page_title: Satsuma-class battleship
section_title: Background
hierarchical_section_title: Satsuma-class battleship / Background
caption_attribution_description: English: Line drawing of the battleship Satsuma from Brassey's Naval Annual 1912
context_page_description: The Satsuma class was a pair of semi-dreadnought battleships built for the Imperial Japanese Navy in the first decade of the 20th century. They were the first battleships to be built in Japan and marked a transitional stage between the pre-dreadnought and true dreadnought designs. They saw no combat during World War I, although Satsuma led a squadron that occupied several German colonies in the Pacific Ocean in 1914. Both ships were disarmed and expended as targets in 1922–1924 in accordance with the terms of the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922.
context_section_description: The Satsuma class was ordered in late 1904 under the 1904 War Naval Supplementary Program during the Russo-Japanese War. Unlike the previous Katori-class pre-dreadnought battleships, they were the first battleships ordered from Japanese shipyards, although the first ship in the class, Satsuma, used many imported components.
  They were originally intended to mount a dozen 12-inch (305 mm) gun in four twin and four single-gun turrets, but the combination of a shortage of Japanese-built 12-inch guns and their additional expense caused the ships to be redesigned to carry four 12-inch and twelve 10-inch (254 mm) guns, all in twin-gun turrets. The intended armament of these ships, laid down before HMS Dreadnought, would have made them the first "all big-gun" battleships in the world had they been completed to their original design.
  Probably reflecting extensive British technical assistance, the Satsuma-class ships greatly resembled an enlarged version of the British Lord Nelson class with the single-gun amidships intermediate turrets replaced by twin-gun turrets. With their heavy intermediate armament, the ships were considered to be semi-dreadnoughts, a transitional stage between pre-dreadnoughts with their light intermediate armament and dreadnoughts solely equipped with large guns.
caption: Line drawing of the battleship Satsuma from Brassey's Naval Annual 1912. Aki similar, but three funnels.
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