Japanese ironclad Hiei

Japanese armored corvette Hiei in 1877
History
Empire of Japan
Name	Hiei
Namesake	Mount Hiei
Ordered	24 September 1875
Builder	Milford Haven Shipbuilding & Engineering Co., Pembroke Dock, Wales
Laid down	24 September 1875?
Launched	11 June 1877
Completed	February 1878
Reclassified	1887 as training ship 21 March 1898 as 3rd-class coast defense ship 1906 as survey ship
Stricken	1 April 1911
Fate	Sold for scrap, before 25 March 1912
General characteristics
Class and type	Kongō-class ironclad corvette
Displacement	2,248 long tons (2,284 t)
Length	220 ft (67.1 m)
Beam	41 ft (12.5 m)
Draft	19 ft (5.8 m)
Installed power	2,450 ihp (1,830 kW) 6 cylindrical boilers
Propulsion	1 shaft, 1 Horizontal-return connecting-rod steam engine
Sail plan	Barque rigged
Speed	13 knots (24 km/h; 15 mph)
Range	3,100 nmi (5,700 km; 3,600 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph)
Complement	234
Armament	3 × 170 mm (6.7 in) Krupp guns 6 × 150 mm (5.9 in) Krupp guns 2 × short 75 mm (3.0 in) guns
Armor	Belt: 3–4.5 in (76–114 mm)

Hiei (比叡, Hiei) was the second and last vessel of the Kongō-class ironclad corvettes built for the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) in the 1870s. They were built in the United Kingdom because the Japanese were unable to build ironclad warships in Japan. She became a training ship in 1887 and made training cruises to the Mediterranean and to countries on the edge of the Pacific Ocean. The ship returned to active duty during the First Sino-Japanese War of 1894–1895 where she was damaged during the Battle of the Yalu River. Hiei also participated in the Battle of Weihaiwei and the invasion of Formosa in 1895. The ship resumed her training duties after the war, although she played a minor role in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905. She was reclassified as a survey ship in 1906 and was sold for scrap in 1912.