japanese battleship lead ship class pre dreadnought battleships built imperial_japanese_navy british shipyards late 1890s russo japanese war ship fought battles port arthur lightly damaged action shells prematurely exploded main guns engagements remained home waters world war ship reclassified coastal defence ship served training ship rest career disarmed finally broken scrap description sister ship designed england improved versions royal_navy majestic class battleships feet long overall beam feet inches load draught feet inches normally displaced long tons crew officers enlisted men ship powered vertical triple expansion steam engines steam generated belleville boilers engines rated indicated horsepower forced draught designed reach speed knots mph reached speed knots mph indicated horsepower sea trials carried maximum long tons coal allowed steam nautical miles speed knots mph ship main battery consisted inch guns mounted twin gun turrets forward aft secondary battery consisted fourteen inch quick firing guns mounted casemates sides hull superstructure number smaller guns carried defence torpedo boats included pounder cwt guns millimetre pounder guns millimetre pounder hotchkiss guns armed submerged inch torpedo tubes waterline armour belt consisted harvey armour inches thick armour gun turrets maximum thickness deck ranged inches thickness operational career japan battleships ordered overseas shipyards year naval expansion programme paid paid china defeat sino japanese war ship laid thames iron works london shipyard march launched november completed january start russo japanese war commanded captain assigned 1st division 1st fleet participated february admiral led 1st fleet attack russian ships anchored outside port arthur expected surprise night attack russians destroyers successful actually expected find badly disorganized weakened russians recovered surprise ready attack japanese ships spotted cruiser patrolling offshore alerted russian defences chose attack russian coastal defences main armament engage russian ships secondary guns splitting fire proved ineffective japanese inch inch guns inflicted little significant damage russian ships concentrated fire japanese ships effect large number ships sides hit russian casualties numbered japanese suffered killed wounded hit inch shell battle wounded crewmen participated action april successfully lured portion including vice admiral flagship battleship spotted battleships 1st division turned port arthur struck naval laid japanese previous night russian battleship sank minutes magazines exploded killed success resumed long range bombardment missions prompted russians lay minefields sea battleships flag protected cruiser dispatch boat relieve japanese blockading force port arthur following morning squadron encountered minefield laid russian struck disabled steering struck moving assist drifted detonated magazines killing crew sinking ship flooding controlled hours later crew abandoned ship hit battle yellow sea august shell exploded prematurely inch guns second line battle division following flagship main targets russian battleships hit times battle penetrated beneath inch gun killing wounding entire gun crew inch shell prematurely detonate forward guns completely turn concentrated fire battleship eventually sank large calibre shells blew large holes bow waterline caused massive flooding sank modern battleship sunk entirely gunfire fired total inch inch pounder shells battle fired torpedo badly damaged armed merchant cruiser sank russian ship world war based assigned second order rest war signed reclassified class coast defence ship september train submarine crews ship reclassified transport april continued training hulk scrapped january naval arsenal
Japanese battleship Shikishima