Combat· American Civil War
Straits of Shimonoseki
A sharp Marine action in Japanese waters, the first American naval combat against a Japanese domain since Perry.
In the summer of 1863 the lord of Choshu, defying both the shogun and the foreign powers, fired on Western shipping passing through the Straits of Shimonoseki. On 16 July the American sloop USS Wyoming, under Captain David McDougal, steamed in to answer the insult, running the gantlet of the shore batteries and the Choshu warships, with her Marine detachment serving the guns and sweeping the enemy decks with musketry. In a fierce close-range action the Wyoming sank two of the Choshu vessels and battered the batteries before withdrawing. No Marine casualties are recorded among the references for the engagement. The fight was the first American armed clash with a Japanese domain since Perry's expedition and a forerunner of the multinational bombardment that would force the straits open the following year.
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Record no. 455