page_title: Asama-class cruiser
section_title: Armament
hierarchical_section_title: Asama-class cruiser / Description / Armament
caption_attribution_description: Right elevation diagram of 8 inch gun turret of Japanese Asama class cruiser. Training gear can be worked by electric, hydraulic or hand power. There is provision for storage of 30 projectiles in the gunhouse. Cordite is supplied through a central trunk, protected by an armoured barbette.
context_page_description: The Asama-class cruisers were a pair of armored cruisers built for the Imperial Japanese Navy in the late 1890s. As Japan lacked the industrial capacity to build such warships herself, the ships were built in Britain. They were part of the "Six-Six Fleet" expansion program that began after the defeat of China during the First Sino-Japanese War of 1894–95. Between them, the sister ships participated in all four main naval battles of the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–05—the Battle of Port Arthur, the Battle off Ulsan, the Battle of the Yellow Sea, and the Battle of Tsushima—but played a much more minor role in World War I. Asama ran aground while searching for German commerce raiders in early 1915 and was under repair for the next two years. Tokiwa participated in the Battle of Tsingtao and also searched for commerce raiders. Both ships made training cruises during the war and continued to do so after the war.
  Asama continued to make training cruises until she ran aground again in 1935, after which she became a stationary training ship for the rest of her career. Tokiwa was converted into a minelayer in 1922–24.
context_section_description: The main armament for all of the "Six-Six Fleet" armored cruisers was four Armstrong Whitworth-built 45-caliber eight-inch guns in twin-gun turrets fore and aft of the superstructure. The electrically operated turrets were capable of 130° rotation left and right, and the guns could be elevated to +30° and depressed to −5°. The turret accommodated 65 shells, but could only be reloaded through doors in the turret floor and the ship's deck that allowed the electric winch in the turret to hoist shells up from the shell room deep in the hull. A total of 120 shells were carried for each gun. The guns were manually loaded and had a rate of fire about 1.2 rounds per minute. The 203-millimeter gun fired 250-pound (113.5 kg) armor-piercing (AP) projectiles at a muzzle velocity of 2,500 feet per second (760 m/s) to a range of 13,200 yards (12,100 m).
  The secondary armament consisted of fourteen Elswick Ordnance Company "Pattern Z" quick-firing (QF), 40-caliber, six-inch (152 mm) guns. All but four of these guns were mounted in armored casemates on the main and upper decks, and their mounts on the upper deck were protected by gun shields. Their 100-pound (45.4 kg) AP shells were fired at a muzzle velocity of 2,300 feet per second (700 m/s). Each gun was provided with total of 150 shells per gun. The ships were also equipped with a dozen 40-caliber QF 12-pounder 12-cwt guns and eight QF 2.5-pounder Yamauchi guns as close-range defense against torpedo boats. The former gun fired three-inch (76 mm), 12.5-pound (5.7 kg) projectiles at a muzzle velocity of 2,359 feet per second (719 m/s).
  The Asama-class ships were equipped with five submerged 18-inch (457 mm) torpedo tubes, two on each broadside, and one above water in the bow. The Type 30 torpedo had a 100-kilogram (220 lb) warhead and three range/speed settings: 870 yards (800 m) at 27 knots (50 km/h; 31 mph), 1,100 yards (1,000 m) at 23.6 knots (43.7 km/h; 27.2 mph) or 3,300 yards (3,000 m) at 14.2 knots (26.3 km/h; 16.3 mph).
caption: Cross-section of the eight-inch gun turret used by all the "Six-Six Fleet" armored cruisers
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