for all of the "Six-Six Fleet" armored cruisers consisted of four guns in twin-gun turrets fore and aft of the superstructure. The secondary armament consisted of 14 Elswick Ordnance Company "Pattern Z" quick-firing (QF), guns. Only four of these guns were not mounted in armored casemates on the main and upper decks and their mounts on the upper deck were protected by gun shields. Iwate was also equipped with a dozen QF 12-pounder () 12-cwt guns and eight QF 2.5-pounder () Yamauchi guns as close-range defense against torpedo boats. The ship was equipped with four submerged torpedo tubes, two on each broadside. All of the "Six-Six Fleet" armored cruisers used the same armor scheme with some minor differences. The waterline belt of Krupp cemented armor ran the full length of the ship and its thickness varied from amidships to at the bow and stern. It had a height of , of which was normally underwater. The upper strake of belt armor was thick and extended from the upper edge of the waterline belt to the main deck. It extended from the forward to the rear barbette. The Izumo class had oblique 127 mm armored bulkheads that closed off the ends of the central armored citadel. The barbettes, gun turrets and the front of the casemates were all 6 inches thick while the sides and rear of the casemates were protected by of armor. The deck was thick and the armor protecting the conning tower was in thickness. Construction and career The contract for Iwate, named after the eponymous prefecture, was signed on 19 July 1898 with Armstrong Whitworth. The ship was laid down at their shipyard in Elswick on 11 November 1898 and launched on 29 March 1900. She was completed on 18 March 1901 and departed for Japan the following day under the command of Captain Hikohachi Yamada, who had been appointed to supervise her construction and bring her back to Japan. Iwate arrived in Yokosuka on 17 May and Yamada was relieved by Captain Taketomi Kunikane on 6 July. Russo-Japanese War At the start of the Russo-Japanese War, Iwate was the flagship of Rear Admiral Misu Sotarō, commander of the 2nd Division of the 2nd Fleet. She participated in the Battle of Port Arthur on 9 February 1904, when Vice Admiral Tōgō Heihachirō led the Combined Fleet in an attack on the Russian ships of the Pacific Squadron