Japanese cruiser Suma

Suma (須磨 ) was a protected cruiser of the Imperial Japanese Navy, designed and built by the Yokosuka Naval Arsenal in Japan. She was the lead ship in the , and her sister ship was Japanese cruiser Akashi. The name Suma comes from a geographic location near Kobe, in Hyōgo Prefecture.

Suma was designed and built at 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. Construction took four years, from 1892 to 1896. She was laid down on 6 August 1892, launched on 9 March 1895 and commissioned on 12 December 1896. While more lightly armed and armored than many of the cruiser's contemporaries, her small size and relatively simple design facilitated the vessel's construction and her relatively high speed made the ship useful for many military operations. However, as with most Japanese designs of the period, she proved to be top heavy and had issues with seaworthiness and stability.

The design for Suma was based on 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 on the deck. Her main battery consisted of two QF 6 inch /40 naval guns, one set in the forecastle and one in the stern. The main guns had a range of up to with a nominal firing rate of 5.7 shots/minute. Secondary armament consisted of six QF 4.7 inch guns mounted in sponsons on the upper deck. These guns had a range of up to with a nominal firing rate of 12 shots/minute. She also had ten QF 3 pounder Hotchkiss guns, with a range of up to with a nominal firing rate of 20 shots/minute, mounted four on the upper deck, two on the poop, two on the after bridge and one each on the bow and stern, as well as four 1 inch Nordenfelt guns, which were later replaced by four 7.62 mm Maxim machine guns. She also was equipped with two torpedoes, mounted on the deck. Her powerplant consisted of two vertical triple expansion steam engines, with eight cylindrical boilers in two boiler rooms separated by a watertight bulkhead
Afterwards, Suma was assigned to the Japanese force, which seized Sakhalin from Russia, covering landings by the IJA 13th Division at several locations, and securing lighthouses and port facilities. In August, her reconnaissance parameters were expanded to include the southern coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula and the Commander Islands, and was dispatched to Petropavlovsk Kamchatsky to rescue retired Lieutenant Shigetada Gunji, who had been arrested by Russian authorities for his unauthorized private invasion of Kamchatka. While in the area, Suma also captured the United States flagged steamer Australia, which was found to be transporting war contraband.

Suma arrived in Yokohama to participate in a naval review celebrating the Japanese victory on 23 October 1905. She underwent overhaul in 1908, when her cylindrical boilers were replaced with Miyabara water tube boilers. On 28 August 1912, Suma was downgraded to a 2nd class cruiser. In 1916, during World War I, Suma was initially based at Manila, and assigned to patrol the sea lanes in the South China Sea and Sulu Sea from Borneo to the Malacca Straits against German commerce raiders and U boats. She was later based in Singapore together with Japanese cruiser Yahagi, Japanese cruiser Niitaka and Japanese cruiser Tsushima and a flotilla of destroyers, and reassigned to provide coastal defense to Australia and New Zealand, as part of Japan's contribution to the Allied war effort under the Anglo Japanese Alliance. After the war, Suma was re designated as a 2nd class coastal defense vessel from 1 September 1921 Suma was demilitarized per the Washington Naval Treaty and re designated a utility vessel on 4 April 1923 and was removed from the active navy list. She continued to be used as a guard ship at Sasebo Naval District until broken up for scrap in 1928.