was the second ship of the two pre-dreadnought battleships built for the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) in the first decade of the 20th century, the last to be built by British shipyards. Ordered just before the start of the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905, the ship was completed a year after its end. She saw no combat during World War I, although the ship was present when Japan joined the Siberian Intervention in 1918. Kashima was disarmed and scrapped in 1923–1924 in accordance with the terms of the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922. Design and description 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 s. Kashima was long overall and had a beam of . She had a full-load draught of and normally displaced and had a crew of 864 officers and enlisted men. The ship was powered by two vertical triple-expansion steam engines using steam generated by 20 Niclausse boilers. The engines were rated at , using forced draught, and were designed to reach a top speed of . Kashima, however, reached a top speed of from on her sea trials on 4 April 1906. She carried a maximum of of coal and of fuel oil which was sprayed on the coal to increase their power. This allowed her to steam for at a speed of . The ship's main battery consisted of four 12-inch guns mounted in two twin-gun turrets, one forward and one aft. The secondary armament consisted of four 10-inch 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 3-pounder Hotchkiss guns. She was also armed with five submerged 18-inch torpedo tubes, two on each broadside and one in the stern. Kashimas waterline armour belt consisted of Krupp cemented armour and was thick. The armour of her main gun turrets had a maximum thickness of and her deck ranged from in thickness. Construction and career Kashima, named for a Shinto shrine in Kashima, Ibaraki, 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.