Japanese cruiser Iwate

Iwate was the second and last Izumo-class armoured cruiser built for the Imperial Japanese Navy. Because Japan lacked the industrial capacity to build such warships, she was built in Britain: Armstrong Whitworth received the contract on 19 July 1898, laid her down at its Elswick shipyard on 11 November 1898, launched her on 29 March 1900 and completed her on 18 March 1901. A pair of four-cylinder triple-expansion steam engines and 24 Belleville boilers gave a designed speed of 20.75 knots. She took part in most of the naval battles of the Russo-Japanese War of 1904 and 1905 and was moderately damaged at the Battle of Port Arthur, the Battle off Ulsan and the Battle of Tsushima. She played a minor role in the First World War and from 1916 made training cruises for naval cadets. Near misses in an American air raid on Kure on 24 July 1945 sprang her seams, she sank in shallow water the next day, and her hulk was raised and scrapped in 1946 and 1947.