Sōkō gunboat

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Hama
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Sōkō gunboat

#1

Post by Hama » 29 Oct 2016, 16:21

I have a few questions about the gunboat Sōkō (previously the Chinese gunboat Tsao-kiang).

1) After she was put in to Japanese service on 21 September, 1894 I read she was used for patrols around Korea during the rest of the war with China. Did she see any action during that time while operated by the Japanese Navy?

2) I was reading that on 26 October, 1903 Sōkō was transferred to the Home Ministry (内務省) where she was in service before being sold off to a private buyer in 1924. Does anyone know what duties Sōkō was performing when she was part of the Home Ministry?

3) Also, I read that she was registered until 1965, does anyone know what happened to her after that? Was she simply scrapped? I didn't find any mention of her as something like a museum ship, so I'm suspecting she doesn't exist anymore?

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Wellgunde
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Re: Sōkō gunboat

#2

Post by Wellgunde » 30 Oct 2016, 23:06

I have no specific information about the Sōkō. However, the Home Ministry (Naimusyō) used ships for a number of functions: mail delivery to outlying islands and areas, coastal patrols (basically coast guard functions), policing, and civil engineering (e.g. harbor dredging, etc.)
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Akira Takizawa
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Re: Sōkō gunboat

#3

Post by Akira Takizawa » 31 Oct 2016, 02:54

This topic is not my specialty. But, according to Japanese Wikipedia, Soko was used as quarantine ship(検疫船) after transferred to the Home Ministry.
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%93%8D%E6%B1%9F

Taki

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Hama
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Re: Sōkō gunboat

#4

Post by Hama » 31 Oct 2016, 14:59

Wellgunde wrote:I have no specific information about the Sōkō. However, the Home Ministry (Naimusyō) used ships for a number of functions: mail delivery to outlying islands and areas, coastal patrols (basically coast guard functions), policing, and civil engineering (e.g. harbor dredging, etc.)
Ok thanks for that info.
Akira Takizawa wrote:This topic is not my specialty. But, according to Japanese Wikipedia, Soko was used as quarantine ship(検疫船) after transferred to the Home Ministry.
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%93%8D%E6%B1%9F

Taki
Interesting, I was just looking at the English wikipedia article and it says Sōkō was used as a guard boat in Kobe (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_g ... Tsao-kiang).

Japanese wikipedia also says it was used in Kobe, so it seems to be the same information. I don't know how the term 検疫船 could be translated in English. Maybe it means the same as guard boat in English?

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Akira Takizawa
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Re: Sōkō gunboat

#5

Post by Akira Takizawa » 31 Oct 2016, 17:06

Hama wrote:I don't know how the term 検疫船 could be translated in English. Maybe it means the same as guard boat in English?
No. Guard boat will be a mistake. 検疫船 is a ship used for quarantine.

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Hama
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Re: Sōkō gunboat

#6

Post by Hama » 31 Oct 2016, 17:09

Ah ok, so there's some contradiction between the two articles then. Would be interesting to learn about this...

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