Japanese cruiser Matsushima

Matsushima, flagship of the Japanese Navy in the Sino-Japanese War.
History
Empire of Japan
Name:	Matsushima
Ordered:	1886 Fiscal Year
Builder:	Société Nouvelle des Forges et Chantiers de la Méditerranée, La Seyne-sur-Mer, France
Laid down:	17 February 1888
Launched:	22 January 1890
Completed:	5 April 1892
Struck:	31 July 1908
Fate:	Sunk after accidental explosion 30 April 1908
General characteristics
Class and type:	Matsushima-class cruiser
Displacement:	4,217 long tons (4,285 t)
Length:	91.81 m (301 ft 3 in) w/l
Beam:	15.6 m (51 ft 2 in)
Draft:	6.05 m (19 ft 10 in)
Propulsion:	2-shaft reciprocating; 6 boilers; 5,400 hp (4,000 kW), 680 tons coal
Speed:	16.5 knots (19.0 mph; 30.6 km/h)
Complement:	360
Armament:	1 × 320 millimetres (12.6 inches) Canet gun 12 × QF 4.7 inch Gun Mk I–IV guns 16 × QF 6 pounder Hotchkiss 6 × 1-pounder guns 4 × 356 mm (14.0 in) torpedo tubes
Armor:	Deck: 50 mm (2 in) Gun Turret: 300 mm (12 in) Gun shield: 100 mm (4 in)

Matsushima (松島^?) was a Matsushima-class protected cruiser of the Imperial Japanese Navy. Like her sister ships, (the Itsukushima and Hashidate) her name comes from one of the traditional Three Views of Japan, in this case, the Matsushima archipelago near Sendai in Miyagi prefecture.

Forming the backbone of the Imperial Japanese Navy during the First Sino-Japanese War, the Matsushima-class cruisers were based on the principles of Jeune École, as promoted by French military advisor and naval architect Louis-Émile Bertin. The Japanese government did not have the resources or budget to build a battleship navy to counter the various foreign powers active in Asia; instead, Japan adopted the radical theory of using smaller, faster warships, with light armor and small caliber long-range guns, coupled with a massive single 320 mm (12.6 in) Canet gun. The design eventually proved impractical, as the recoil from the huge cannon was too much for a vessel of such small displacement, and its reloading time was impractically long; however, the Matsushima-class cruisers served their purpose well against the poorly equipped and poorly led Imperial Chinese Beiyang Fleet.