Japanese destroyer Usugumo (1900)
Murakumo-class destroyer
Usugumo (薄雲, "Thin Clouds") was one of six Murakumo-class destroyers built for the Imperial Japanese Navy in the late 1890s and the only one not completed until 1900. Usugumo took part in several major engagements during the Russo-Japanese War (1904–1905) and served during World War I (1914–1918).
Construction and commissioning
Authorized under the 1897 naval program, Usugumo was laid down on 1 September 1898 by John I. Thornycroft & Company at Chiswick, England, as Torpedo Boat Destroyer No. 10. Launched on 16 January 1900, she was completed on 1 February 1900 and commissioned the same day, classified as a torpedo boat destroyer.
Service history
Usugumo completed her delivery voyage from England to Japan on 14 May 1900 with her arrival at Kagoshima. She was reclassified as a destroyer on 22 June 1900.
After the destroyer Shinonome ran aground in Yabiji, a coral reef group north of Ikema Island in the Miyako Islands in Okinawa Prefecture, on 7 June 1902, Usugumo and the protected cruisers Akashi and Saien came to her assistance. Shinonome eventually was refloated and made port at Sasebo, Japan, on 5 August 1902.
When the Russo-Japanese War broke out in February 1904, Usugumo was part of the 3rd Destroyer Division of the 1st Fleet.
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