Fuji-class battleship

Fuji and Yashima were the first battleships built for the Imperial Japanese Navy in the mid-1890s. They were built in the UK as Japan lacked the industrial facilities needed to build them. The ships participated in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905. Fuji fought in the Battles of the Yellow Sea and Tsushima and was lightly damaged in the latter action. She was reclassified as a coast defence ship in 1910 and served as a training ship for the rest of her active career. The ship was hulked in 1922 and converted into a barracks ship fitted with classrooms.

About Fuji-class battleship in brief

Fuji and Yashima were the first battleships built for the Imperial Japanese Navy in the mid-1890s. They were built in the UK as Japan lacked the industrial facilities needed to build them. The ships participated in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905. Fuji fought in the Battles of the Yellow Sea and Tsushima and was lightly damaged in the latter action. She was reclassified as a coast defence ship in 1910 and served as a training ship for the rest of her active career. The ship was hulked in 1922 and converted into a barracks ship fitted with classrooms. Fuji was finally broken up for scrap in 1948. The design of the Fuji class was derived from that of the British Royal Sovereign-class battleships, albeit about 2,000 long tons smaller. The Fuji-class ships improved on the Royal Sovereigns in several ways; they were about 1 knot faster, they incorporated superior Harvey armour, and their guns, although smaller and lighter, were the same as those of the later Majestic-class and were protected by armoured hoods. The two ships of the class were almost identical even though they were designed by two different naval architects, Yashimo by Philip Watts and Fuji by George C.

Mackrow. They had double bottided normal load at 25–26 feet long, and were subdivided into a total of 181 watertight compartments. The crew numbered about 650 officers and enlisted men and enlisted an admiral and his staff. The engines were rated at 13,500 horsepower, using ten cylindrical boilers with a working pressure of 10cm2. The ships were designed to reach a top speed of 18 knots, although the top speed proved to be just over 25 knots. The first battleship of the IJN, Fuji, was built in 1894. The second, Yashima, was completed in 1899, but the start of the First Sino-Japanese war shortly before they were laid down in 18 94 caused the government to accelerate the schedule by two years. The Japanese government ordered the two ships from the United Kingdom as it lacked the technology and capability to construct its own battleships. The Fuji-class was fitted as a flagship with accommodation for an admirals and staff, and was fitted with a commander and a captain’s cabin for the admiral and his staff and cabinet on board the flagship. The battleship was later reclassified as a coast defence ship and was hulked in 1922.

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