As before, Yokosuka made the horizontal compound engines, and in the Katsuragi twin screws were attempted for the first time. These ships are now employed for training squadron duties. They have clipper bows, and are, generally speaking, small editions of the British Raleigh. They are all three barque-rigged. The Mushashi is distinguished by a red band, the Katsuragi a yellow one.
The “warship Naniwa-kan,” as she used to be called in England, in defiance to all explanations to the effect that the affix “kan” simply meant “warship,” attained a good deal of celebrity while under construction. The British Navy had then no ships like her, and the Mersey class, then building, though more heavily gunned on about the same displacement, were popularly considered very poor substitutes, since their biggest guns were 8-in. pieces only, against the Naniwa’s 10-in. The big gun had at that time a very great hold on popular imagination.
Details of the Naniwa, and her sister, the Takachiho, are as follows:—
| Displacement | 3700 tons. |
| Material of hull | Steel. |
| Length | 300 ft. |
| Beam | 46 ft. |
| Draught | 20 ft. |
| Armament | Two 10-in. 32 cals. Krupp. |
| Six 6-in. B.L. Krupp. | |
| Two 6-pdr. Q.F. | |
| Fourteen smaller Q.F. and machine. | |
| Four torpedo tubes. |
(Elswick 6-in. Q.F. have lately been substituted for the old 6-in. B.L.).
The big guns are generally described as Elswick pieces, but they are not, although Elswick built the ships.
| Engines (Hawthorn, Leslie & Co.) | Horizontal compound. |
| Horse-power | 7120. |
| Speed on trial | 18.7 knots |
| Sea speed | (circa) 15 knots. |
| Screws | Two. |
| Coal (normal) | 350 tons. |
| ” (maximum) | 800 tons. |
| Radius with full bunkers | (circa) 5000 miles. |
| Complement | 357. |
| Search-lights | Four. |
Protection is afforded by a steel deck 3 ins. on the slopes, 2 ins. on the flat. The engine hatches have a 3-in. glacis. The conning-tower is 1½-in. steel, and the loading stations of the big guns have a similar protection.
THE NANIWA (present rig).