Matsushima Class Cruisers - Japanese Cruiser Matsushima, Japanese Cruiser Itsukushima, Matsushima Class Cruiser, Japanese Cruiser Hashidate (Paperback)

Chapters: Japanese Cruiser Matsushima, Japanese Cruiser Itsukushima, Matsushima Class Cruiser, Japanese Cruiser Hashidate. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 24. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Matsushima ) was the second vessel of the Matsushima-class protected cruisers of the Imperial Japanese Navy. Like its sister ships, (the Itsukushima and Hashidate) its name comes from one of the three most famous scenic spots in Japan, in this case, the Matsushima archipelago near Sendai in Miyagi prefecture. Forming the backbone of the Imperial Japanese Navy during the First Sino-Japanese War, the Matsushima-class cruisers were based on the principles of Jeune Ecole, as promoted by French military advisor and naval architect Emile Bertin. The Matsushima was built by the Societe Nouvelle des Forges et Chantiers de la Mediterranee naval shipyards in France. The Japanese government did not have the resources or budget to build a large battleship navy to counter the heavier vessels of the Chinese navy; instead, Japan adopted the radical theory of using smaller, faster warships, with light armor and small caliber long-range guns, coupled with a massive single 320 mm (12.6") Canet gun. Matsushima differed from her two sister ships in that the 320 mm gun was mounted abaft the superstructure, rather than forwards. The design eventually proved impractical, as the recoil from the huge cannon was too much for a vessel of such small displacement, and the reloading time on the cannon was impractically long; however, the Matsushima-class cruisers served their purpose well against the poorly-equipped and poorly-led Chinese fleet. The Matsushima arrived in Sasebo on 19 October 1892, As part of its shakedown cruise, from June - November 1893, the Matsushima, Takachiho and Chiyoda made a 160-day, 7000 nautic...More: http: //booksllc.net/?id=291662