Miyako Bay's failed boarding raid on Kotetsu

The Ezo squadron hoped to capture or disable Kotetsu before the imperial fleet could use her against Hokkaido. Bad weather and engine trouble reduced the attacking formation, while the surviving flagship Kaiten approached under an American flag and raised its true colors only at the last moment. Kaiten rammed alongside, but her deck stood more than three meters above Kotetsu's and forced boarders into a narrow stream. Kotetsu's defenders used a Gatling gun to hold that confined approach, killing boarding commander Koga Gengo and driving the attackers off. Ezo navy minister Arai Ikunosuke took over the boarding party after Koga fell, and he later led Japan's meteorological service. A broadside approach might have spread the boarders along the ironclad's length and made explosives more effective. The action was an unusually early attempt to board a steam ironclad, and success might have revived boarding doctrine and enlarged the role of marines in armoured warfare.