without fighting tops to lower her center of gravity. Service life Early years After entering service in March 1899, Akashi experienced numerous mechanical problems and had to return to Yokosuka Naval Arsenal for repairs in October 1899 and January 1900, with additional repairs performed at Kure Naval Arsenal in May 1900 and at Sasebo Naval Arsenal in July 1900. The first overseas deployment of Akashi was from July to November 1900, to support Japanese naval landing forces which occupied the port city of Tianjin in northern China during the Boxer Rebellion, as part of the Japanese contribution to the Eight-Nation Alliance. Immediately on her return, she required repairs to her boilers at Kure. From April to October 1901, Akashi was sent to southern China, and was then again renovated in Kure. From February 1902, Akashi was again deployed to China but was forced once more to cut her deployment short when it was found that three of her boilers could not hold pressure, and she could not achieve over . She returned to China in May, but had to return to Japan again in June. In August 1902, Akashi was deemed unfit for front-line service and was transferred to the reserve fleet. Unwilling to write off the ship as a loss, the Imperial Japanese Navy General Staff ordered Akashi to be completely overhauled at Kure Naval Arsenal in March 1903, and then sent the ship as a training vessel with instructors and cadets from the Imperial Naval Engineering Academy on a cruise around the coasts of China and Korea, marking port calls at Fuzhou, Shanghai, Yantai, Inchon, Busan and Wonsan, returning to Sasebo in September 1903. In October and November 1903, Akashi was able to participate in combat maneuvers with other cruisers in the fleet. Akashi was then assigned to escorting the Japanese cable laying vessels laying the first submarine telegraph cable between Sasebo and Incheon in Korea from 8–17 January 1904. During speed trials conducted in January 1904, Akashi attained a top speed of . Russo-Japanese War Akashi was based at Chinkai Guard District in Korea at the start of the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905, and was stationed at sea off the southeastern coast of the Korean Peninsula as a telegraphic relay station immediately before the outbreak of hostilities. She participated in the Battle of Chemulpo Bay at the start of the war, taking part in the line of