Shipbucket

Yūdachi class Trans-Pacific ocean liner

recently I found myself wanting to do a turn-of-the-century quad stack ocean liner, the backstory is going to be quite light and sparse, which is why I am posting it here rather than my own dedicated AU

Class and type: Yūdachi class ocean liner
Tonnage: Yūdachi - 16,233 gross tons as built 1902, Shigure - 19,822 gross tons as scrapped 1949
Displacement: Yūdachi 26,133 tons 1902, Shigure
Length: 672.5 ft (204m)
Beam: 72 ft (21m)
Draft: 30 ft (9m)
Decks: 6 main passenger decks
Installed power: Yūdachi, 24 double-ended Scotch marine type boilers, 2 triple expansion reciprocating steam engines, 17,000 shp,
Shigure, 24 double-ended Scotch marine type boilers, 2 triple expansion reciprocating steam engines, 1 low pressure steam turbine 19,000 shp
Propulsion: Yūdachi, 2 manganese bronze three bladed wing propellers, Shigure, 2 manganese bronze three bladed wing propellers, 1 manganese bronze four bladed central propeller
Speed: Yūdachi 21.5 kn, Shigure 23 kn
Capacity: Yūdachi 1,753 passengers, Shigure 1,925 passengers
Crew: 493

brought about as a result of the growing rivalry between the Zipang Heguri Pacific steamship company, and the Japanese Nippon_Yusen, was for a brief time be largest ocean liner in the world, and by far the largest and most advanced ocean liner ever seen in the Pacific up until that time.

SS Yūdachi would be followed by three sisters, while they were mostly identical there were some noticeable changes between each ship, Harusame having been commissioned in 1904 had her lower promenade deck almost completely enclosed, as a result of a classmate experiencing a severe storm rendering the promenade deck completely unusable, another noticeable difference was the expansion of the third class dining area, making it a dual purpose public and dining room space, the next step in the class Samidare had her funnels heightened slateley to address a lingering smoke problem that was found on the previous members of the class, she also had a very noticeable internal difference with her restaurant not having the usual double level which was typical of most previous Heguri Pacific steamship company ships, instead the upper-level was repurposed into a lavish library, the final member of the class to be commissioned was Shigure, considered by many to be the absolute best of her, when it came to modifications and visual differences she was relatively similar to Samidare to with the biggest exception being the elimination of the open second class entrance on D deck, however the biggest difference between her and her sisters was her engine arrangement, in addition to having two triple expansion steam engines like her sisters, she was also fitted with a single low pressure steam turbine to increase her speed, she was by far the fastest of her sisters with a top speed of 23 knots,



despite being quickly overshadowed by newer and bigger liners the Yūdachi class would continue to serve primarily on the Zipang - America route, in their later years they would often supplement the newer liners when they were pulled from service for repair or other maintenance, Shigure on the other hand throughout her entire life would only serve Honkotan - Hong Kong route, often running at bi-monthly service because of the lack of a suitable running mate

throughout the latter half of the 1910s all four of the liners would continue to serve, even with the start of WWI in 1914 their duties would be relatively unaffected with them still performing a weekly service between various American ports, Harusame on the other hand would find herself in a match dire situation at the beginning of War, earlier in 1913 she had been placed on the Zipang - Great Britain route to supplement a mixed passenger and cargo ocean liner had sunk in 1912, and unfortunately it just so happened that she was in Britain at the time when war was declared meaning that she couldn't come home, as a result of her situation she was requisitioned by the British navy to be a hospital ship being renamed to the HMHS mercy, she would serve in the Mediterranean alongside the famous White star ship the Britannic and the famous Cunard ship mauretania, she would finish her war service in 1918 where she would sail to Belfast Ireland for repairs to her engines before making her journey home

throughout the later half of the 1910s and in the early 20s the four now old ocean liners would continue to serve primarily lower capacity routes between the Americas and ports in India and Asia, however starting in 1925 it was decided that Yūdachi would be decommissioned and sent to the scrapyard due to her age, Harusame would make her way to the scrap yard in 1927 followed 6 months later by her sister Samidare, leaving Shigure the last of her class still in Active Service, in 1928 she would be converted to oil firing, despite being quite old she was well loved by her passengers spotting in 1930 she will be primarily used for cruises around the Pacific, with the occasional trans-pacific crossing undertaken.

Even with the Japanese invasion and subsequent takeover in 1934, her duties would remain relatively unchanged with the only exception being that she was no longer allowed to call at any american ports, but with time finally catching up to her she would be laid up in 1939 awaiting scrapping, however she would get a short new lease on life when she will be requisition by the Zipang as a hospital ship, she would spend most of my time is a hospital ship in and around the Philippines area, in 1943 she would be torpedoed by an American submarine almost sinking but luckily managing to beach herself on a sandbar before sinking, she would be refloated but would not be repaired instead remaining as a floating Hulk until 1949 when she was finally scrapped

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Work list: 1. various pre-1900 Zipang ships 2. Some protected cruisers and other miscellaneous projects

great stuff

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Thought for sure two of her sisters would be named Fubuki and Mutsuki. Nice work!

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MS State Guard - 08 March 2014 - 28 January 2023

The Official IJN Ships & Planes List

#FJB

Very nice work, a good looking liner.

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Hood's Worklist
English Electric Canberra FD
Interwar RN Capital Ships
Super-Darings
Never-Were British Aircraft

thank you very much everyone, also I have something special, this is a SB scale cutaway of my ocean liner that I did because I thought it would be cool

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Work list: 1. various pre-1900 Zipang ships 2. Some protected cruisers and other miscellaneous projects

Class and type: Hamakaze class ocean liner
Tonnage: Hamakaze - 40,715 gross tons as built 1910, Amatsukaze - 42,910 gross tons as decommissioned 1939
Displacement: Hamakaze 50,281 tons as built 1910, Amatsukaze 52,281 tons as decommissioned 1939
Length: 851.5 ft (259m)
Beam: 87 ft (26m)
Draft: 29 ft (8m)
Decks: 8 main passenger decks
Installed power: 24 double-ended Scotch marine type boilers, 4 single-ended Scotch marine type boilers, 2 triple expansion reciprocating steam engines, 1 low pressure steam turbine, 34,000 shp,
Propulsion: 2 manganese bronze three bladed wing propellers, 1 manganese bronze four bladed central propeller
Speed: 23 kn (43 km/h; 26 mph)
Capacity: Hamakaze 3,012 passengers, Amatsukaze 3,281 passengers
Crew: 753

SS Hamakaze YN290
SS Hagikaze YN291
SS Amatsukaze YN292

Brought about because of the continuous rivalry between the Zipang Heguri Pacific steamship company, and the Japanese Nippon_Yusen the, the Hamakaze, when commissioned was the largest ocean liner in the world even surpassing Great Britain's Lusitania and mauretania in terms of tonnage and overall size, she was for her time considered quite revolutionary, with her biggest claim to fame being her central air conditioning which was a first for a ship on the Pacific run.

Her maiden voyage in April 1910 would go smoothly with her arriving in San Francisco to a large fan fair on the 16th of April 1910, she was intended to be followed by two identical sisters both of which were expected to come into Commission in 1911 and 1912, however with the sinking of the RMS Titanic on April 14th 1912, their construction was halted, however eventually that construction would begin again with several lessons learnt from the Titanic disaster been incorporated into the design with the primary one being the installation of watertight bulkheads that went all the way up to B deck and enough lifeboats for all of passengers, the first of her sisters to come into service would be SS Hagikaze, visually Hagikaze was practically identical to her sister, with the only Major difference is being being closed A deck promenade and the addition of a third class galley / general room on the poop deck.

the final member of the class be brought into Commission was the SS Amatsukaze, visually she was quite distinct from her sister's with the entire Stern being built up as well as the welldeck filled in, primarily with newer second class accommodations and some updated third class accommodations, this let to her having a passing resemblance to the Lusitania and Mauretania.

For the first year of the First World War, all three Hamakaze class sisters, will continue to serve the weekly Pacific run between Heguri and San Francisco, however with the war in Europe picking up, several Zipang vessels, both civilian and military,were officially requested to be requisitioned by the Royal Navy Admiralty, Amatsukaze, Hamakaze were two of the civilian vessels officially requested by the Admiralty due to the size and speed, it was thought they would make excellent troop transport / hospital ships, however with the likelihood of them being destroyed in the conflict, the official requisition order was denied by the green star line with two smaller ocean liners, being offered instead, even with America's official Declaration Of War in 1918, all free liners would continue to operate on the Pacific run, with the Hamakaze been placed onto the Matsusaki to Sydney run in 1921, to make way for the new colossal ocean liner SS yamato.

In the mid 1920s all three Hamakaze class would be converted to all fire operation, with this change many routes, that would have non economical to run, where are now open to the three old ocean liners, starting in 1927 Amatsukaze would begin a bi-weekly service running between Yokokumo and Los Angeles, however this would be changed to a weekly service in 1929, when a suitable running mate in the form of the even older ocean liner Hibiki, was placed onto the route alongside Amatsukaze.

With the start of the 1930s, much thought was given to replacing the Hamakaze sisters by the green Star Line, however it was decided in 1932 that all three ships would be used exclusively for cruise services, in and around the Philippines and Australian coast, despite being originally intended for trans-pacific crossings, the three old ocean liners were actually quite popular as cruise ships, with Amatsukaze, been the most popular of the three, because of her much more modern bathroom and toilet facilities compared to her two older sisters, however with the Japanese-Zipang war in 1934, tragedy would strike the three sisters, with Hagikaze been torpedoed and sunk by a Japanese submarine on the 17th of September 1934 with a loss of 1,200 Souls, Hamakaze would also be torpedoed by a Japanese submarine however she unlike her less fortunate sister, she managed to beach herself on a sandbar preventing her from fully sinking.

With the Japanese victory and subsequent take over after the war, the green Star Line would come under direct control of the Japanese government, with all of its trans-pacific routes to North America being cancelled and shut down, with quite a few of the ships being transferred to Japanese shipping Lines, Hamakaze despite being refloated in 1935 would never be repaired, and would be scrapped in 1937, Amatsukaze being the only one of her sisters left, would continue to function as a cruise ship throughout the rest of the 1930s, however with the Japanese take over and brutal Japanese puppet government, the match of the Zipang the public didn't or in most cases were not allowed to travel, meaning that over the following 5 years of service her total passenger count was only 3000 passengere, with a average of only 200 to 300 passengers on 1 voyage, finally in 1939 she would be stricken from service and laid up awaiting scrapping, however the Japanese preparing for war against the United States, it was decided by the Zipang Admiralty to buy the ship and convert her into hospital ship, she would have all of her Furnishings remove, as well as the traditional hospital markings applied to her Hull, her career as a hospital ship would be uneventful until 1943 when on a return voyage to Zipang, to acquire more medical supplies, she would be torpedoed by an American submarine, however unlike her sister who sank in only 20 minutes, she would last a grand total of one-and-a-half hours allowing all of her crew and a few passengers aboard to escape the doomed liner, she would come to rest in only 293 ft of water in a upright position, meaning that over the following half-century, her wreck would become quite a popular location among divers, due to it easy accessibility, being only 34 miles off the eastern coast of Zipang.

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Work list: 1. various pre-1900 Zipang ships 2. Some protected cruisers and other miscellaneous projects

Very nice work! Can't wait to see the SS Yamato!

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MS State Guard - 08 March 2014 - 28 January 2023

The Official IJN Ships & Planes List

#FJB