page:  = Japanese battleship Asahi = 
   
   Asahi ( <unk> , Asahi ) was a pre @-@ dreadnought battleship built for the Imperial Japanese Navy ( <unk> ) in the late 1890s . As Japan lacked the industrial capacity to build such warships itself , the ship was designed and built in the United Kingdom . Shortly after her arrival in Japan , she became flagship of the Standing Fleet , the <unk> 's primary combat fleet . She participated in every major naval battle of the Russo @-@ Japanese War of 1904 – 05 and was lightly damaged during the Battle of the Yellow Sea and the Battle of <unk> . Asahi saw no combat during World War I , although the ship participated in the Siberian Intervention in 1918 . 
   <unk> as a coastal defence ship in 1921 , Asahi was disarmed two years later to meet the terms of the Washington Naval Treaty , after which she served as a training and submarine depot ship . She was modified into a submarine salvage and rescue ship before being placed in reserve in 1928 . Asahi was recommissioned in late 1937 , after the start of the Second <unk> @-@ Japanese War , and used to transport Japanese troops . In 1938 , she was converted into a repair ship and based first at Japanese @-@ occupied Shanghai , China , and then Cam <unk> Bay , French Indochina , from late 1938 to 1941 . The ship was transferred to occupied Singapore in early 1942 to repair a damaged light cruiser and ordered to return home in May . She was sunk en route by the American submarine USS Salmon , although most of her crew survived . 
   
   = = Background = = 
   
   Combat experience in the First <unk> @-@ Japanese War of 1894 – 95 convinced the Imperial Japanese Navy of weaknesses in the <unk> École naval philosophy , which emphasized torpedo boats and commerce raiding to offset expensive heavily armoured ships . Therefore , Japan promulgated a ten @-@ year naval build @-@ up in early 1896 , to modernize and expand its fleet in preparation for further confrontations , with the construction of six battleships and six armoured cruisers at its core . These ships were paid for from the £ 30 @,@ 000 @,@ 000 indemnity paid by China after losing the First <unk> @-@ Japanese War . As with the earlier Fuji and <unk> classes , Japan lacked the technology and capability to construct its own battleships , and turned again to the United Kingdom for the four remaining battleships of the programme . Asahi , the fifth Japanese battleship to be built in Britain , was ordered from the <unk> Engineering & Shipbuilding Company shipyard in <unk> , Scotland in the 1897 annual naval programme . 
   
   = = Design and description = = 
   
   Asahi 's design was a modified version of the <unk> @-@ class battleships of the Royal Navy , with two additional 6 @-@ inch ( 152 mm ) guns . The ship had an overall length of 425 feet 3 inches ( 129 @.@ 6 m ) , a beam of 75 feet ( 22 @.@ 9 m ) , and a normal draught of 27 feet 3 inches ( 8 @.@ 3 m ) . She displaced 15 @,@ 200 long tons ( 15 @,@ 400 t ) at normal load . Asahi had a complete double bottom with 55 <unk> compartments . Her hull was also subdivided into 223 <unk> compartments . She was fitted as a flagship and her crew numbered about <unk> officers and enlisted men , including the admiral 's staff . 
   The ship was powered by two vertical triple @-@ expansion steam engines built by <unk> , Tennant , each driving one propeller , using steam generated by 25 Belleville boilers at a working pressure of 17 @.@ 03 bar ( 1 @,@ 703 <unk> ; 247 <unk> ) . The engines were rated at 15 @,@ 000 indicated horsepower ( 11 @,@ 000 kW ) , using forced draught , and designed to reach a top speed of 18 knots ( 33 km / h ; 21 mph ) although Asahi reached 18 @.@ 3 knots ( 33 @.@ 9 km / h ; 21 @.@ 1 mph ) from 16 @,@ <unk> indicated horsepower ( 12 @,@ 181 kW ) during her sea trials on 23 March 1900 . She carried a maximum of 2 @,@ 000 long tons ( 2 @,@ 032 t ) of coal which allowed her to steam for 9 @,@ 000 nautical miles ( 17 @,@ 000 km ; 10 @,@ 000 mi ) at a speed of 10 knots ( 19 km / h ; 12 mph ) . The ship was fitted with three steam @-@ driven 4 @.@ 8 @-@ <unk> ( 6 @.@ 4 hp ) <unk> . 
   Asahi 's main battery consisted of the same four <unk> Ordnance Company 40 @-@ calibre twelve @-@ inch guns used in all of Japan 's preceding battleships . They were mounted in twin @-@ gun turrets fore and aft of the superstructure . The <unk> powered mountings allowed the guns to be loaded at all angles of traverse , at a fixed elevation of + 13 @.@ 5 ° . Each mount could traverse a total of 240 degrees . They fired 850 @-@ pound ( 386 kg ) projectiles at a muzzle velocity of 2 @,@ 400 ft / s ( 730 m / s ) . 
   The ship 's secondary armament consisted of fourteen 45 @-@ calibre 6 @-@ inch ( 152 mm ) quick @-@ firing ( QF ) guns mounted in casemates . Eight of these guns were positioned on the main deck and the other six guns were placed above them in the superstructure . They fired 100 @-@ pound ( 45 kg ) shells at a muzzle velocity of 2 @,@ 300 ft / s ( 700 m / s ) . Protection against torpedo @-@ boat attacks was provided by twenty QF 12 @-@ pounder 12 cwt guns . The 12 @-@ pounders fired 3 @-@ inch ( 76 mm ) , 12 @.@ 5 @-@ pound ( 5 @.@ 7 kg ) projectiles at a muzzle velocity of 2 @,@ <unk> ft / s ( <unk> m / s ) . <unk> guns consisted of eight 47 @-@ millimetre ( 1 @.@ 9 in ) three @-@ pounder <unk> guns and four 47 @-@ millimetre 2 @.@ 5 @-@ pounder <unk> guns . The former were mounted in the superstructure and the latter in the fighting tops . The three @-@ pounder gun fired 3 @.@ 19 @-@ pound ( 1 @.@ 45 kg ) projectiles at a muzzle velocity of 1 @,@ <unk> ft / s ( <unk> m / s ) , while the 2 @.@ 5 @-@ pounder fired 2 @.@ 5 @-@ pound ( 1 @.@ 1 kg ) shells at a muzzle velocity of 1 @,@ 420 ft / s ( 430 m / s ) . The ship was also equipped with four submerged 18 @-@ inch torpedo tubes , two on each broadside . 
   The waterline main belt of Asahi consisted of Harvey armour 8 feet ( 2 @.@ 44 m ) high , of which 3 feet 8 inches ( 1 @.@ 11 m ) was above the waterline at normal load , and had a maximum thickness of 9 inches ( <unk> mm ) for the middle 224 feet ( 68 @.@ 28 m ) of the ship . It was only 4 inches ( 102 mm ) thick at the ends of the ship and was surmounted by a six @-@ inch <unk> of armour that ran between the barbettes . The barbettes were 14 inches ( <unk> mm ) thick , but only 10 inches ( 254 mm ) behind the upper armour <unk> . The barbette <unk> were protected by 10 inches of armour on their face while their sides were 6 inches thick and the roof was 1 @.@ 5 inches ( 38 mm ) thick . <unk> bulkheads connecting the barbettes to the side armour were 12 – 14 inches thick , but only 6 inches thick at the lower deck level . The frontal armour of the casemates protecting the secondary armament was also 6 inches thick with the rear protected by 2 @-@ inch ( 51 mm ) armour plates . The flat portion of the deck armour was 2 @.@ 5 inches ( 64 mm ) thick and 4 inches ( 102 mm ) thick where it sloped down to the sides of the ship . The conning tower was protected by 14 inches of armour . 
   Asahi , like all the other Japanese battleships of the time , was fitted with four <unk> and Stroud <unk> coincidence rangefinders that had an effective range of 8 @,@ 000 yards ( 7 @,@ 300 m ) . The ships were also fitted with 24 @-@ power <unk> <unk> <unk> . 
   
   = = Construction and career = = 
   
   Asahi , meaning " rising sun " , a poetic name for Japan from a stanza of <unk> poetry , was laid down on 1 August 1898 in <unk> , Scotland , by the <unk> Engineering & Shipbuilding Co. and completed by John Brown & Company , which purchased the firm before Asahi was completed . She was launched on 13 March 1899 and completed on 31 July 1900 . Her completion was delayed by about three months when her bottom plating required repairs after running aground off <unk> following sea trials . The ship departed England , after repairs in Portsmouth , on the day of her completion , and arrived at <unk> , Japan , on 23 October 1900 . Asahi became flagship of the Standing Fleet on 22 May 1901 and was assigned to the 1st Battleship Division of the 1st Fleet when the Combined Fleet was re @-@ formed on 28 December 1903 . 
   At the start of the Russo @-@ Japanese War , Asahi , commanded by Captain <unk> <unk> , was assigned to the 1st Division of the 1st Fleet . She participated in the Battle of Port Arthur on 9 February 1904 , when Vice Admiral <unk> <unk> led the 1st Fleet in an attack on the Russian ships of the Pacific Squadron anchored just outside Port Arthur . <unk> had expected the surprise night attack by his destroyers to be much more successful than it was , anticipating that the Russians would be badly disorganized and weakened , but they had recovered from their surprise and were ready for his attack . The Japanese ships were spotted by the protected cruiser <unk> , which was patrolling offshore and alerted the Russian defences . <unk> chose to attack the Russian coastal defences with his main armament and engage the ships with his secondary guns . <unk> his fire proved to be a poor decision as the Japanese eight @-@ inch ( 203 mm ) and six @-@ inch guns inflicted little damage on the Russian ships , which concentrated all their fire on the Japanese ships with some effect . Although many ships on both sides were hit , Russian casualties numbered only 17 , while the Japanese suffered 60 killed and wounded before <unk> <unk> . Asahi was not hit during the engagement . 
   The ship participated in the action of 13 April , when <unk> successfully lured out a portion of the Pacific Squadron , including Vice Admiral <unk> <unk> 's flagship , the battleship <unk> . When <unk> spotted the five battleships of the 1st Division , he turned back for Port Arthur and <unk> struck a minefield laid by the Japanese the previous night . The Russian battleship sank in less than two minutes after one of her magazines exploded , and <unk> was one of the <unk> killed . <unk> by his success , <unk> resumed long @-@ range bombardment missions , prompting the Russians to lay more minefields , which sank two Japanese battleships the following month . 
   During the Battle of the Yellow Sea on 10 August , Asahi , now commanded by Captain <unk> <unk> , was second in line of the column of Japanese battleships , behind <unk> , and was one of the primary targets of the Russian ships . She was only hit by a single 12 @-@ inch shell that wounded two crewmen . Both guns in her aft 12 @-@ inch gun turret , however , were disabled by shells that detonated prematurely in their barrels . In turn she concentrated most of her fire upon the battleships <unk> and <unk> although both ships were only lightly damaged by the Japanese shells , which generally failed to penetrate any armour and detonated on impact . The ship made the critical hits of the battle , however , when two of her 12 @-@ inch shells struck the bridge of <unk> , killing the Russian squadron commander , Vice Admiral <unk> <unk> , two of his staff officers and the ship 's <unk> . The ship 's wheel was jammed to port by wreckage and then slowed to a halt which threw the rest of the Russian ships into total confusion . The second @-@ in @-@ command , Rear Admiral Prince Pavel <unk> , eventually gained control of the remainder of the squadron and headed back to Port Arthur . <unk> more than two months later , on 26 October , Asahi struck a mine off Port Arthur while on blockade duty . <unk> damaged , she was under repair at <unk> Naval Arsenal from November 1904 to April 1905 . Russian naval forces in the Far East had been destroyed or <unk> by this time and the Russians were forced to transfer ships from the Baltic Fleet that did not arrive until May . 
   
   = = = Battle of <unk> = = = 
   
   At the Battle of <unk> on 27 May 1905 , Asahi again followed the battleship <unk> into combat , this time against the Second and Third Pacific Squadrons . <unk> opened fire at the battleship <unk> <unk> , the Russian flagship , at 14 : 10 , and was joined by Asahi and the armoured cruiser <unk> shortly afterwards . Within an hour the Japanese ships had started a serious fire aboard the Russian ship , badly wounded the fleet commander , Vice Admiral <unk> <unk> , knocked out her rear 12 @-@ inch gun turret , and jammed <unk> <unk> 's steering so that she fell out of formation . The Russian ships were concentrating their fire on <unk> during the early part of the battle and Asahi was not damaged during this time . <unk> was able to cross the T of the Russian squadrons . <unk> <unk> 's steering was later repaired , but she <unk> between the Japanese and Russian fleets several times later in the battle and was heavily damaged . Asahi seems to have mostly engaged the battleships <unk> and <unk> in the late stages of the battle , although Fuji fired the shots that caused the <unk> 's magazines to explode and sink her . Asahi fired more twelve @-@ inch shells , 142 , than any other ship during the battle . In total , the ship was hit six times during the battle , but none of them damaged her significantly . While Asahi 's casualties are not precisely known , the Japanese only lost 110 men killed and 590 wounded to all causes during the battle . The battle was a total Japanese victory with five Russian battleships captured and incorporated into the <unk> . 
   Captain W. C. <unk> , the Royal Navy 's official military observer under the Anglo @-@ Japanese Alliance , took notes of the battle 's progress from a deck chair on Asahi 's exposed quarterdeck . His report confirmed the superiority of Japanese training and tactics and publicized the victory in the West . 
   
   = = = Later career = = = 
   
   In 1908 , Asahi was part of the Japanese fleet that escorted the American Great White Fleet through Japanese waters during its round @-@ the @-@ globe voyage . The ship was assigned to the 1st Fleet in 1908 and 1910 – 11 . Asahi became a gunnery training ship in 1914 , and was re @-@ armed in 1917 with Japanese guns replacing her original British @-@ made guns . The same year , she was assigned to the 5th Division of the 3rd Fleet . In 1918 , Asahi became flagship of her division and participated in the Japanese intervention in the Russian Civil War . She escorted troop convoys to the Russian Far East and was guard ship at <unk> from January to August 1918 . Asahi was reclassified as a first @-@ class coastal defence ship on 1 September 1921 , and began <unk> in 1922 at <unk> in compliance with the terms of the Washington Naval Treaty . She was reclassified as a training and submarine depot ship on 1 April 1923 and her <unk> was completed in July of that same year . Her displacement dropped to 11 @,@ <unk> long tons ( 11 @,@ 625 t ) with the loss of her armour and guns , and her speed was limited to 12 knots ( 22 km / h ; 14 mph ) . 
   The navy decided to convert Asahi into a submarine salvage ship and she began the first stage of her conversion with the installation of specialized salvage equipment from February to August 1925 . From 1926 to October 1927 , the ship 's 25 Belleville boilers were replaced with four <unk> Type <unk> boilers at <unk> Naval Arsenal . One of her two funnels was also removed , and two large lifting frames were installed as part of the second stage of her conversion . The ship conducted experiments in submarine rescue using the old German submarine 0 @-@ 1 ( ex @-@ U @-@ 125 ) . In May 1928 , Asahi was fitted with a 62 @-@ foot @-@ 4 @-@ inch ( 19 m ) compressed @-@ air aircraft catapult on her forecastle and successfully launched an <unk> Type 15 seaplane . After repeated accidents , the catapult was replaced by one powered by gunpowder . On the completion of testing in 1928 , Asahi was placed in reserve . 
   <unk> as a repair ship on 16 August 1937 , Asahi was taken out of reserve in November , after the Marco Polo Bridge Incident that started the Second <unk> @-@ Japanese War , and was used as a transport to land troops in an amphibious landing at Hangzhou Bay . Afterwards she began conversion at <unk> , Japan , into a repair ship ; this was completed on 18 December 1938 . Asahi was fitted with a <unk> wooden main battery fore and aft to resemble an old battleship after her arrival in Shanghai on 29 December . In May 1939 she was modified to act as a torpedo depot ship and carried out patrols between 29 May and 7 November 1940 . She was transferred to <unk> Bay , French Indochina , on 15 November 1940 and later transported the 11th Base Unit from <unk> to <unk> Bay 19 November – 7 December 1941 . 
   From 13 March 1942 , Asahi was stationed at Singapore , and in April her crew performed repairs on the light cruiser <unk> , which had been torpedoed by the submarine USS <unk> off Christmas Island . <unk> Singapore for <unk> on 22 May , escorted by the <unk> CH @-@ 9 , Asahi was sighted by the submarine USS Salmon on the night of 25 / 26 May 1942 , 100 miles ( 160 km ) southeast of Cape <unk> , Indochina . Of Salmon 's four torpedoes , two hit the ship in her port central boiler room and aft spaces . At 01 : 03 , moments after being hit , Asahi sank at 10 ° 00 ′ N 110 ° 00 ′ E. Sixteen men were killed in the attack ; the ship 's captain and <unk> crewmen were rescued by CH @-@ 9 . 
   
   