Japanese battleship Yashima

Yashima was a Fuji-class pre-dreadnought battleship built for the Imperial Japanese Navy. Because Japan then lacked the industry to build such vessels, she was designed and built in the United Kingdom, laid down by Armstrong Whitworth at its Elswick yard on 6 December 1894 as yard number 625, launched on 28 February 1896 and completed on 9 September 1897 at a cost of 10,500,000 yen. The two Fuji-class ships were the navy's first battleships, drawn by Philip Watts as smaller versions of the Royal Sovereign class. Yashima carried four 12-inch guns in two twin turrets, two vertical triple-expansion steam engines and enough coal for 4,000 nautical miles at 10 knots, and she was fitted as an admiral's flagship. She fought at the Battle of Port Arthur on the second day of the Russo-Japanese War and struck two mines off Port Arthur in May 1904. She capsized under tow later that day, and the Japanese kept her loss secret from the Russians for over a year.