Japanese cruiser Akashi
Akashi in 1894
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| History | |
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 Empire of Japan
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| Name: | Akashi |
| Ordered: | 1893 Fiscal Year |
| Builder: | Yokosuka Naval Arsenal, Japan |
| Laid down: | 6 August 1894 |
| Launched: | 18 December 1897 |
| Completed: | 30 March 1899 |
| Struck: | 1 April 1928 |
| Fate: | Expended as target, 3 August 1930 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Suma-class cruiser |
| Displacement: | 2,657 long tons (2,700 t) |
| Length: | 93.5 m (306 ft 9 in) |
| Beam: | 12.3 m (40 ft 4 in) |
| Draught: | 4.6 m (15 ft 1 in) |
| Propulsion: | 2-shaft VTE reciprocating engines; 9 boilers; 7,890 hp (5,880 kW) |
| Speed: | 19.5 knots (22.4 mph; 36.1 km/h) |
| Range: | 11,000 nmi (20,000 km) at 10 kn (19 km/h) |
| Complement: | 256 |
| Armament: |
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| Armour: |
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Akashi (明石?) was a Suma-class cruiser protected cruiser of the Imperial Japanese Navy. She was a sister ship to Suma. The name Akashi comes from an ancient name for a portion of the coastline near the modern city of Kobe in Hyōgo Prefecture.
Akashi was designed and built at Yokosuka Naval Arsenal, as part of an Imperial Japanese Navy program to end its dependence on foreign powers for modern warships, using an all-Japanese design and all-Japanese materials. Construction took four years, from 1892–1896. She was laid down on 6 August 1894, launched on 18 December 1897 and completed on 30 March 1899. While more lightly armed and armored than many of the cruiser's contemporaries, her small size and relatively simple design facilitated the vessel's construction and the ship's relatively high speed made her useful for many military operations. However, as with most Japanese designs of the period, she proved to be top-heavy and had issues with seaworthiness and stability.
The design for Akashi was based on an all-steel, double-bottomed hull, with an armored deck, divided underneath by watertight bulkheads. The armor, of the Harvey armor variety, covered only vital areas, such as the boilers, gun magazines and critical machinery, with a thickness of 25 millimetres (0.98 in) on the deck.
Her main battery consisted of two QF 6 inch /40 naval guns, one set in the forecastle and one in the stern. The main guns had a range of up to 9,100 metres (4.9 nmi) with a nominal firing rate of 5.7 shots/minute. Secondary armament consisted of six QF 4.7-inch guns mounted in sponsons on the upper deck. These guns had a range of up to 9,000 metres (4.9 nmi) with a nominal firing rate of 12 shots/minute. She also had ten QF 3 pounder Hotchkiss guns, with a range of up to 6,000 metres (3.2 nmi) with a nominal firing rate of 20 shots/minute, mounted four on the upper deck, two on the poop, two on the after bridge and one each on the bow and stern, as well as four 1-inch Nordenfelt guns, which were later replaced by four 7.62 mm Maxim machine guns. She also was equipped with two 356 mm (14 in) torpedoes, mounted on the deck.
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