- Yes, I think the class would be worth adding at some point
- Maybe
- Unsure
- I don’t think we need this class in-game
- As built
- As built (IJN Kari)
- 1942 refit
- 1944 refit
- Unsure
- I said no to the first question
Background & History
The Ōtori class torpedo boat was a class of 8 large torpedo boats build by the imperial Japanese navy in the 1930’s, despite them being called torpedo boats these ships were more like smaller destroyers, and these ships had come from the Japanese attempts to get around some of the restrictions of the London Naval treaty which placed limits on destroyers in both size and number, and in the case of this class, fixing the biggest flaws of that loophole exploit design.
The origins of the Ōtori class tie directly back to the previous classes origins, the Chidori class. In the 1920’s the Japanese had begun construction on the Fubuki class destroyer, these ships for the time were very powerful as they had no real disadvantages compared to other ships at the time and would in turn force a reaction from the other major naval powers, but in the 1930’s while the Fubuki class was still being built the first London naval treaty came around, and unlike before in the Washington naval treaty the new treaty which expanded restrictions which included destroyers and limited their displacement and armament as well as numbers with the total destroyer tonnage for the respective navies being limited, the Fubuki class while fully prohibited by this would not be able to see more ships ordered if desired, this was due to the fact that on a certain percentage of each signatories destroyer displacement for individual destroyers were permitted to reach a displacement like the Fubuki class as the majority of ships would be allowed a tonnage that was lower meaning they would not only be limited in how many of them they would have but would have to sacrifice certain aspects to get something even close to the Fubuki on this lesser displacement as it was impossible to build a lighter ship and retain all the features as was found on the Hatsuharu class destroyers. Around the same time as the Hatsuharu class was being built, Japan had begun to procure a new design with the intention of getting around the treaty limitations using a loophole, like the attempt to get around the carrier restrictions of the Washington naval treaty with Ryūjō the Japanese would attempt to build a new design which would be the terms and definition of the treaty not quality as a destroyer and therefore be built with no limitations in total numbers as this new design would basically be a ship of much less displacement at 600 tons standard and would generally have half of the firepower of a Fubuki, and in order to improve their chances in getting away with this cheat they would call them torpedo boats, and this resulted in the 4 Chidori class ships. It should be noted that in all fairness as unlike the case with Ryūjō being a attempt by really just Japan to exploit a loophole in this case they were not the only ones to do it for a ship which by the treaty definition was not a destroyer and did not apply to the limitations as similar ideas saw ships with the same idea of how to get around these limitations came forth in France, Britain, and Italy.
The Chidori class was originally supposed to consist of 20 ships however only 4 were built as they were even less stable than even some of the treaty destroyers as they were very top heavy which cause a major accident when during a exercise one ship in rough seas capsized due to the ship not being very stable, while the ship in question managed to not sink and was towed back to port for repairs and return to service this prompted all the Chidori class ship to see a major rebuild which saw them rebuilt with a smaller superstructure and weaker armament as the enclosed turrets had to be removed and the smaller superstructure made them a lot less top-heavy, in particular the main armament had to be downgraded to 120mm guns in 3 single shielded mounts. As for 16 ships which were never laid down for the Chidori class, they were instead reordered to new design which took the lessons of the Chidori class to heart as they were very similar to the Chidori class following the redesign however they were longer and had a slightly greater beam as well as having more displacement which gave them more stability, they were also slightly faster due to the revision into the new design, as well as increased range, they also managed in include an additional torpedo tube as the twin mount was replaced with a triple. After the approval of the 16 ships to the new design of the Ōtori class they would be built in the 1930’s however the final number was reduced to 8 as the rest were canceled in favor of spending on constructing new sub chasers. All the ships of the class themselves would take part in the Second World War however due to them being less useful as fleet units than destroyers they often found themselves being used for convoy escorting during the war which meant they did not suffer losses until later on with most being sunk by submarine or carrier aircraft, mostly in 1944 however the 1st ship lost was in 1943 and by 1945 only 2 ships remained after the end of the war only 1 had survived and post war was handed over to the Soviet navy and was pushed in Soviet service which saw the ship in service until the 1950’s.
In terms of the ships armament, the main armament consisted of 3 12 cm/45 (4.7 inch) 11th Year Type (Model 1922) guns in 3 single mounts equipped with gun shields, the ships AA armament at first only consisted of a single 40 mm/62 (1.575") “HI” Type 91 anti aircraft cannon however in service these would be replaced with Type 96 25mm AA guns though one of the ships of the class did complete with a twin mount of the 25mm cannons instead of the 40mm mounts, in service however the Ōtori class would receive similar modifications in their armament as the rear gun was removed while more anti aircraft guns were installed with the number of guns reaching as high as 11 25mm cannons total, they also came with a torpedo armament of 3 21 inch (533mm) torpedo tubes placed amidship in a triple mount.
Specifications
Displacement:
840 tons standard
1,040 tons full load
Length:
88.5 m (290 ft 4 in) o/a
85.0 m (278 ft 10 in) waterline
Beam: 8.18 m (26 ft 10 in)
Draft: 2.76 m (9 ft 1 in)
Propulsion:
2 × Kampon water tube boilers
2 × Kanpon impulse turbines
2 × shafts, 19,000 shp (14,000 kW)
Speed: 30.5 knots (56.5 km/h; 35.1 mph)
Range: 4,000 nmi (7,400 km; 4,600 mi) at 14 kn (26 km/h; 16 mph)
Complement: 113
Sensors and processing systems:
1944 Refit
Type 22 radar
Type 13 radar
Armament:
As built (All but Kari)
Main Armament:
3 x 12 cm/45 (4.7") 11th Year Type (Model 1922) guns (3 x 1)
AA Armament:
1 x 40mm/62 “HI” Type 91 AA gun (1 x 1)
Torpedo tubes:
3 x 21 inch (533mm) torpedo tubes (1 x 3)
IJN Kari As built
Main Armament:
3 x 12 cm/45 (4.7") 11th Year Type (Model 1922) guns (3 x 1)
AA Armament:
2 x 25mm/60 Type 96 AA guns (1 x 2)
Torpedo tubes:
3 x 21 inch (533mm) torpedo tubes (1 x 3)
1942 Refit
Main Armament:
2 x 12 cm/45 (4.7") 11th Year Type (Model 1922) guns (2 x 1)
AA Armament:
4 x 25mm/60 Type 96 AA guns (2 x 2)
Torpedo tubes:
3 x 21 inch (533mm) torpedo tubes (1 x 3)
Other weapons:
2 x depth charge throwers
1944 Refit
Main Armament:
2 x 12 cm/45 (4.7") 11th Year Type (Model 1922) guns (2 x 1)
AA Armament:
11 x 25mm/60 Type 96 AA guns (3 x 2 + 5 x 1)
Torpedo tubes:
3 x 21 inch (533mm) torpedo tubes (1 x 3)
Other weapons:
2 x depth charge throwers
Sources
Spoiler
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ōtori-class_torpedo_boat
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/鴻型水雷艇
Image sources
#/media/%E3%83%95%E3%82%A1%E3%82%A4%E3%83%AB:IJN_torpedo_boat_hayabusa_1932.jpg){kind=link}
