The Imperial Japanese Navy

THE BATTLESHIP CHIN YEN. ( The principal capture in the Chino-Japanese War. )
BY FRED. T. JANE
AUTHOR OF “THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY” “ALL THE WORLD’S FIGHTING SHIPS” (NAVAL ANNUAL), ETC. INVENTOR OF THE JANE NAVAL WAR GAME (NAVAL KRIEGSPIEL) ETC., ETC.
ASSISTED BY OFFICERS OF THE JAPANESE NAVY
With over 80 Illustrations from Sketches and Drawings by Japanese Artists and from Official Photographs
LONDON W. THACKER & CO., 2, CREED LANE, E.C. CALCUTTA AND SIMLA: THACKER, SPINK & CO. 1904
All rights reserved
TO MANY FRIENDS NOW SERVING IN THE JAPANESE FLEET, AND TO THE MEMORY OF OTHERS WHO HAVE DIED DOING THEIR DUTY THIS VOLUME IS DEDICATED

This book is uniform with my similar book on the Russian Navy, and is designed to have an exactly similar scope; that is to say, it traces the Japanese Navy from the earliest period up to the time of the outbreak of the war with Russia in February, 1904. It then deals with the dockyards of Japan, the armament and equipment of her Fleet, with her personnel , both officers and men, and finally with all those side issues and semi-political questions which have brought the modern Japanese Fleet into existence and governed the Japanese building programme. In an Appendix, certain matters that may seem to demand detailed attention are dealt with separately.
In preparing this book for the press—a task that I began so long ago as the year 1900—I have received the most kind and willing assistance of a great many personal friends in the Fleet of “Britain’s ally.” To them I would express my most cordial thanks. Especially would I mention my indebtedness in various—I might say innumerable—ways to Admirals Yamamoto Gombey, Dewa, Kamimura, Ito, and Ijuin; Captains Yamada, Uchida, Kawashima, and Kashiwabara; Commanders Kuroi, Takarabé, Hirose, Takeshita, Yamanaka; Lieut.-Commanders Nomaguchi, Hideshima, Sato, Horiuchi; Staff-Paymaster Minuma; Lieutenants Ishikawa, Yamamoto, Yamagi, Fukura, Matsui, Sasaki; Engineer-Lieutenant Kimura; Chief-Constructor Matsuo; Constructor Kondo; and a great many others—all personal friends, to whose suggestions it is due that I came to write this book at all.