Tenryu light cruiser of the Imperial Japanese Navy
Tenryu light cruiser in Yokosuka nearby sea in 1925. Public domain.
Tenryu (天龍) was the first ship constructed for the Tenryu-class. This class was a light cruiser kind of vessels that was operated by the Imperial Japanese Navy. The name of Tenryu refers to the Tenryū River in Nagano and Shizuoka prefectures.
She was initially designed and planned to operate as flagships for destroyer flotillas. Her size and features represented an intermediate class between the light cruiser and the destroyer. This kind of hybrid design did not exist in other navies at that time, with the exception of the concept to the Royal Navy Arethusa class and C-class cruisers. Probably because the close relationship between the Royal Navy as mentor and advisor in ship construction of Japanese Navy influenced decisively the Tenryu design.
Here we show the most completed visual timeline of the light cruiser Tenryu.
