was a protected cruiser of the Imperial Japanese Navy. She was a sister ship to . The name Akashi comes from an ancient name for a portion of the coastline near the modern city of Kobe in Hyōgo Prefecture. Background Akashi was designed and built at Yokosuka Naval Arsenal, as part of an Imperial Japanese Navy program to end its dependence on foreign powers for modern warships, using an all-Japanese design and all-Japanese materials. Construction took four years, from 1892–1896. She was laid down on 6 August 1894, launched on 18 December 1897 and completed on 30 March 1899. While more lightly armed and armored than many of the cruiser's contemporaries, her small size and relatively simple design facilitated the vessel's construction and the ship's relatively high speed made her useful for many military operations. However, as with most Japanese designs of the period, she proved to be top-heavy and had issues with seaworthiness and stability. Design The design for Akashi was based on an all-steel, double-bottomed hull, with an armored deck, divided underneath by watertight bulkheads. The armor, of the Harvey armor variety, covered only vital areas, such as the boilers, gun magazines and critical machinery, with a thickness of on the deck. Her main battery consisted of two QF 6 inch /40 naval guns, one set in the forecastle and one in the stern. The main guns had a range of up to with a nominal firing rate of 5.7 shots/minute. Secondary armament consisted of six QF 4.7-inch guns mounted in sponsons on the upper deck. These guns had a range of up to with a nominal firing rate of 12 shots/minute. She also had ten QF 3 pounder Hotchkiss guns, with a range of up to with a nominal firing rate of 20 shots/minute, mounted four on the upper deck, two on the poop, two on the after bridge and one each on the bow and stern, as well as four 1-inch Nordenfelt guns, which were later replaced by four 7.62 mm Maxim machine guns. She also was equipped with two torpedoes, mounted on the deck. Her powerplant consisted of two vertical triple expansion steam engines, with nine single-ended boilers in two boiler rooms separated by a watertight bulkhead . The stability problems experienced by Suma was discovered before the completion of Akashi, and she was modified during construction with greater freeboard amidships, a flush deck, and