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, later renamed was the first ironclad warship of the Imperial Japanese Navy. Built in France in 1864 for the Confederate States Navy as CSS ''Stonewall'', and acquired from the United States in February 1869, she was an ironclad ram warship. She had a decisive role in the Naval Battle of Hakodate Bay in May 1869, which marked the end of the Boshin War, and the complete establishment of the Meiji Restoration. Her sister ship ''Cheops'' was sold to the Prussian Navy, becoming the ''Prinz Adalbert''. ==Origins== ''Kōtetsu'' was built by shipbuilder Lucien Arman in Bordeaux, France. Originally named ''Sphynx'',〔Schafer, p. 805.〕〔''Register of ships of the U.S. Navy, 1775–1990: major combatants'' Karl Jack Bauer, Stephen S. Roberts p.47 ()〕 this ship was initially built for the Confederate Navy during the American Civil War. In June 1863 John Slidell, the Confederate commissioner to France, asked Emperor Napoleon III in a private audience if it would be possible for the Confederate government to build ironclad warships in France. Arming ships of war for a recognized belligerent like the Confederate States would have been illegal under French law, but Slidell and Confederate agent James D. Bulloch were confident that the French emperor would be able to circumvent his own laws more easily than could the British government. Napoleon III agreed to the building of ironclads in France on the condition that their destination remain a secret.〔Case and Spencer, pp. 429–33.〕 The following month Bulloch entered a contract with Lucien Arman, an important French shipbuilder and a personal confidant of Napoleon III, to build a pair of ironclad rams capable of breaking the Union blockade. To avoid suspicion, the ships' guns were manufactured separately in England and they were named ''Cheops'' and ''Sphynx'' to encourage rumors that they were intended for the Egyptian navy.〔Case and Spencer, pp. 435–9.〕 Prior to delivery, however, a shipyard clerk walked into the U.S. Minister's office in Paris and produced documents which revealed that L'Arman had fraudulently obtained authorization to arm the ships and was in contact with Confederate agents.〔Case and Spencer, pp. 437–9.〕 The French government blocked the sale under pressure from the United States, but L'Arman was able to sell the ships illegally to Denmark and Prussia, which were then fighting on opposite sides of the Second Schleswig War. ''Cheops'' was sold to Prussia as ''Prinz Adalbert'', while ''Sphynx'' was sold to Denmark under the name ''Stærkodder.'' Manned by a Danish crew, the ship left Bordeaux for its shakedown cruise on June 21, 1864. The crew tested the vessel while final negotiations were being conducted between the Danish Naval Ministry and L'Arman. Intense haggling over the final price and a disagreement over compensation from L'Arman for late delivery led to his calling off the deal on October 30. The Danish government refused to relinquish the vessel, claiming confusion in regards to the negotiations.〔Both the ''Stærkodder'' and ''Stonewall'' commissionings can be considered valid through international maritime law as illustrated by Captain Thomas J. Page; "customarily, a ship is held to be commissioned when a commissioned officer appointed to her has gone on board of her and hoisted the colors appropriated to the military marines." Page, Thomas J. "The Career of the Confederate Cruiser ''Stonewall''". ''Southern Historical Society Papers'', Volume VII, Number 6. Richmond, Virginia: 1879. Pages 263–280.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Japanese ironclad Kōtetsu」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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