Save for a few torpedo boats lost, the war left the Japanese fleet
unimpaired; the ships damaged at Yalu were in trim again when peace was
declared. On the other hand, beyond the Chin Yen, Japan gained little
in the ships she took. The Tche Yuen is of very small fighting value,
the Ping Yuen of none, and none of the gunboats are of any utility. Of
the captured torpedo boats, one was superior to any Japanese boat; the
rest, from long neglect, were in a bad way.
Towards the end of the war the Esmeralda (now Idzumi), already
described, passed from the Chilian to the Japanese Navy, and at its
close the Tatsuta, detained _en route_, proceeded on her way.
Just before war broke out—in May, 1894—the Akaski, a sister to the
Suma, had been laid down at Yokosuka; the two battleships Fuji and
Yashima, of an improved Royal Sovereign type, were progressing in
England, the former at the Thames Ironworks, the latter at Elswick.
[Illustration: SUMA.]
The Suma was launched at Yokosuka on March 9, 1895. Unlike the
Akitsushima and other ships which had preceded her, she is of entirely
Japanese design and workmanship, and nothing more Western than an odd
“stand-by man” or two assisted in her construction. Practically, she is
the first Japanese-built ship. Particulars of her are:—
Displacement 2700 tons.
Material of hull Steel.
Length 305 ft.
Beam 41 ft.
Draught 16⅓ ft.
Armament Two 6-in. Q.F. 45 cals.
Six 4.7-in. Q.F. 45 cals.
Twelve 3-pdr. Q.F.
Four Nordenfelts.
Two torpedo tubes.
Horse-power (forced) 8500.
Boilers Cylindrical.
Number of boilers Eight.
Screws Two.
Type of engines Vertical triple expansion.
Where made Yokosuka.
Trial speed (forced draught) 20 knots.
Coal (normal) 200 tons.
” (maximum capacity) 600 tons.
Nominal radius at that 11,000 miles.
Protection is afforded by a steel deck 2 ins. on the slopes and 1 in.
on the flat.
The Akashi, launched two years later, is a sister, without
fighting-tops and more built-up amidships.
The Yashima was launched at Elswick on February 28, 1896; the Fuji at
the Thames Ironworks on March 31st in the same year. Mr. G. C. Mackrow,
of the Thames Ironworks, was the designer.