 Many of Japan's major warships were built in British and French shipyards (eight British, three French and two Japanese-built) and 16 of the torpedo boats were known to have been built in France and assembled in Japan.The Meiji government at first modeled their army after the French Army.French advisers had been sent to Japan with two military missions (in 1872–1880 and 1884), in addition to one mission under the shogunate.