IJN Fuji was a Japanese pre-dreadnought battleship which was completed in 1897. She was the first of several Japanese capital ships to be built in the United Kingdom. Being the lead vessel of her class of two battleships, she was also the first Japanese warship to be armed with 305-mm (12-inch) naval guns and to be powered by modern steam engines. The Fuji was not a unique design, though, as she had been developed from the British Royal Sovereign class battleships built at the end of the 19th century. Although the Japanese vessel did not have the powerful 343-mm guns of her British counterparts, she was longer and protected by thicker belt armor.
The construction of both IJN Fuji and Yashima had been ordered under the 1893 Program, which planned to build up a powerful Japanese fleet to counter the Chinese Navy, which had acquired two modern German-built battleships. Laid down in 1894, the two Fuji-class battleships were commissioned in 1897. Both battleships were refitted in 1901, and they would later take part in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905. Fuji fired the last shell at the Battle of Tsushima on May 27, 1905, to sink the Russian battleship Borodino. Yashima had struck a mine off Port Arthur on May 15, 1904, and capsized later on the afternoon of the same day. After World War I, Fuji was re-boilered and refitted as she would be used as a naval school ship for training Japanese officers. She was scrapped in 1948.
Technical Description
The Fuji class battleships were propelled by two triple-expansion steam engines, which were 3-cylinder, compound machines that expanded the steam in three stages. These engines were fed by 10 single-ended cylindrical boilers in Fuji and by 14 boilers in Yashima, with a water pressure of 155-lb per square inch. The combustion gases were drawn out of the vessels through two smokestacks located right at the center of ship, between the two masts. The Yashima had a much smaller turning circle than the Fuji on account of her builders having cut away the aft portion of the keel towards the rudder. The four 305-mm guns were mounted in heavily-armored twin turrets, two on the bow deck and the other two on the stern deck. The Fuji was also fitted with ten 153-mm guns, five on starboard deck and five on port.
Specifications (Fuji)
Type: pre-dreadnought battleship
Builders: Thames Iron Works
Displacement: 12,320 tons; 13,000 tons (full load)
Length: 125.5 m (412 feet)
Beam: 22.4 m (74 feet)
Draft: 8.1 m (26.3 feet)
Propulsion: two reciprocating vertical, triple-expansion steam engines, with two shafts and 10 boilers, generating 14,000 sHP.
Maximum Speed: 18 knots
Range: 8,000 nautical miles
Armament: four 305-mm and ten 153-mm naval guns, and twenty 3-pdr cannons.
Compliment: 637 men
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| The IJN Fuji moored in Tokyo Bay in 1906, after the Russo-Japanese War. |
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| Side view of drawing of Fuji. |