Japanese battleship Shikishima

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Career
Japanese Battleship Shikishima in 1905 postcard
Ordered:	FY 1896 to Thames Iron Works, Great Britain
Laid down:	March 29 1897
Launched:	November 1 1898
Commissioned:	January 26 1900
Fate:	Scrapped 1948
Struck:	January 15 1948
General Characteristics
Displacement:	15,453 tons
Length:	126.5 meters at waterline, 133.5 meters overall
Beam:	23.0 meters
Draught:	8.29 meters
Propulsion:	Two Shaft Reciprocating Vertical Triple Expansion (VTE) Engines; 2 shafts, 25 Belleville boilers, 14,500 shp
Fuel:	Coal, 1900 tons
Speed:	15 knots
Complement:	836
Armament:	4-12 inch gun (2x2), 14-6 inch gun (1x14), 20-12 pdr QF gun (1x20), 6-3 pdr gun (1x6), 6-2.5 pdr gun (1x6), 4-45 cm torpedo tubes, 2-3" AA added 1917
Armor:	belt 100-230mm, upper belt 150mm, deck 63-100mm, barbette 200-360mm, casemate 50-150mm, conning tower 75-360mm

Shikishima (敷島) was the lead ship in the Shikishima-class of pre-dreadnought battleships in the Imperial Japanese Navy, and one of the six battleships (Fuji, Yashima, Hatsuse, Shikishima, Asahi, and Mikasa) that formed the main Japanese battle line in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905.

[edit] History

Following the 1894–1895 Sino-Japanese War, and the forced return of the Liaotung Peninsula to China under Russian pressure, Japan began to build up its military strength in preparation for further confrontations. In particular, Japan embarked on a ten-year naval build-up program, with the construction of six battleships and six armored cruisers at its core. The Shikishima was ordered to Thames Iron Works, Great Britain in 1897. She was designed by Phillip Watts and was basically an improved version of the British Navy's Majestic-class.

Shikishima served in the Russo-Japanese War, was damaged in the bombardment of Port Arthur, fighting at the Battle of the Yellow Sea, and taking 10 hits at the Battle of Tsushima.

Shikishima later served in Japanese home waters during WWI. Refitted in 1919, she was de-rated to “First-class Coast Defense Ship” in 1921 and relegated to training duties the same year. Disarmed under the provisions of the Washington Naval Treaty, she was used as a training school for submarine crews after 1923. She was then designated as a transport, and then officially stricken from the navy list, but remained at Sasebo as a damage control hulk, accommodation ship, and training center.

She was still afloat after the Pacific War, somehow escaping American air attacks, but had not moved under her own power for over two decades. She was broken up for scrap in 1948.