Koko Kyouwakoku (Republic of Koko)

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Post subject: Re: Koko Kyouwakoku (Republic of Koko)

Posted: May 18th, 2015, 2:35 pm

Posts: 2818
Joined: May 23rd, 2012, 1:01 pm
Location: Rome - Italy

S-1 Class Minesweepers:

After having converted eight old Destroyers into Minelayers, Koko no Kaigun started to look for a minesweeper class. Having no older ships to be converted dedicated units were to be built from the ground-up. Once again, in order to speed up construction as fast as possible, the new ships were based on the W-1 Class currently beign constructed in japan. The resulting ships, sporting just minor modification if compared tot he original, were just over 76m long, 8m abeam and drafted 2,3m. Armed with 2 120mm guns and a single 76mm one for AA duties they were capable of 21 knots with a 2.000 nautcial miles endurance.
While the IJN ordered four units (adding another two of a modified design in 1928) Koko's Naval Staff ordered eight of them at once, to be fielded in two four-unit flotillas: one north, and one south. All to counter the much percievd Soviet or American threat.
Named Sokaitei (minesweeper) 1 through 8, the ships had their orders split between civilian yards, construction started in 1923 for the first two units. Ultimately the last one was commissioned in 1929.
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Starting with S-4 the ships recieved an higher fore-funnel that helped to keep the smoke away from the bridge
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S-6, S-7 and S-8 featured a slighly different midship break, were fitted with gun shields, tripod foremast and had a full row of windows on the bridge, whose shape was also different from that of the earlier sisters. During the 30's all earlier ships got most of those features through refits.
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WWII attrition hit the class hard. S-8 was lost from air attack during the Guadalcanal campaign, with S-6 following the next year, blown to pieces by US Heavy Cruisers in Aleutian waters.
Starting in 1944, all surviving ships had the single 76mm AA gun replaced by fice 25mm machine guns, in a twin and three single mounts. A Type13 air-search-radar was fitted, hydropohone added and depth charge numbers increased. S-4 and S-5 also landed their minesweeping equipment in order to carry more ASW weapons.
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All surviving ships except S-2 were sunk around Koko home-waters in 1945/1946. S-2 herself served a repatriation ship after the end of the war, then she performed some mine-sweeping duties (to clear both Koko and US minefields) then she was decommissioned and scrapped in 1948.

Ships in class: (laid down-launched-commissioned - fate)

S-1 1923-1924-1924 - Sunk 1945
S-2 1923-1924-1924 - Decommissioned 1948
S-3 1924-1925-1925 - Sunk 1945
S-4 1925-1926-1927 - Sunk 1946
S-5 1926-1927-1928 - Sunk 1946
S-6 1927-1928-1928 - Sunk 1943
S-7 1928-1928-1929 - Sunk 1945
S-8 1928-1928-1929 - Sunk 1942

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My Worklist
Sources and documentations are the most welcome.

-Koko Kyouwakoku (Republic of Koko)
-Koko's carrier-based aircrafts of WWII
-Koko Kaiun Yuso Kaisha - KoKaYu Line (Koko AU spinoff)
-Koko - Civil Aviation

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