Suju-class cruiser
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| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Builders: | Gothia |
| Operators: | Menghe |
| Succeeded by: | Janghŭng-class cruiser |
| Built: | 1912-1915 |
| In commission: | 1915-1933 |
| Planned: | 2 |
| Completed: | 2 |
| Lost: | 1 |
| Scrapped: | 1 |
| General characteristics Suju, 1918 | |
| Type: | Light cruiser |
| Displacement: |
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| Length: | 129 m (423.2 ft) overall |
| Beam: | 12.4 m (40.6 ft) |
| Draft: | 4.17 m (13.7 ft) max |
| Propulsion: |
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| Speed: | 27 knots |
| Range: | 2,300 nautical miles (4,300 km) at 12 knots |
| Complement: | 258 |
| Armament: |
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| Armor: |
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The Suju-class cruisers were a pair of protected cruisers built for the Menghean Navy in the 1910s. Constructed in Gothia using the latest propulsion technology, they were the first modern or fast light cruisers to be built in Menghe in the 1910s, designed to match contemporary foreign designs in their speed and protection. They were originally intended to serve as fleet scouts and counter-destroyer escorts along Menghe's east coast facing Dayashina, hence their relatively short range.
Both Suju and her sister ship Changnyŏng were delivered shortly before the outbreak of the War of the Sienese Succession, and saw limited action after Menghe entered the conflict in 1918. Changnyŏng was torpedoed by an Ostish submarine on 30 September 1918, but Suju survived the war and even supported a few landing operations off what is now Qusayn.
By the mid-1920s, Suju was an obsolete ship, lagging behind new Menghean cruiser classes in speed and range. In 1923, she was moved into reserve status; in 1925, she was stripped of some of her armament and converted into a training ship to help prepare future Menghean cruiser officers. Training crews complained about her cramped living spaces and poor seakeeping, and she was retired in the early 1930s once dedicated training ships entered service to replace her.
Design
General characteristics
Machinery
The Suju-class cruisers were powered by twelve identical boilers arranged in two ranks of six down the hull. Funnels 1 and 4 were each fed by two boilers, and funnels 2 and 3 were each fed by four. All twelve boilers burned a mix of coal and oil, a common feature on Menghean cruisers of the period which allowed them to remain in operation if Menghe's access to imported oil were cut off. Steam from the boilers was fed to steam turbines, which drove three propeller shafts.
The ships were designed to have a top speed of 28 knots, but on trials they only achieved 27. This was already slightly slower than the latest cruisers entering service in 1915, and slower than many battlecruisers by 1920. Low speed was a major factor in the Menghean Navy's decision to retire Suju ahead of schedule.
Armament
The main armament of the Suju-class cruisers was a uniform battery of eight Type 10 125mm L/55 guns in Type 14 mounts. The Type 14 mounting had a 3 inch (76mm) gun shield with a curved face and a flat top, distinct from the squared-off and thinner Type 18 mounting used on later Menghean 125mm-armed cruisers. These guns were designed and manufactured in Menghe, and chosen in the belief that they would balance the high rate of fire of a 4-inch gun with the penetration capability of a lower-velocity 6-inch gun, allowing the cruiser to efficiently engage cruisers, destroyers, and torpedo boats. The forward two guns were arranged side-by-side to increase forward firepower in a pursuit.
As designed and initially outfitted, the ships also carried a secondary battery of six 75mm quick-firing guns, also a domestic Menghean design. Two of these were mounted on the sides of the raised foredeck, two at the ship's waist under one of the boat racks, and two on the aft superstructure in what resemble centerline positions but are in fact a slightly staggered en echelon arrangement. This layout was chosen because it offered slightly better firing arcs, though not enough to fire these guns directly forward and aft.
Ahead of their first wartime deployment in 1918, both ships were fitted with three Maxim machine guns, specifically the Menghean Type 10 model chambered in 7.5×55mm ammunition. One was mounted on the fantail, and two flanking the number 1 funnel. These provided a small amount of anti-aircraft defense, and were never fired in anger during the war.
Torpedo armament consisted of two submerged 500mm torpedo tubes, facing directly port and starboard roughly under the pilothouse. Each carried a single torpedo--no provision was made for at-sea reloads--and the launch holes were plated over at some point in the early 1920s.
Service history
Construction
Because Menghe's industrial base lacked the technology to produce state-of-the-art cruisers at home, Menghe ordered them from a foreign yard in Gothia. Both ships were laid down in 1912, and launched within days of each other in January 1914. By the time they rolled off the stocks, social unrest in Gothia was rising, with growing concern that some kind of internal conflict involving the Sienese monarchy could break out. Fearful that the ships could be stalled, confiscated, or scrapped on the stocks, the Menghean government requested that they be rushed to a seaworthy state and then sailed to Menghe for the final stages of their fitting-out.