 tons or 13.8% of displacement3" (76mm) NVNC belt inclined at 9 degreesTorpedo bulges (no armored holding bulkhead)1.4" (35mm) NVNC middle deck1.9" (48mm) HT plates at upper deck level1.5" (38mm) NVNC uptakes2x0.7" (2x18mm) Dücol bridge2" (51mm) sides/1.4" (35mm) top NVNC magazine1" (25mm) HT steering rooms1" (25mm) NVNC turret2.2" (57mm) NVNC barbettes |
| Machinery | 4-shaft geared turbines (110,000 shp)10 Kampon boilers |
| Bunkerage | 1858 tons fuel oil |
| Range | 7900 nautical miles (14,600km) at 14 knots |
The _Furutakas_were completed in 1926 as the last pre-Washington Treatycruisers of the Japanese Navy. They were designed specifically to outclass the British Hawkinsand U.S. Omahaand incorporated many of the lessons of the experimental Yubari. Great efforts were made to reduce hull weight while maintaining strength, but the final displacement was still nearly 1000 tons greater than planned. Even so, they were the smallest heavy cruisers ever built. Their protection scheme was rather light for heavy cruisers at 14% of displacement, being designed only against 6" (152mm) shells.
This class introduced the use of a centerline longitudinal bulkhead. This was controversial because rapid flooding of one side could capsize the ship. Provisions were added to allow rapidcounterflooding if necessary, and longitudinal bulkheads remained a feature of many subsequent Japanese warship designs.
They were modernized twice in the 1930s, replacing the original six single main gun turrets with three twin turrets and receiving the Long Lance torpedo. Their antiaircraftbattery was also improved. During the 1932 modernization, it was discovered that over 3000 hull rivets had been knocked loose on Furutaka, indicating some problems with the quality of the riveting.
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References
Lacroix and Wells (1997)
Whitley (1995)
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