Shikishima-class battleship

Shikishima in 1905
Class overview
Builders	Armstrong Whitworth Thames Ironworks
Operators	Imperial Japanese Navy
Preceded by	Fuji class
Succeeded by	Asahi
Built	1898–1901
In commission	1900–1922
Completed	2
Lost	1
Scrapped	1
General characteristics
Type	Pre-dreadnought battleship
Displacement	14,850–15,000 long tons (15,088–15,241 t) (normal)
Length	438 ft (133.5 m)
Beam	75.5–76.75 ft (23.0–23.4 m)
Draught	27–27.25 ft (8.2–8.3 m)
Installed power	25 Belleville boilers 14,500 ihp (10,800 kW)
Propulsion	2 shafts, 2 triple-expansion steam engines
Speed	18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph)
Range	5,000 nmi (9,300 km; 5,800 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph)
Complement	741 849 as flagship
Armament	2 × twin 12 in (305 mm) guns 14 × single 6 in (152 mm) guns 20 × single 12-pdr (3 in (76 mm))guns 8 × single 3-pdr (1.9 in (47 mm)) guns 4 × single 2.5-pdr (1.9 in (47 mm)) Hotchkiss guns 4 × 18 in (450 mm) torpedo tubes
Armour	Harvey armour Belt: 4–9 in (102–229 mm) Deck: 2.5–4 in (64–102 mm) Gun turrets: 10 in (254 mm) Conning tower: 3–14 in (76–356 mm) Bulkheads: 6–14 in (152–356 mm)

The Shikishima class (敷島型戦艦, Shikishima-gata senkan) was a two-ship class of pre-dreadnought battleships built for the Imperial Japanese Navy in the late 1890s. As Japan lacked the industrial capacity to build such warships itself, they were designed and built in the UK. The ships participated in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905, including the Battle of Port Arthur on the second day of the war. Hatsuse sank after striking two mines off Port Arthur in May 1904. Shikishima fought in the Battles of the Yellow Sea and Tsushima and was lightly damaged in the latter action, although shells prematurely exploded in the barrels of her main guns in each battle. The ship was reclassified as a coast defence ship in 1921 and served as a training ship for the rest of her career. She was disarmed and hulked in 1923 and finally broken up for scrap in 1948.