 Kasuga at Sasebo after the Battle of Tsushima, May 1905
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| History | |
|---|---|
 Empire of Japan | |
| Name | Kasuga |
| Namesake | Kasuga Shrine |
| Ordered | 23 December 1901 |
| Builder | Gio. Ansaldo & C., Genoa-Sestri Ponente |
| Laid down | 10 March 1902 |
| Launched | 22 October 1902 |
| Acquired | 30 December 1903 |
| Commissioned | 7 January 1904 |
| Fate |
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| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | Giuseppe Garibaldi-class armored cruiser |
| Displacement | 7,700 t (7,578 long tons) |
| Length | 111.73 m (366 ft 7 in) (o/a) |
| Beam | 18.71 m (61 ft 5 in) |
| Draft | 7.31 m (24 ft 0 in) |
| Depth | 12.1 m (39 ft 8 in) |
| Installed power |
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| Propulsion | 2 Shafts; 2 triple-expansion steam engines |
| Speed | 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph) |
| Range | 5,500 nmi (10,200 km; 6,300 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph) |
| Complement | 560 |
| Armament |
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| Armor |
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Kasuga (春日, Vernal Sun) was the name ship of the Kasuga-class armored cruisers of the Imperial Japanese Navy, built in the first decade of the 20th century by Gio. Ansaldo & C., Sestri Ponente, Italy, where the type was known as the Giuseppe Garibaldi class. The ship was originally ordered by the Royal Italian Navy as Mitra in 1901 and sold in 1902 to Argentine Navy who renamed her Bernardino Rivadavia during the Argentine–Chilean naval arms race, but the lessening of tensions with Chile and financial pressures caused the Argentinians to sell her before delivery. At that time tensions between the Empire of Japan and the Russian Empire were rising, and the ship was offered to both sides before she was purchased by the Japanese.
During the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–05, Kasuga participated in the Battle of the Yellow Sea and was lightly damaged during the subsequent Battle of Tsushima. In addition, she frequently bombarded the defenses of Port Arthur. The ship played a limited role in World War I and was used to escort Allied convoys and search for German commerce raiders in the Indian Ocean and Australasia. Kasuga became a training ship in the late 1920s and was then disarmed and hulked in 1942 for use as a barracks ship. The ship capsized shortly before the end of World War II in 1945 and was salvaged three years later and broken up for scrap.