Awajishima-class cruiser

## 淡路島-class cruiser

### Propulsion

3 shaft AG Germania direct-drive vertical triple expansion engines16 Dürr cylindrical coal boilers

18,634 ihp (13,901 kW)

### Range

5,000 nautical miles (9,260 km) at 10 knots (19 km/h)

### Armament

4 x 24 cm/40 Krupp SK L/40 guns8 x 21 cm/40 Krupp SK C/97 guns

10 x 15 cm/40 Krupp SK L/40 guns

12 x 8.8 cm/30 Krupp SK L/30 QF guns

3 x 45 cm torpedo tubes

### Armour

Waterline belt: 200–100 mm (8–4 in)Deck: 120–50 mm (5–2 in)

Barbettes: 200 mm (8 in)

Turrets: 250–100 mm (10–4 in)

Conning tower: 250 mm (10 in)

The ***Awajishima*-class cruisers** (Japanese: *淡路島型装甲巡洋艦*, *Awajishima-gata sōkō jun'yōkan*) were a single-ship class, a transitional design with some characteristics of both an armored cruiser and a battleship. The manufacturer's designation was 'armored belt cruiser' (German: *gurtelpanzer-kreuzer*); the Naval Technical Department (Japanese: *艦政本部*, *Kansei Hombu*) eventually assigned the classification armored cruiser (Japanese: *装甲巡洋艦*, *sōkō jun'yōkan*; German*: großer kreuzer*). The Kaiserliche Werft Kiel shipyard proposed construction of eight gurtelpanzer-kreuzer type ships to complete the 1896 "6-6" Naval Expansion Plan - two battleships and two armored cruisers had already been ordered from England - but the unusual design was passed over in favor of more conventional alternatives offered by firms in France and Great Britain. In late 1897, the Imperial Diet (Japanese: *国会*, *Kokkai*) authorized separate funding for purchase of a single ship, *Awajishima* (*淡路島*), which would be integrated into the fleet on an experimental basis.

## Background

Following the humiliating "Triple Intervention" (Japanese: *三国干渉*, *Sangoku Kanshō*) by Russia, France and Germany that concluded the 1895 Sino-Japanese War, Japan launched an ambitious ten-year naval construction program intended to make their fleet the equal of any Western power in the region. Under the slogan *Gashin Shōtan* (Japanese: *臥薪嘗胆*), figuratively translated as "Persevering through Hardship (for the sake of revenge)", the Imperial government dedicated all available funds to improving Japan's industry and military forces, including an unprecedented ¥215 million (approximately £27 million) appropriation by the Imperial Diet to purchase 100 new warships of various types from overseas shipbuilders.

The centerpiece of this planned navy was to be twelve modern capital ships - six armored cruisers and six battleships - and was referred to informally as the "6-6 Fleet". By 1896, the first four ships had been ordered, all designed by Armstrong Whitworth & Co. in the United Kingdom: the battleships *Fuji* (*富士*) and *Yashima* (*八島*), and the armored cruisers *Asama* (*浅間*) and *Tokiwa* (*常盤*). Additional armored cruiser and battleship purchases to complete the Naval Expansion Plan were expected to take place in 1897 and 1898, and design proposals were sought from various foreign shipwrights for both types.

## Design

In 1892, the German Imperial Admiralty (German: *Kaiserliche Admiralität*) commissioned a series of design studies for a new cruiser class that would replace the fleet's increasingly obsolete ironclad corvettes, particularly in the German East Asia Squadron where many of the oldest ships had been concentrated. By 1893, two distinct alternatives had been developed: the großer kreuzer, an enlarged version of the new protected cruiser (German: *geschützte kreuzer*) SMS *Kaiserin Augusta*, which would be broadly similar in characteristics to foreign armored cruisers; and the gurtelpanzer-kreuzer, a modified version of the battleship (German: *linienschiff*) SMS *Brandenburg* that extended the hull, and removed the third centerline turret to make space for additional boilers and more powerful engines. Dozens of detailed plans were drawn up for cruisers of both types in a variety of configurations. By early 1896, the großer kreuzer had been selected for production, and the first was ordered later that year as Ersatz *Leipzig* (commissioned in 1900 as SMS *Fürst Bismarck*).

Naval architects at the Kaiserliche Werft Kiel shipyard remained enthusiastic about the gurtelpanzer-kreuzer concept, however. When domestic orders failed to materialize, they sought foreign buyers for ships of the type, including Russia, Japan and Chile. The Imperial Japanese Navy General Staff (Japanese: *軍令部*, *Gunreibu*) expressed cautious interest in the German proposals; as a result a revised gurtelpanzer-kreuzer design series was started in April 1896 under the provisional project name **Neubau Japanisch***.*