Japanese ironclad Ryūjō
Japanese ironclad
Ryūjō (龍驤, Prancing Dragon), was a British-built ironclad corvette of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN). She was purchased on behalf of a Japanese daimyo or clan lord in 1870 who donated the ship to the fledgling IJN shortly after receiving the ship. As the largest ship in the IJN Ryūjō was frequently visited by the Emperor Meiji and was used to escort a diplomatic mission to Imperial China. She played minor roles in suppressing several of the rebellions that plagued Japan in the 1870s.
The ship ran aground in 1877 and was not refloated for almost six months. Ryūjō became a training ship after repairs were completed in 1880 and made several long training cruises throughout the Pacific Basin during the 1880s. Her second cruise in 1882–1883 was interrupted when nearly half the crew developed beriberi. A Japanese naval physician, Takaki Kanehiro, had developed a theory that the disease was caused by a dietary deficiency and was able to persuade the government to repeat the voyage with a different ship using a more nutritious diet. The only cases of beriberi that developed on that cruise were by sailors who did not eat the new diet, confirming the theory.
Ryūjō was converted into a stationary training ship when her propulsion machinery was removed in 1887–1888 and was assigned to the naval gunnery school in 1890.
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