Japanese cruiser Chitose

Japanese cruiser Chitose
History
Empire of Japan
Name:	Chitose
Ordered:	1896 Fiscal Year
Builder:	Union Iron Works, United States
Laid down:	16 May 1897
Launched:	22 January 1898
Completed:	1 March 1899
Commissioned:	March 1899
Decommissioned:	1 April 1928
Struck:	1 April 1928
Fate:	Sunk as target, 19 July 1931
General characteristics
Class and type:	Kasagi-class cruiser
Displacement:	4,836 t (4,760 long tons)
Length:	115.3 m (378 ft 3 in) w/l
Beam:	15 m (49 ft 3 in)
Draft:	5.4 m (17 ft 9 in)
Installed power:	11,600 kW (15,600 hp)
Propulsion:	2 × VTE; 12 × boilers 2 × shafts
Speed:	22.5 kn (41.7 km/h; 25.9 mph)
Range:	4,000 nmi (7,400 km; 4,600 mi) at 10 kn (19 km/h; 12 mph)
Complement:	405
Armament:	2 × 20.3 cm/45 Type 41 naval guns 10 × QF 4.7 inch Gun Mk I–IV guns 12 × QF 12-pounder 12 cwt naval guns 6 × QF 3-pounder Hotchkiss guns 4 × 356 mm (14.0 in) torpedo tubes
Armor:	Deck: 112 mm (4.4 in) (slope), 62 mm (2.4 in) (flat) Gun shield: 203 mm (8 in) (front), 62 mm (2.4 in) (sides) Conning tower: 115 mm (4.5 in)

Chitose (千歳^?) was a Kasagi-class protected cruiser of the Imperial Japanese Navy. It was the sister ship to Kasagi.

Chitose was ordered as part of the 1896 Emergency Fleet Replenishment Budget, funded by the war indemnity received from the Empire of China as part of the settlement of the Treaty of Shimonoseki ending the First Sino-Japanese War.

Chitose was designed and built in San Francisco in the United States by the Union Iron Works. The vessel was the second major capital warship to be ordered by the Imperial Japanese Navy from an American shipbuilder, and the last to be ordered from an overseas shipyard. The cruiser's specifications were very similar to that of Takasago, but with slightly larger displacement and overall dimensions, but with identical gun armament (and without the bow torpedo tubes). However, internally the ships were very different, with Chitose having 130 watertight compartments, compared with 109 in Takasago

Chitose’s launch was filmed by Thomas Edison. The ship was christened by May Budd, niece of California governor James Budd, with a bottle of California wine. Gladys Sullivan, niece of San Francisco mayor James D. Phelan, pressed the button that sent the ship down the slipway. To symbolize the peacekeeping role of the warship, 100 doves were released as the vessel was launched. Japanese Consul General Segawa explained in a speech at the following luncheon that the name "Chitose" meant "a thousand years of peace" in Japanese, and that he hoped that the ship would fulfill that wish.