Tsukuba-class cruiser

The Tsukuba-class cruisers (筑波型 巡洋戦艦) were armored cruisers built for the Imperial Japanese Navy. Both vessels participated in World War I.

Background
Construction of the Tsukuba-class armored cruisers was ordered under the 1904 Emergency Fleet Replenishment Budget of the Russo-Japanese War, spurred on by the unexpected loss of the Yashima to a naval mine in the early stages of the war.

Armament
The main battery on the Tsukuba-class were four 12-inch 41st Year Type guns, mounted in twin gun turrets to the fore and aft, along the centerline of the vessel. Secondary armament consisted of twelve 6-inch guns and twelve 4.7-inch 41st Year Type guns.

Propulsion
Propulsion was by two vertical triple-expansion steam engines, with twenty boilers, yielding 20500 shp design speed of 20.5 kn and a range of 5000 nmi @ 14 kn. During speed trials in Hiroshima Bay prior to commissioning, Ikoma attained a top speed of 21.75 kn

Ships in class
Tsukuba served patrol duty during World War I primarily in the Pacific Ocean and in Southeast Asia. On 14 January 1917, she exploded while in port at Yokosuka, and sank with a loss of 305 men.
 * Tsukuba

Ikoma circumnavigated the southern hemisphere of the globe in 1908. She served patrol duty during World War I primarily in the Pacific Ocean and in Southeast Asia. Ikoma was a victim of the Washington Naval Agreement of 1923.
 * Ikoma