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Japanese Battleship ''Yashima'' in 1897
Career	Japanese Navy Ensign
Ordered:	FY 1896 to Armstrong Whitworth, Great Britain
Laid down:	December 28, 1894
Launched:	February 28, 1896
Commissioned:	September 9, 1897
Fate:	Struck Mine off Port Arthur, May 15, 1904
Struck:	June 15, 1905
General Characteristics
Displacement:	12,320 tons
Length:	412 feet (126 m)
Beam:	73.3 feet (22.3 m)
Draught:	26.6 feet (8.1 m)
Propulsion:	Two Shaft Reciprocating Vertical Triple Expansion (VTE) Engines; 2 shafts, 13,500 shp
Fuel:	Coal, 1200 tons
Speed:	18.5 knots (34 km/h)
Complement:	741
Armament:	4 × 12 inch guns (2×2), 10 × 6 inch guns (1×14), 16 × 12 pdr guns,   4 × 2.5 pdr guns(1×4),   5 × torpedo tubes
Armor:	belt 18 inch (46 cm), deck 2.5 inch (6 cm), barbette 14 inch (36 cm), casement 6 inch (15 cm), conning tower 14 inch (36 cm)

'IJN ''Yashima''' (八島) was the second ship of the ''Fuji''-class of early pre-dreadnought battleships of the Imperial Japanese Navy, and one of the six battleships (''Shikishima'', ''Fuji'', ''Hatsuse'', ''Yashima'', ''Asahi'', and ''Mikasa'') that formed the main Japanese battle line in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905. The ''Yashima'' had a very brief career.

Contents

History

References

History

''Yashima'' and her sister-ship ''Fuji'' were the first two battleships built for Japan. As the Japanese were still incapable of building modern steel warships themselves, the ''Fuji'' was ordered from Armstrong Whitworth, at the Elswick Yard, Great Britain in 1894.
To help sell their products before the days of computer graphics, manufacturers would commission highly detailed scale models of the proposed ship. The model of ''Yashima'' still survives and is currently on display at the RHS (Royal Hospital School) Holbrook in Suffolk, England. The plaque reads 'Japanese Armourclad ''"Yashima"'' 19 3/4 knots speed, built by Sir W.G. Armstrong Whitworth & Co Ld. Elswick Shipyard 1897 Newcastle on Tyne. Designed by Sir Philip Watts, KCB, FRS etc.
The ''Yashima'' was delivered in 1897, and was assigned to the 1st Squadron, 1st Division, under Rear Admiral Nashiba Tokioki after the start of the Russo-Japanese War. On May 14 1904 Admiral Nashiba put to sea with the battleships ''Hatsuse'' (flag), ''Shikishima'', and ''Yashima'', the cruiser ''Kasagi'', and the dispatch-vessel ''Tatsuta'' to relieve the Japanese blockading force off Port Arthur. On the morning of May 15 1904, the squadron reached Encounter Rock and continued north west till about 15 miles off Port Arthur. Here Nashiba proceeded to patrol to the E. by N. across the mouth of the port. This course brought him into a minefield previously laid by the Russian minelayer ''Amur''. Both the ''Hatsuse'' and the ''Yashima'' struck mines and were lost in one of the greatest Japanese naval disasters during the Russo-Japanese War.

References

★ Gibbons, Tony: ''The Complete Encyclopedia of Battleships and Battlecruisers''

★ Burt, R.A.: ''Japanese Battleships, 1897–1945''