 In March 1908, the Royal Navy launched HMS Invincible at Newcastle upon Tyne. Armed with eight 12-inch (30 cm) main guns, Invincible rendered all current — and designed — Japanese capital ships obsolete by comparison. In 1911, the Japanese Diet passed the Emergency Naval Expansion Bill, authorizing the construction of one battleship (Fusō) and four armoured cruisers, to be designed by British naval architect George Thurston. In his design of the class, Thurston relied on many techniques that would eventually be used by the British on the Tiger class.
