page_title: Russian battleship Oryol
section_title: Japanese career as Iwami
hierarchical_section_title: Russian battleship Oryol / Japanese career as Iwami
caption_attribution_description: English: Imperial Japanese battleship Iwami at Kure, 2 November 1907. Русский: Японский линейный корабль Ивами в Куре, 2 ноября 1907 года.
context_page_description: Oryol was a Borodino-class battleship built for the Imperial Russian Navy in the first decade of the 20th century. The ship was completed after the start of the Russo-Japanese War in February 1904 and was assigned to the Second Pacific Squadron sent to the Far East six months later to break the Japanese blockade of Port Arthur. The Japanese captured the port while the squadron was in transit and their destination was changed to Vladivostok. Oryol was badly damaged during the Battle of Tsushima in May 1905 and surrendered to the Japanese, who put her into service under the name of Iwami.
  Reconstructed by the Japanese in 1905–1907, Iwami was reclassified by the Imperial Japanese Navy as a coastal defense ship in 1912. She participated in the Battle of Tsingtao at the beginning of World War I and supported the Japanese troops that landed in Siberia in 1918 during the Russian Civil War. Iwami was used as a training ship beginning in September 1921. The ship was disarmed in 1922 to comply with the terms of the Washington Naval Treaty and sunk as a target ship two years later.
context_section_description: As Oryol followed the First Division of the Combined Fleet back to Japan after the battle, she developed a list to starboard and her engines began to fail. Escorted (and occasionally towed) by the battleship Asahi and the armored cruiser Asama, she was diverted to Maizuru Naval Arsenal for emergency repairs that lasted until 29 July. While under repair, she was renamed Iwami on 6 June, after the eponymous province, now part of Shimane prefecture.
  The Japanese substantially rebuilt Iwami at Kure Naval Arsenal and officially recommissioned her into the Imperial Japanese Navy on 2 November 1907. To reduce her top weight, her funnels were shortened, her fighting tops removed, and her superstructure reduced in height. Her twin six-inch gun turrets were removed and replaced by half a dozen eight-inch guns on pedestal mounts that were protected by gun shields. The fore and aft eight-inch guns were repositioned one deck lower, on the same level as the midships guns, and the midships 75-millimeter gun positions were plated over. The 75-millimeter guns were replaced by sixteen Japanese-built QF 12-pounder, 12 cwt guns and two submerged broadside 18-inch torpedo tubes replaced her original torpedo armament. Her boilers were replaced by an unknown number of Japanese-built Miyabara water-tube boilers. These changes reduced her displacement to approximately 13,500 long tons (13,700 t) and her crew now totaled 806 officers and crewmen.
  Iwami was assigned to the 1st Fleet on 26 November 1907 although she participated in the 1908 naval maneuvers as part of the 2nd Fleet before rejoining the 1st Fleet the following year. On 1 September 1912, the ship was reclassified as a second-class coastal defense ship. Shortly after the start of World War I in 1914, Iwami was assigned to the 2nd Division of the 2nd Fleet, formed from captured Russian ships. The division blockaded the port and bombarded German defenses during the Siege of Tsingtao in August–November 1914. In 1915 Iwami was a guardship at Kure, but she did participate in that year's naval maneuvers and subsequent fleet review.
  She was assigned to the 5th Division of the 3rd Fleet on 7 January 1918 as its flagship and landed a company of marines in Vladivostok five days later at the start of the Japanese intervention in Siberia during the Russian Civil War. Iwami returned to Kure on 9 September and was subsequently relieved from her assignment with the 3rd Fleet. The ship was assigned to defend Kamchatka from 24 September 1920 to 30 June 1921 and was based in Vladivostok and Petropavlovsk. She was reclassified as a first-class coast defense ship in September 1921 and was used as a training ship. In accordance with the terms of the Washington Naval Treaty, Japan agreed to scrap Iwami. She was disarmed in April 1922 and used as a depot ship until she was struck on 1 September. Iwami moored to the west of the island of Jōgashima near the mouth of Tokyo Bay and used as a target by aircraft of the Yokosuka Naval Air Group from 5–8 July, finally sinking on 10 July 1924.
caption: Iwami at anchor at Kure, 2 November 1907
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