| • Science | • People | • Locations | • Timeline |
| Career | ||
|---|---|---|
| Builder: | Holland | |
| Ordered: | 1863 | |
| Laid down: | August 1863 | |
| Launched: | 3 November 1865 | |
| Commissioned: | 10 September 1866 | |
| Arrived in Japan: | 26 March 1867 | |
| Decommissioned: | 1869 | |
| Fate: | Wrecked in a storm
Salvaged in 1990 | |
| General Characteristics | ||
| Displacement: | 2,590 t | |
| Length: | 72.2 m LOA | |
| Beam: | 13.04 m | |
| Draught: | 6.40 m | |
| Propulsion: | 3-masted sailboat (20,970 sqm)
400 hp auxiliary steam engine | |
| Fuel: | Coal | |
| Speed: | 10 knots | |
| Complement: | 400 | |
| Armament: | 18 x 16cm cannons 8 x 30 pound cannons | |
Kaiyo Maru (Japanese: 開陽丸) was one of Japan's first modern warships, powered by both sails and steam. She was ordered to Holland in 1863 by the Bakufu, the government of the Shogun.
She was brought back to Japan beginning of 1867 by Enomoto Takeaki, a Japanese Navy student who had been sent to study Naval science in Holland for five years, together with fifteen other students. Enomoto Takeaki was to become vice-admiral of the modernized Bakufu fleet upon his return to Japan, and Kaiyo Maru was to become his flagship.
The Boshin War erupted soon after from the end of 1867, in which pro-Imperial forces fought the Bakufu forces between 1867 and 1869. In September 1868, Enomoto Takeaki decided to continue combat in northern Japan together with the Daimyos faithful to the Bakufu regime, and sailed out of Shinagawa in TokyoTokyo (; Tokyo lit. eastern capital) is the capital of Japan as well as the most populous conurbation in Japan, and the world's largest metropolitan area by population with 33,750,000 people living within its urban influence. A little more than 12 million towards the north, with Kaiyo Maru and seven other modern ships. The ship was also carrying on board a handful of French military advisors, and their leader Jules BrunetJules Brunet is seated in front, second from right ( 1866). Captain Jules Brunet was a member of the first French military mission to be sent to Japan in order to help modernize the armies of the shogunate. He was a graduate of the Ecole Polytechnique, an. The rebels ended up in Hokkaido, where they established an independent and ephemeral Ezo Republic.
Kaiyo Maru eventually became the main ship of the fleet in Hokkaido. Many hopes were put in her to achieve naval superiority against a weaker and nascent Imperial Japanese Navy, but she eventually was wrecked in Esashi, Hokkaido, during a storm on 15 November 1868.
Her demise is said to have demoralized Enomoto Takeaki, who had brought her from the other side of the world, and clearly reduced the chances of the rebel forces to succeed.
Kaiyo Maru was discovered on the seafloor in 1975, and she was salvaged and reconstructed in 1990. She is now visible at the docks in Esashi and has become a tourist attraction.