Japanese cruiser Akashi

Akashi (明石) was a protected cruiser of the Imperial Japanese Navy. She was a sister ship to Japanese cruiser Suma. The name Akashi comes from an ancient name for a portion of the coastline near the modern city of Kobe in Hyōgo Prefecture.

Akashi 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 1892–1896. She was laid down on 6 August 1894, launched on 18 December 1897 and completed on 30 March 1899. 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 the ship's relatively high speed made her 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 Akashi 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 nine single ended boilers in two boiler rooms separated by a watertight bulkhead and Russian cruiser Svetlana. She returned with the captured Russian destroyer Russian destroyer Biedovy to Sasebo on 30 May. After the battle, on 14 June, "Akashi" returned to Takeshiki Guard District to start patrols of the Korea Strait. She was overhauled at Kure Naval Arsenal from 4–29 July. On 10 October, Akashi intercepted the German flagged steamer, M Struve (1582 tons), which was attempting to smuggle a cargo of rice, salt, bread and flour to Vladivostok. The steamer was sent with a prize crew to Sasebo. Akashi arrived in Yokohama to participate in a naval review celebrating the Japanese victory on 23 October 1905.

From 1908–1909, future Prime Minister of Japan Suzuki Kantarō served as captain of Akashi. In 1912, Akashi was re boilered, with her nine horizontal locomotive style boilers replaced with nine Niclausse boilers. In World War I, Akashi was part of the IJN 2nd Fleet in combat against the Imperial German Navy at the Battle of Tsingtao. In 1916, she was assigned to patrol the sea lanes from Borneo to the Malacca Straits and eastern Indian Ocean against German commerce raiders, as part of Japan's contribution to the Allied war effort under the Anglo Japanese Alliance, and was based at Singapore. Rear Admiral Kōzō Satō commanded the 2nd Special Squadron with Akashi as flagship with the 10th and 11th Destroyer Units (eight destroyers) based at Malta from 13 April 1917. He was reinforced by the 15th Destroyer Unit with four more destroyers from 1 June 1917 to carry out on direct escort duties for Allied troop transports in the Mediterranean. After being relieved by the cruiser Japanese cruiser Izumo, Akashi returned to Japanese home waters, where she spent the remainder of the war. After the end of the war, Akashi was re designated as a 2nd class coastal defense vessel from 1 September 1921. She was removed from the navy list on 1 April 1928. Deemed obsolete, she was expended as a target for dive bombers south of Izu Ōshima on 3 August 1930. The main mast of Akashi is preserved at the Japan Maritime Self Defense Academy at Etajima, Hiroshima.