Royal Navy in Japan

[Collind]

My Grandfather was in the Royal Navy from 1904 to 1924 and there is a strong family story that he went to Japan, one story was that he was involved in training the Japanese Navy when they converted from sail to steam, but I think this happened a lot earlier than his time, although he was a Leading Stoker. I have looking into the records of his ships and there is no mention of Japan. He did spend the last 18 months at HMS Vernon, August 1922 to March 1924, could he have been sent to Japan from there, possibly conversion from coal to oil. Has anybody any idea as to when he may have gone and what he did.

[Researcher]

Hi,

Cooperating between the Royal Navy and the Japanese navy goes back a lot further than your grandfather's time.

The first record I have is April 1870 when the "Flying Squadron" arrived in Yokohama and, at the request of the Japanese Government, two local naval cadets were invited to stay on board, one on the "Liverpool" and the other on the "Phoebe" The purpose was for them to "acquire some knowledge of the internal economy of our men-of-war and the general principles of naval military service". The one assigned to the Liverpool must have found the whole experience too much for him because he committed suicide six months later. Other members may know of earlier cooperation between the two navies and I would be pleased to learn of it.

On the question of the transition from sail to steam I can say with some confidence that it was complete long before your grandfather visited. The first Japanese built steam warship was the Chiyodagata; a gunboat launched in July 1863. By 1905 they were able to take on and defeat the Russian Navy. Have a look at

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_Japanese_Navy.

[tim lewin]

you might like to look at Arthur Marder's "Old friends, New enemies which covers the history of the Anglo-Japanese naval relationship. This went back a long way. The battle of TsuTshima was won by British-build vessels and British training. Many years later the attack on Pearl Harbour was allegedly copied from the lessons learned from the brilliant attack by RN Swordfish aircraft on Taranto the year before. Like so many examples in history, a loss of diplomacy inevitably leads to massive suffering and war between even the best of allies, the converse is of course also true!
best wishes,
Tim Lewin