Japanese cruiser Tsushima

History
Tsushima in 1905
Empire of Japan
Name:	Tsushima
Ordered:	1897 Fiscal Year
Builder:	Kure Naval Arsenal, Japan
Laid down:	1 October 1901
Launched:	15 December 1902
Completed:	14 February 1904
Struck:	1936
Fate:	Expended as a torpedo target, 1944
General characteristics
Class and type:	Niitaka-class cruiser
Displacement:	3,366 long tons (3,420 t)
Length:	102 m (334 ft 8 in) w/l
Beam:	13.44 m (44 ft 1 in)
Draft:	4.92 m (16 ft 2 in)
Installed power:	9,500 ihp (7,100 kW)
Propulsion:	2 × vertical triple expansion reciprocating engines 16 × Niclausse boilers 2 × screws 600 tons coal
Speed:	20 kn (23 mph; 37 km/h)
Complement:	287-320
Armament:	6 × 15.2 cm (6 in)/40 naval guns 10 × QF 12 pounder 12 cwt naval guns 4 × QF 3 pounder Hotchkiss guns
Armor:	Deck: 76 mm (3 in) Conning tower: 100 mm (4 in)

Tsushima (対馬^?) was a Niitaka-class cruiser of the Imperial Japanese Navy. The vessel was a sister ship to Niitaka and was named for Tsushima Province, one of the ancient provinces of Japan, and corresponding to the strategic island group between Japan and Korea.

The Niitaka-class cruisers were ordered by the Imperial Japanese Navy under its 2nd Emergency Expansion Program, with a budget partly 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. The class was intended for high speed reconnaissance missions. Tsushima was the first ship to be built by the new Kure Naval Arsenal, located at Kure, Hiroshima. Due to lack of experience by the builders, Tsushima took an extraordinary long time to compete, despite her small size and relatively simple design, with the keel laid down on 1 October 1901 and launching on 15 December 1902. Tsushima was not completed until 14 February 1904.

In terms of design, Tsushima was very conservative in layout and similar to, but somewhat larger than the earlier Japanese-designed Suma. The increased displacement, heavier armor and lower center of gravity resulted in a more seaworthy and powerful vessel than Suma, and enabled Tsushima to outclass many other contemporary protected cruisers.

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