Japanese cruiser Akitsushima

Akitsushima in a 1905 postcard
History
Empire of Japan
Name:	Akitsushima
Ordered:	1889 Fiscal Year
Builder:	Yokosuka Naval Arsenal, Japan
Laid down:	March 1890
Launched:	6 July 1892
Completed:	31 March 1894
Reclassified:	Training ship, 30 April 1921
Fate:	Scrapped 10 January 1927
General characteristics
Type:	Protected cruiser
Displacement:	3,100 long tons (3,150 t)
Length:	91.7 m (300 ft 10 in) w/l
Beam:	13.14 m (43 ft 1 in)
Draft:	5.32 m (17 ft 5 in)
Propulsion:	Horizontal triple expansion steam engines, 2 shafts, 6 boilers, 8,400 ihp (6,300 kW), 800 tons coal
Speed:	19 knots (22 mph; 35 km/h)
Complement:	330
Armament:	4 × QF 6 inch /40 naval guns 6 × QF 4.7-inch guns 10 × QF 3 pounder Hotchkiss guns 2 × quadruple 1-inch Nordenfelt guns 4 × 356 mm (14 in) torpedo tubes
Armor:	Deck: 75 mm (3 in) Gun shield: 115 mm (5 in)

Akitsushima (秋津洲^?) was a protected cruiser of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN), designed and built by the Yokosuka Naval Arsenal in Japan. The name Akitsushima comes from an archaic name for Japan, as used in the ancient chronicle Kojiki.

Akitsushima was the sole cruiser for the Imperial Japanese Navy planned under the 1889 fiscal year budget. She originally intended as a domestically-built fourth vessel in the Matsushima class of cruisers under the Jeune École philosophy promoted by French military advisor and naval architect Louis-Émile Bertin. However, even at the time of her construction, opposition by the pro-British faction within the navy, and growing concerns on the effectiveness and operational utility of the Matsushima class, led to proposals for new design with multiple guns rather than a single, huge Canet gun. The new design more closely resembled the British-designed USS Baltimore than the earlier Matsushima class. Bertin was outraged by the new design and threatened to return to France. In 1894, the pro-British faction prevailed and the Canet gun was removed.

The hull design of Akitsushima was based closely on that of the last vessel to be constructed in the Matsushima class, namely Hashidate, retaining the same double-bottom hull construction, water-tight compartments and the same machinery. She was the last ship in Japan to be built of imported steel.