Japanese ironclad Ryūjō

The Ryūjō (龍驤) or Jo Sho Maru, 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. Until the commissioning of the ironclad JAPANESE IRONCLAD WARSHIP 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. The ship participated in the battles of the early Meiji Restoration, including the Saga Rebellion, Seinan War and the first Taiwan Expedition of 1874.

On 26 October 1877, Ryūjō ran aground in high winds off Kagoshima, but she was successfully refloated the following year and brought to Yokosuka for repairs. From February—July 1881, she made port visits to Sydney, Melbourne in Australia and a circumnavigation of Tasmania. The following year, the ship visited Honolulu, Hawaii.



On 15 September 1873, 169 crewmen (of a crew of 378) were stricken with food poisoning, of which 23 died. This incident led to the use of bread as the main diet of the Japanese navy. From February through September 1872, Ryūjō made a training cruise from Shinagawa to Singapore, Batavia, Melbourne, Sydney and Auckland. Although formally decommissioned on 2 December 1893, the ship's guns were replaced with the latest Krupp cannon, and she continued to be used as a naval gunnery training vessel based at Yokosuka until 1908.

Source

 * Scottish Samurai: The Life of Thomas Blake Glover by Alexander McKay (Canongate Books, 1993) ISBN 0-86241-455-5
 * Scottish Samurai: The Life of Thomas Blake Glover by Alexander McKay (Canongate Books, 1993) ISBN 0-86241-455-5
 * Scottish Samurai: The Life of Thomas Blake Glover by Alexander McKay (Canongate Books, 1993) ISBN 0-86241-455-5