Suma-class cruiser

Class overview
Japanese cruiser Suma around 1905
Name:	Suma class
Builders:	Yokosuka Naval Arsenal, Japan
Operators:	Imperial Japanese Navy
Preceded by:	Akitsushima
Succeeded by:	Takasago
Built:	1892–1899
In commission:	1896–1930
Completed:	2
Retired:	2
General characteristics
Type:	Protected cruiser
Displacement:	2,657 long tons (2,700 t)
Length:	93.5 m (306 ft 9 in)
Beam:	12.3 m (40 ft 4 in)
Draught:	4.6 m (15 ft 1 in)
Propulsion:	2-shaft VTE reciprocating engines; 8 boilers; 8,500 hp (6,300 kW)
Speed:	20 knots (23 mph; 37 km/h)
Range:	11,000 nmi (20,000 km) at 10 kn (19 km/h)
Complement:	256
Armament:	2 × QF 6 inch /40 naval guns 6 × QF 4.7 inch Gun Mk I–IV 10 × QF 6 pounder Hotchkiss guns 4 × QF 3 pounder Hotchkiss guns 4 × Maxim guns 2 × 380 mm (15 in) torpedo tubes
Armour:	Deck: 50 mm (2 in) (slope), 25 mm (1 in) (flat) Gun shield: 115 mm (4.5 in) (front)

The two Suma-class cruisers (須磨型防護巡洋艦, Suma-gata bōgojun'yōkan^?) were protected cruisers operated by the Imperial Japanese Navy. While more lightly armed and armored than many of its contemporaries, their small size and relatively simple design facilitated their construction and their relatively high speed made them useful for many military operations. Both participated in combat during the Russo-Japanese War and World War I.

The Suma-class cruisers were designed and built in Japan at the Yokosuka Naval Arsenal, as part of an Imperial Japanese Navy program to end its dependence on foreign powers for modern warships, using an all-Japanese design and all-Japanese materials. Although the Yokosuka Naval Arsenal had experience gained in the construction of the cruisers Hashidate and Akitsushima, albeit with assistance from French naval engineers and imported components, construction of Suma still took four years and resulted in a vessel with questionable stability and seaworthiness. However, her construction gave Japanese designers and shipbuilders valuable experience which was applied to her sister ship Akashi and which was applied in designs for larger and more powerful vessels in the future.

The overall dimensions and layout of armaments on the Suma-class cruisers was almost the same as on Akitsushima. The design incorporated an all-steel, double-bottomed hull, with an armored deck, divided underneath by watertight bulkheads. The armor, of the Harvey armor variety, covered only vital areas, such as the boilers, gun magazines and critical machinery, with a thickness of 25 millimetres (0.98 in) on the deck.

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Wikipedia