Japanese battleship Katori

Japanese lead ship of Katori class

Katori (香取 (戦艦)) was the lead ship of the two pre dreadnought battleships built in the first decade of the 20th century, the last to be built by British shipyards for the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN). Ordered just before the start of the Russo Japanese War of 1904–1905, the ship was completed a year after its end. She saw no combat during World War I, although the ship was present when Japan joined the Siberian Intervention in 1918. Katori was disarmed and scrapped in 1923–1925 in accordance with the terms of the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922.

The Katori class ships were ordered just before the start of the Russo Japanese War in 1904 as improved versions of the Royal Navy’s s.

The ship's main battery consisted of four 12 inch guns mounted in two twin gun turrets, one forward and one aft. The secondary armament consisted of four 10 inch guns mounted in four single gun turrets positioned on each side of the superstructure. Katori also carried twelve QF 6 inch guns, mounted in casemates on the sides of the hull and in the superstructure. A number of smaller guns were carried for defence against torpedo boats. These included a dozen 12 pounder guns and three 3 pounder Hotchkiss guns. She was also armed with five submerged 18 inch (450 mm) torpedo tubes, two on each broadside and one in the stern. Katoris waterline armour belt consisted of Krupp cemented armour and was thick. The armour of her main gun turrets had a maximum thickness of and her deck ranged from in thickness.

Katori, named for a Shinto shrine in Katori City, was ordered in January 1904 from Vickers. The ship was laid down at their Barrow in Furness shipyard on 27 April 1904. She was launched on 4 July 1905, Prince and Princess Arisugawa were on hand for the official launching ceremony. and completed on 20 May 1906. In a naval review off Yokosuka on 10 November 1913, she served as the flagship for the Taishō Emperor. Katori occupied the German colony of Saipan, shortly after the start of World War I, on 14 October 1914. Afterward the ship began a refit in 1914 that lasted until late 1916 and was assigned to the 2nd Battleship Squadron upon its completion. On 3 March 1921, Katori, escorted by Kashima, departed Yokohama bound for Great Britain carrying Crown Prince Hirohito, the first Japanese crown prince to travel abroad. The ships arrived at Portsmouth on 9 May and Hirohito left the ship to tour Europe; he boarded the battleship again in Naples several months later for the voyage home. The ship was disarmed in April 1922, The remaining guns were placed in reserve and ultimately scrapped in 1943.