Japanese cruiser Niitaka

Niitaka (新高) was the lead ship of the protected cruisers of the Imperial Japanese Navy. She was the sister ship of the Japanese cruiser Tsushima. Niitaka was named after Mount Niitaka in Taiwan, at the time, the tallest mountain in the Japanese Empire.

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. Niitaka was built at the Yokosuka Naval Arsenal, with the keel laid down on 7 January 1902 and launching on 15 November 1902.

In terms of design, Niitaka was very conservative in layout and similar to, but somewhat larger than the earlier Japanese designed Japanese cruiser Suma. The increased displacement, heavier armor and lower center of gravity resulted in a more seaworthy and powerful vessel than Suma, and enabled Niitaka to outclass many other contemporary protected cruisers. In terms of armament, it is noteworthy that Niitaka was not equipped with torpedoes. Observing problems experienced by the United States Navy during the Spanish–American War with torpedo reliability and the dangers of sympathetic detonation, it was decided not to use this weapon on the new cruisers. The main battery used the standard /40 naval gun found on most contemporary Japanese cruisers. She subsequently participated in the shore bombardment of Russian positions during the Battle of Port Arthur on 9 March 1904. From April, Niitaka was assigned to patrols of the Korea Strait and the Sea of Japan, but was not in position to participate in Battle off Ulsan on 14 August 1904. She did, however, assist in the rescue of Russian sailors off the sinking cruiser Russian cruiser Rurik after the battle. At the Battle of the Yellow Sea, Niitaka was part of the 4th Detachment of Japanese 2nd Fleet against the Russian cruiser Russian cruiser Askold. She was subsequently one of the ships stationed at Makung in the Pescadores Islands to watch for the arrival of the Russian Baltic Fleet. At the crucial final Battle of Tsushima on 27 May 1905, Niitaka was part of the Japanese squadron attacking the Russian cruisers Russian cruiser Oleg, Russian cruiser Aurora and Russian cruiser Zhemchug as well as the already heavily damaged battleship Russian battleship Knyaz Suvorov. Niitaka took one hit during the engagement, which killed one crewman and wounded three others. On 28 May 1905, Niitaka and Japanese cruiser Otowa intercepted and sank the cruiser Russian cruiser Svetlana which had been heavily damaged the day before and which was attempting to escape towards Korea together with a destroyer. While at Singapore, 158 marines from the cruisers Japanese cruiser Otowa and Niitaka helped suppress the February 1915 Singapore Mutiny by Indian Sepoy troops against the British. From mid 1915 to 1918, Tsushima and Niitaka were permanently based at Cape Town, assisting the Royal Navy in patrolling the sea lanes in the Indian Ocean, linking Europe to the east against German commerce raiders and U boats. A salvage team sent in 1923 determined the wreck to be unsalvageable, and destroyed the remains with explosives. A concrete obelisk was also erected with a portion of the ship's mast on a hill slightly north of the wreck site. Niitaka was formally written off the navy list on 1 April 1924.