Japanese cruiser Itsukushima

Itsukushima in 1904
History
Empire of Japan
Name	Itsukushima
Namesake	Itsukushima Shrine
Ordered	1886 Fiscal Year
Builder	Société Nouvelle des Forges et Chantiers de la Méditerranée, La Seyne-sur-Mer, France
Laid down	7 January 1888
Launched	18 July 1889
Completed	3 September 1891
Stricken	12 March 1926
Fate	Scrapped 1926
General characteristics
Class and type	Matsushima-class cruiser
Displacement	4,278 long tons (4,347 t)
Length	91.81 m (301 ft 3 in) w/l
Beam	15.6 m (51 ft 2 in)
Draft	6.05 m (19 ft 10 in)
Propulsion	2-shaft reciprocating; 6 boilers; 5,400 hp (4,000 kW), 680 tons coal
Speed	16.5 knots (19.0 mph; 30.6 km/h)
Complement	360
Armament	1 × 320 mm (12.6 in) Canet gun 11 × QF 4.7 inch Gun Mk I–IV guns 5 × QF 3 pounder Hotchkiss guns 11 × QF 1 pounder Hotchkiss 5 barrel rotary guns 4 × 356 mm (14.0 in) torpedo tubes
Armor	Deck: 50 mm (2 in) Gun Turret: 300 mm (12 in) Gun shield: 100 mm (4 in)

Itsukushima (厳島) was the lead ship in the Matsushima class of protected cruisers of the Imperial Japanese Navy. Like her sister ships, (Matsushima and Hashidate) the name Itsukushima comes from one of the traditional Three Views of Japan, in this case, the Itsukushima Shrine in Hiroshima prefecture on the Seto Inland Sea, home to a famous Shinto-Buddhist shrine dedicated to the Buddhist goddess Benzaiten.