Japanese torpedo boat Shirataka

The Shirataka was a 1st class torpedo boat of the Imperial Japanese Navy. She was ordered under the Ten Year Naval Expansion Programme passed in 1896 from the shipbuilder Schichau-Werke in Danzig, Germany, where she was built during 1897–98 in parts along Japanese specifications, and then re-assembled by Mitsubishi in Nagasaki, Japan.
She participated in the Russo-Japanese War. She was decommissioned on 15 November 1923, and sold to break up on 6 April 1927.

Design

In common with all the other early torpedo boat destroyers and 1st class torpedo boats, the Shirataka had a "turtle-back" forecastle intended to prevent seawater covering the forecastle and throwing excessive spray over the control area. Unlike the two-funnel Hayabusa class, the Shirataka had a single funnel amidships, and was completed with three 3-pounder QF guns. These were later replaced by two 57mm guns and one 47mm 40-cal gun. She also carried three 14-inch torpedo tubes.
Her machinery comprised two Schichau water-tube boilers, and two 3-cylinder VTE engines developing 2,600 ihp. She carried 30 tons of coal.