Shikishima - class battleship The was a two - ship class of pre - dreadnought battleship s built for the Imperial Japanese Navy in the late 1890s . As Japan lacked the industrial capacity to build such warships herself , they were designed and built in the UK . The ships participated in the Russo - Japanese War of 1904 – 1905 , including the Battle of Port Arthur on the second day of the war . " Hatsuse " sank after striking two mines off Port Arthur in May 1904 . " Shikishima " fought in the Battles of the Yellow Sea and Tsushima and was lightly damaged in the latter action , although shells prematurely exploded in her main armament in each battle . The ship was reclassified as a coastal defence ship in 1921 and served as a training ship for the rest of her career . She was disarmed and hulked in 1923 and finally broken up for scrap in 1948 . Design and description . Combat experience in the First Sino - Japanese War convinced the Imperial Japanese Navy of weaknesses in the Jeune Ecole naval philosophy , and Japan embarked on a program to modernize and expand its fleet . As with the earlier " Fuji " - class battleship s , Japan lacked the technology and capability to construct its own battleships , and turned again to the United Kingdom . They were ordered as part of the Ten Year Naval Expansion Programme and paid for from the £30 , 000 , 000 indemnity paid by China after losing the Sino - Japanese War of 1894 – 1895 . The design of the " Shikishima " class was a modified and improved version of the s of the Royal Navy . They had the same armament and similar machinery as the " Fuji " class which was intended to allow them to work together as a homogenous group . The " Shikishima " - class ships had an overall length of , a beam of , and a normal draught of . They displaced at normal load . The hull had a double bottom and was subdivided into 261 watertight compartments . The crew numbered about 741 officers and enlisted men , although this increased to 849 when serving as a flagship . Propulsion . The ships were powered by two Humphrys Tennant vertical triple - expansion steam engines , each driving one propeller , using steam generated by 25 Belleville boiler s . The engines were rated at , using forced draught , and designed to reach a top speed of although they proved to be faster during their sea trials . " Shikishima " reached a top speed of using . The ships carried a maximum of of coal which allowed them to steam for at a speed of . Armament . The main battery of the " Shikishima " class consisted of the same four Elswick Ordnance Company 40 - calibre twelve - inch guns as used in the " Fuji " class . They were mounted in twin - gun barbette s fore and aft of the superstructure that had armoured hoods to protect the guns and were usually called gun turrets . The hydraulically powered mountings could be loaded at all angles of traverse while the guns were loaded at a fixed angle of + 13 . 5° . They fired projectiles at a muzzle velocity of . Secondary armament of the " Shikishima " class consisted of fourteen 40 - calibre Type 41 six - inch quick - firing guns mounted in casemate s . Eight of these guns were positioned on the main deck on the side of the ship ' s hull and the other six guns were placed in the superstructure . They fired shells at a muzzle velocity of . Protection against torpedo boat attacks was provided by twenty QF 12 - pounder 12 cwt guns and four 2 . 5 - pounder Hotchkiss gun s . The 12 - pounders fired , projectiles at a muzzle velocity of . The ships were also equipped with four submerged 18 - inch torpedo tube s , two on each broadside . Armour . The waterline main belt of the " Shikishima " - class vessels consisted of Harvey armour high , of which was above the waterline at normal load , and had a maximum thickness of for the middle of the ship . It was only inches thick at the ends of the ship and was surmounted by a six - inch strake of armor that ran between the barbettes for 220 feet . The barbettes were thick , but reduced to at the level of the lower deck . The armour of the barbette hoods had a maximum thickness of while their roofs were three inches thick . Diagonal bulkheads thick connected the barbettes to the side armor , but the bulkheads were only six inches thick at the lower deck level . The casemates protecting the secondary armament were also six inches thick . The flat portion of the deck armour was thick and four inches thick where it sloped down to the bottom of the armour belt . This significantly improved the ships ' protection as any shell that penetrated their vertical armour also had to penetrate the sloping deck before it could reach the machinery compartments or magazine s . Outside the central armoured citadel , the sloped deck had a thickness of . The forward conning tower was protected by 14 inches of armour , but the aft conning tower only had three inches of armour . Ships . At the start of the Russo - Japanese War , " Hatsuse " and " Shikishima " were assigned to the 1st Division of the 1st Fleet . They participated in the Battle of Port Arthur on 9 February 1904 when Admiral Tōgō Heihachirō led the 1st Fleet in an attack on the Russian ships of the Pacific Squadron anchored just outside of Port Arthur . Tōgō chose to attack the Russian coastal defences with his main armament and engage the Russian ships with his secondary guns . Splitting his fire proved to be a bad idea as the Japanese and six - inch guns inflicted very little damage on the Russian ships who concentrated all their fire on the Japanese ships with some effect . " Hatsuse " was hit twice during the battle , 10 men being killed and 17 wounded , but " Shikishima " was only hit once with 17 men wounded . Both ships participated in the action of 13 April when Tōgō successfully lured out two battleships of the Pacific Squadron . When the Russians spotted the five battleships of the 1st Division , they turned back for Port Arthur and the battleship struck a minefield laid by the Japanese the previous night . It sank in less than two minutes after one of her magazines exploded . Emboldened by his success , Tōgō resumed long - range bombardment missions , which prompted the Russians to lay more minefields . On 14 May 1904 , " Hatsuse " , " Shikishima " , and the battleship , the protected cruiser " Kasagi " , and the dispatch boat put to sea to relieve the Japanese blockading force off Port Arthur . On the following morning , the squadron encountered a newly laid Russian minefield . " Hatsuse " struck one mine that disabled her steering and " Yashima " struck another when moving to assist " Hatsuse " . " Hatsuse " struck another mine while drifting about a half hour later that detonated one of her magazines and the ship sank in a little over a minute . The catastrophe claimed 496 crewmen although the escorting ships were able to rescue 336 men . " Shikishima " was not hit during the Battle of the Yellow Sea in August 1904 , although a shell exploded prematurely in one of her 12 - inch guns , disabling it . During the Battle of Tsushima in May 1905 , she was hit nine times ; the most serious of which penetrated beneath a six - inch gun , killing or wounding the entire gun crew . Again the ship had another 12 - inch shell prematurely detonate in one of the forward guns , wrecking it completely . " Shikishima " was reclassified as a first - class coast defence ship in September 1921 , and was used for training duties in various capacities until disarmed and reclassified as a transport in 1923 . Her hulk continued to be used as a training ship until she was scrapped in 1948 .