Japanese destroyer Kaba (1915)


Kaba was the name ship of her class of 10 destroyers that were built for the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War I.

Design and description

The Kaba-class destroyers were improved versions of the preceding. They displaced at normal load and at deep load. The ships had a length between perpendiculars of and an overall length of, a beam of and a draught of. The Kabas were powered by three vertical triple-expansion steam engines, each driving one shaft using steam produced by four Kampon water-tube boilers. Two boilers burned a mixture of coal and fuel oil while the other pair only used oil. The engines produced a total of that gave the ships a maximum speed of. They carried a maximum of of coal and of oil which gave them a range of at a speed of. Their crew consisted of 92 officers and ratings.
The main armament of the Kaba-class ships consisted of a single quick-firing (QF) gun located on the bow. They were also armed with four QF guns on single mounts. Two guns were positioned abreast the middle funnel, one gun was on the aft superstructure and the fourth gun was on the stern. The destroyers' torpedo armament consisted of two twin rotating mounts for torpedoes located between the superstructure and the stern gun.

Construction and career

Kaba was launched on 6 February 1915 at the Yokosuka Naval Arsenal and completed on 5 March. The ship played a minor role during World War I. She was stricken from the navy list in November 1931, decommissioned on 1 April 1932 and subsequently broken up.