:Japanese battleship Kashima

File:Katori class drawing.jpg

The Katori-class ships were ordered just before the start of the Russo-Japanese War in 1904 as improved versions of the Royal Navy's {{sclass|King Edward VII|battleship}}s. Kashima was {{convert|473|ft|7|in|m|1}} long overall and had a beam of {{convert|78|ft|2|in|m|1}}. She had a full-load draught of {{convert|26|ft|4|in|m}} and normally displaced {{convert|16383|LT|t|lk=on}} and had a crew of 864 officers and enlisted men.Brook 1999, p. 128 The ship was powered by two vertical triple-expansion steam engines using steam generated by 20 Niclausse boilers. The engines were rated at {{convert|15800|ihp|lk=on}}, using forced draught, and were designed to reach a top speed of {{convert|18.5|kn|lk=in}}. Kashima, however, reached a top speed of {{convert|19.24|kn}} from {{convert|17280|ihp}} on her sea trials on 4 April 1906. She carried a maximum of {{convert|2200|LT|t}} of coal and {{convert|750|LT|t}} of fuel oil which was sprayed on the coal to increase their power. This allowed her to steam for {{convert|12000|lk=in|nmi}} at a speed of {{convert|11|kn}}.Jentschura, Jung & Mickel, p. 22

The ship's main battery consisted of four Elswick 12-inch guns mounted in two twin-gun turrets, one forward and one aft. The secondary armament consisted of four Elswick 10 inch 45 calibre guns mounted in four single-gun turrets positioned on each side of the superstructure. Katori also carried twelve six-inch guns, mounted in casemates on the sides of the hull and in the superstructure. A number of smaller guns were carried for defence against torpedo boats. These included a dozen QF 12-pounder guns and three {{convert|47|mm|adj=on}} QF 3 pounder Hotchkiss guns. She was also armed with five submerged 18-inch torpedo tubes, two on each broadside and one in the stern.Brook 1999, p. 127

Kashima{{'}}s waterline armour belt consisted of Krupp cemented armour and was {{convert|3.5|-|9|in|0}} thick. The armour of her main gun turrets had a maximum thickness of {{convert|9|in|mm|0|abbr=on}} and her deck ranged from {{convert|2|to|3|in|0}} in thickness.Gardiner & Gray, p. 227

Kashima, named for a Shinto shrine in Kashima, Ibaraki,Silverstone, p. 332 was ordered in January 1904 from Armstrong Whitworth. The ship was laid down at their Elswick shipyard on 29 February 1904 as yard number 755.Brook 1985, p. 279 She was launched on 22 March 1905, and completed on 23 May 1906. Kashima departed Britain on 31 May on her maiden voyage and shakedown cruise and arrived at Yokosuka on 4 August 1906.Lengerer, p. 47

Whilst conducting gunnery training in Hiroshima Bay on 16 September 1907, brown powder propellant in Kashima{{'}}s starboard rear {{convert|10|in|adj=on}} gun mount ignited when it came in contact with burning residue from the previous shot. The fire killed seven officers and 27 enlisted men and wounded two officers and six enlisted men.Brook 1985, pp. 279–281

When World War I began, Kashima was in a refit at Maizuru Naval Arsenal that lasted until March 1915. The ship was assigned to the 2nd Battleship Squadron when her refit was completed and became the squadron's flagship in 1916. Kashima joined her sister ship {{ship|Japanese battleship|Katori||2}} in the 5th Battleship Squadron as its flagship in 1918 and both ships covered the landing of Japanese troops in Siberia in August of that year as Japan intervened in the Russian Civil War.Preston, p. 191; Brook 1985, p. 282

On 3 March 1921, Katori, escorted by Kashima, departed Yokohama bound for Great Britain carrying Crown Prince Hirohito, the first Japanese crown prince to travel abroad. The ships arrived at Portsmouth on 9 May and Hirohito disembarked to tour Europe; they returned home several months later.Seagrave & Seagrave, pp. 105–110 To comply with the terms of the Washington Naval Treaty the ship was disarmed in April 1922, stricken from the Navy List on 20 September 1923 and the removal of her armor was completed by February 1924. Mitsubishi won the public auction conducted 26–27 April with a price of 238,900 yen and had to pay an additional 35,000 yen to have her towed to Nagasaki for scrapping. The company finished the job on 24 November.Brook 1985, p. 282 Her guns were turned over to the Imperial Japanese Army for use as coastal artillery; her main gun turrets were installed around Tokyo Bay and on Iki Island in the Strait of Tsushima. The rest of her guns were placed in reserve and ultimately scrapped in 1943.Gibbs & Tamura, pp. 192, 194

{{reflist}}

• {{cite journal|last=Brook|first=Peter|date=1985|title=Armstrong Battleships for Japan|journal=Warship International|publisher=International Naval Research Organization|location=Toledo, Ohio|volume=XXII|issue=3|pages=268–282|issn=0043-0374}}
• {{cite book|last=Brook|first=Peter|title=Warships for Export: Armstrong Warships 1867 – 1927|publisher=World Ship Society|location=Gravesend, UK|date=1999|isbn=0-905617-89-4}}
• {{cite book |editor1-last=Gardiner |editor1-first=Robert |editor2-last=Gray |editor2-first=Randal |title=Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921 |year=1985 |location=Annapolis, Maryland|publisher=Naval Institute Press |isbn=0-87021-907-3 |name-list-style=amp}}
• {{cite journal |last1=Gibbs |first1=Jay|last2=Tamura|first2=Toshio |title=Question 51/80 |journal=Warship International |date=1982 |volume=XIX |issue=2 |pages=190, 194–195|issn=0043-0374|name-list-style=amp}}
• {{cite book| last1 = Jentschura| first1 = Hansgeorg| first2 = Dieter |last2=Jung|first3=Peter |last3=Mickel| year = 1977| title = Warships of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1869–1945| publisher = United States Naval Institute| location = Annapolis, Maryland| isbn = 0-87021-893-X|name-list-style=amp}}
• {{cite journal|last=Lengerer|first=Hans|date=March 2009|title=Japanese Battleships and Battlecruisers – Part III|journal=Contributions to the History of Imperial Japanese Warships|issue=VI|pages=7–55}}
• {{cite book |last1=Lengerer |first1=Hans |last2=Ahlberg |first2=Lars |title=Capital Ships of the Imperial Japanese Navy 1868–1945: Ironclads, Battleships and Battle Cruisers: An Outline History of Their Design, Construction and Operations|volume=I: Armourclad Fusō to Kongō Class Battle Cruisers |date=2019 |publisher=Despot Infinitus |location=Zagreb, Croatia |isbn=978-953-8218-26-2|name-list-style=amp}}
• {{cite book|last=Preston|first=Antony|title=Battleships of World War I: An Illustrated Encyclopedia of the Battleships of All Nations 1914–1918|publisher=Galahad Books|location=New York|year=1972|isbn=0-88365-300-1}}
• {{cite book|last1=Seagrave|first1=Sterling|authorlink1=Sterling Seagrave|last2=Seagrave|first2=Peggy|title=The Yamato Dynasty: The Secret History of Japan's Imperial Family|url=https://archive.org/details/yamatodynastysec00seag|url-access=registration|year=1999|publisher=Broadway Books|location=New York|isbn=9780767904964 |name-list-style=amp}}
• {{cite book|last=Silverstone|first=Paul H.|title=Directory of the World's Capital Ships|year=1984|publisher=Hippocrene Books|location=New York|isbn=0-88254-979-0}}

• [https://archive.today/20121209071706/http://homepage2.nifty.com/nishidah/e/stc0116.htm Materials of the Imperial Japanese Navy]
• [https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9D01E1D7163EE233A2575BC1A96F9C946697D6CF New York Times, 18 September 1907]

{{Katori class battleship}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kashima}}

Category:Katori-class battleships

Category:Ships built by Armstrong Whitworth

Category:Ships built on the River Tyne

Category:1905 ships

Category:World War I battleships of Japan