These ships belong to the well-known Garibaldi class. The belt is 6-in.
Terni armour reduced to 4½ ins. at the ends, and reinforced by a deck
1½ in. on the slopes.
Above the main belt is a 6-in. redoubt, with 4¾ in. ends, above again a
6-in. battery containing ten 6-in. guns.
The primary guns are protected by 5½-in. armour.
The remaining 6-in. guns are carried without protection on the upper
deck. Six 12-pounders are carried between them, the remainder under the
poop and forecastle.
The torpedo tubes are in special casements.
The ships originally had a single military mast, but just before
completion the fighting-tops were removed.
They are the heaviest-armed armoured cruisers of their size in the
world. Compared to the Russian Bayan, of about the same displacement,
this superiority is manifest.
NISSHIN. KASUGA. BAYAN.
Four 8-in. One 10-in. Two 8-in.
Fourteen 6-in. Two 8-in. Eight 6-in.
Ten 12-pdrs. Fourteen 6-in. Twenty 12-pdrs.
Ten 12-pdrs.
[Illustration: NISSHIN AND KASUGA.
(_Nisshin has two 8-in. in forward turret where Kasuga has a single
10-in. The fighting-tops were removed on completion._)]
[Illustration: [_Photo by favour of C. de Grave Sells, Esq._