Japanese cruiser Ikoma
Japanese battlecruiser Ikoma
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| History | |
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 Empire of Japan
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| Name: | Ikoma |
| Ordered: | 1904 Fiscal Year |
| Laid down: | 15 March 1905 |
| Launched: | 9 April 1906 |
| Commissioned: | 24 March 1908 |
| Struck: | 20 September 1923 |
| Fate: | scrapped, 20 September 1923 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Tsukuba-class armored cruiser |
| Length: |
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| Beam: | 22.80 m (74.8 ft) |
| Draught: | 7.95 m (26.1 ft) |
| Installed power: | 20,500 shp (15,290 kW) |
| Propulsion: | Two shaft reciprocating VTE steam engine; 20 Miyabara boilers |
| Speed: | 20.5 knots (38 km/h) |
| Range: | 5,000 nautical miles (9,000 km) at 14 knots (26 km/h) |
| Complement: | 879 |
| Armament: |
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| Armor: |
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Ikoma (生駒?) was the second vessel in the two-ship Tsukuba class of armoured cruisers in the Imperial Japanese Navy. She was named after Mount Ikoma located on the border of Osaka and Nara prefecture. On 28 August 1912, Ikoma was re-classified as a battlecruiser.
Construction of the Tsukuba-class cruisers was ordered under the June 1904 Emergency Fleet Replenishment Budget of the Russo-Japanese War, spurred on by the unexpected loss of the battleships Yashima and Hatsuse to naval mines in the early stages of the war. These were the first major capital ships to be designed and constructed entirely by Japan in a Japanese shipyard, albeit with imported weaponry and numerous components. However, Tsukuba and Ikoma were designed and completed in a very short time, and suffered from numerous technical and design problems, including strength of its hull, stability and mechanical failures. The ship was reclassified as a battlecruiser in 1912.
The Tsukuba-class design had a conventional armored cruiser hull design, powered by two vertical triple-expansion steam engines, with twenty Miyabara boilers, yielding 20,500 shp (15,300 kW) design speed of 20.5 knots (38.0 km/h; 23.6 mph) and a range of 5,000 nautical miles (9,000 km) at 14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph). During speed trials in Hiroshima Bay prior to commissioning, Tsukuba attained a top speed of 21.75 knots (40.28 km/h; 25.03 mph).Ikoma was one of the first ships in the Japanese navy with boilers capable of burning either coal or heavy fuel oil. In terms of armament, the Tsukuba class was one of the most heavily armed cruisers of its time, with four 12-inch 41st Year Type guns as the main battery, mounted in twin gun turrets to the fore and aft, along the centerline of the vessel.Secondary armament consisted of twelve 6-inch (152 mm) guns and twelve 4.7-inch 41st Year Type guns, and four QF 3-pounder Hotchkiss guns.
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