Discover

The Japanese battleship ''Kashima''
Career	Japanese Navy Ensign
Built:	Armstrong Whitworth Naval Yards, Great Britain
Ordered:	1904 Fiscal Year
Laid down	February 29 1904
Launched:	March 22 1905
Completed:	May 23 1906
Fate:	Scrapped 1924
General Characteristics
Displacement:	16,400 tons (normal); 17,200 tons (max)
Length:	129.6 meters at waterline
Beam:	23.80 meters
Draught:	8.1 meters
Propulsion:	2-shaft VTE Reciprocating, 20 boilers; 15,800 HP
Speed:	18.5 knots
Fuel:	2007 tons coal; Range: 10,000 nm @ 10 knots
Complement:	864
Armament:	★ 4 × 305 mm guns ★ 4 × 250 mm guns ★ 12 x 150 mm guns ★ 16 x 80 mm guns ★ 5 x 450 mm torpedo tubes
Armor:	belt230 mm, fore belt 100mm, aft belt 60mm, upper belt 150mm;barbette 125-300mm, 25cm gun barbette 160mm, turret 230mm, 25cm gun turret 200mm, conning tower 230mm, deck 50mm

The 'IJN Kashima' (鹿島) was a pre-dreadnought class battleship of the Imperial Japanese Navy, designed and built by Armstrong Whitworth at the Elswick Yard, in the United Kingdom. The name ''Kashima'' comes from the famous Kashima Jingu Shinto shrine in Ibaraki prefecture, located to the northeast of Tokyo. Its sister ship is the battleship ''Katori''.
The ''Kashima'' and ''Katori'' were ordered in response to the loss of the ''Hatsuse'' and ''Yashima'' in Russo-Japanese War. Although the armored cruisers ''Nisshin'' and ''Kasuga'' successfully held their own in the line of battle during the crucial Battle of Tsushima, the armoured cruisers lacked the size and firepower to be as effective as battleships. As the Japanese Navy projected that a fleet of six battleships was the minimum necessary against potential threats from China, Russia or the United States, an order was placed to Great Britain. Although construction was rushed, and the design was based largely on the previous ''Mikasa'' with improvements as per the Royal Navy's latest King Edward VII class battleships, the ''Kashima'' was delivered after the end of the Russo-Japanese War.
The ''Kashima'' was the last Japanese battleship built by a foreign shipyard, and the last Japanese battleship built with a ram bow.
The ''Kashima'' participated WW-1, but without a notable battle record.
As a result of the Washington Naval Agreement, the ''Kashima'' was decommissioned on 20 September 1923, and was sent to the breakers in 1924. However, some of its larger gun were salvaged, and re-used in coastal artillery batteries around Tokyo Bay.
The battleship ''Kashima'' should not be confused with the light cruiser ''Kashima'' of the Pacific War era.