 Launched on 29 June 1911 and completed on 17 June 1912 by the Kawasaki Shipbuilding Corporation, Kobe Shipyards, "Hirado" participated in various operations in World War I in the central and southern Pacific Ocean.The cruiser was later used during the Siberian Intervention and the opening stages of the Second Sino-Japanese War.The ship was stricken on 1 April 1940, its hulk serving as a barracks until 1943.