Japanese gunboat Kotaka

For other ships with the same name, see Japanese ship Kotaka.

Kotaka (小鷹) was a river gunboat of the Imperial Japanese Navy, part of the 11th Gunboat Sentai, that operated on the Yangtze River in China during the 1930s, and during the Second Sino-Japanese War. During World War II, the vessel was in use as a passenger ship and communications ship. The vessel was sunk on May 31, 1944.

History
Empire of Japan
Name	Kotaka
Namesake	general term of small accipitridae (example: Eurasian sparrowhawk)[1]
Ordered	fiscal year 1929 [2]
Builder	Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding, Tama shipyard
Cost	246,561 JPY [3]
Laid down	2 September 1929[4]
Launched	4 December 1929[4]
Completed	11 January 1930[4]
Stricken	1944
Homeport	Shanghai
Fate	Sunk by air raid on 31 May 1944
General characteristics
Type	River gunboat
Displacement	50 tons standard 60.668 long tons (62 t) normal condition [5][6]
Length	30.500 m (100 ft 0.8 in) oa[5] 30.000 m (98 ft 5.1 in) lpp [6][5]
Beam	4.900 m (16 ft 0.9 in) max[7][5]
Draught	0.640 m (2 ft 1.2 in) [6][5]
Depth	1.400 m (4 ft 7.1 in)[5]
Propulsion	2 × Niigata Iron Works diesels, 540 bhp [6]
Speed	15.5 knots (28.7 km/h; 17.8 mph)
Range	1,000 nmi (1,900 km; 1,200 mi) at 10 kn (19 km/h; 12 mph) [3]
Armament	3 × Type 92 7.7 mm machine guns [6][8] 1942: Reduced to 2 × Type 92 7.7 mm machine guns

Construction and career

The gunboat participated in the Battle of Wuhan from June to September 1938 and in Battle of Madang and the Battle of Jiujiang in June 1938. From February to May 1939, Kotaka fought in the Nanchang Campaign. In 1942 Kotaka was in service as a passenger ship. The vessel was sunk on May 31, 1944, on the Yangtze River while serving as a communications ship.^[9] The IJN official designation was 60-ton traffic ship (Motored river exclusive-Special type) (六拾瓲交通船 (内火式河用特型),, 60-ton kōtsūsen (Uchibishiki kawayou-Tokugata)).^[1][6]