The horse-power was 975 nominal, the speed 9 knots. She was
single-screwed, and carried 350 tons of coal. Like all the early
sea-going ironclads, she had a 4½-in. iron armour belt, and 4 inches
over the amidship battery. The heaviest gun was carried in the bow on
a pivot. The ship still exists as a hulk. She did not reach Japan till
the Civil War was over.
The he-sho, launched in England in 1867, is also retained as a gunnery
tender at the present day. She is a small gunboat of 320 tons, carrying
one 7-in. Armstrong M.L. and one 5½-in. Krupp B.L.
Some other early Japanese ships may now be referred to.
The Nisshin was built at Amsterdam, and ordered, probably, previously
to the Civil War.
Tonnage 1470.
Material of hull Wood.
Armament One 7-in. M.L.
Six smaller M.L.
Speed on trial 11 knots.
Single screw, swan-bow, barque-rigged corvette.
The Amagi of the same period was built in Japan. Particulars of her
are:—
Tonnage 526.
Material of hull Wood.
Armament One 6-in. 2½-ton Krupp.
Four 4¾-in. Krupp.
Horse-power (nominal) 720.
Speed 11 knots.
Screws One.
In appearance she more or less resembles the foregoing.
She was followed by the Seiki, also built in Japan, and famous in
her way, because she was the first Japanese ship to make a voyage to
England. Particulars:—
Tonnage 857.
Material of hull Wood.
Length 200 ft.
Beam 30 ft.
Draught 13 ft.
Armament One 6-in. 2½-ton Krupp.
Four 4¾-in. Krupp.
Horse-power 1270.
Speed 11 knots.
Save that her stern was sharper, she was, to look at, much like the
Amagi. She is now removed from the Japanese Navy list.
A sailing training brig of 153 tons, the Ishikawa, and a larger brig,
the Tateyama, of 543 tons, were built or acquired prior to 1877.
The Banjo was built by the Japanese on the same model as the Amagi.
Particulars are:—
Displacement 667 tons.
Material of hull Wood.
Length 154 ft.
Beam 25 ft.
Draught (mean) 12 ft.
Armament One 6-in. 2½-ton Krupp.
Two 4¾-in. Krupp.
I.H.P. 590.
Speed 10.5 knots.
Screws One.
Coal supply 107 tons.
She is swan-bow, barque-rigged, and has one funnel.
This ended this particular period of Japanese shipbuilding.
[Illustration:[_By a Japanese artist._ THE SEIKI.
(_The first Japanese warship to visit England._)]
In the year 1875, or thereabouts, the Japanese finally decided to
embark upon a war navy, and laid the foundations of that fleet which
some twenty years later was to vindicate its existence at Yalu and
Wei-hei-wei. In that year a then modern ironclad, up-to-date ironclad,
and two armoured cruisers, on what was then the best accepted model,
were ordered.
Of these the Fu-So,[6] designed by Sir E. J. Reed, and launched
at Samuda’s Yard, Poplar, England, in 1877, was then a powerful
second-class battleship. In design she resembles the French Rédoutable,
though of only half her size. Particulars are:—
Material of hull Iron.
Displacement 3718.
Length 220 ft.
Beam 48 ft.
Draught 18⅓ ft.
Original armament Four 9.4-in. Krupps in the main deck,
central-armoured battery.
Two 6.6-in. Krupps in unarmoured
barbettes above the armoured battery.
Horse-power 3500.
Nominal speed 13 knots.
Screws Two.
Coal 360 tons.
Nominal radius 3500 miles at 10 knots.
[6] Pronounced Fōō-Só.
The armour is distributed in a complete belt of iron from 9 to 4 ins.
in thickness. The battery armour is 8 ins., with 7-in. bulkheads
forming a redoubt. The engines, by Penn, are horizontal compound
trunk. She was then barque-rigged, with a single funnel. She carried
no torpedo tubes, but these were added later. Just previous to the
war with China the Japanese reconstructed and re-armed her, removing
the mainmast, and fitting military tops to the fore and mizzen; 6-in.
Q.F. were mounted in the barbettes in place of the old 6.6-in. Either
immediately before or directly after the war, two additional 6-in. Q.F.
(as shown in the photograph of her at sea) were mounted, one on the
forecastle and one on the poop behind shields; and subsequently four
further 6-in. Q.F. replaced the old guns in the battery, these having
been found well-nigh useless for modern warfare. This by no means
exhausts the history of the Fu-So, but her subsequent adventures will
be found on a later page.[7]
[7] See Chino-Japanese War.
[Illustration: Chin Yen. Chiyoda. [_Official photograph._