exception the ships comprising this division are all British built. Designs, armour-plating and armament follow the type and standard of our own Navy, and it is therefore obvious that we cannot fail to be stirred deeply by the results of any collision which may occur. Each nation possesses in Far Eastern waters ships supplied with the latest appliances which science and ingenuity have devised. To the people of this Empire, whose security rests primarily upon the Fleet, our interest in the engagements is naturally the higher, by reason of the similarity between the ships which will be engaged upon one side and those of our own Navy. These vessels, all of which have received their war-paint, and whose place of concentration is Nagasaki, some 585 nautical miles from Port Arthur, are as follows:
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Name Where built Tonnage Chief armament
Hatsuse (B) Elswick 15,000 4 12 in. 14 6 in.
Shikishima (B) Thames 15,000 4 12 in. 14 6 in.
Asahi (B) Clyde 15,000 4 12 in. 14 6 in.
Fuji (B) Blackwall 12,500 4 12 in. 10 6 in.
Yashima (B) Elswick 12,500 4 12 in. 10 6 in.
Iwate (C) Elswick 10,000 4 8 in. 10 6 in.
Asama (C) Elswick 10,000 4 8 in. 10 6 in.
Idzuma (C) Elswick 10,000 4 8 in. 14 6 in.
Tokiwa (C) Elswick 10,000 4 8 in. 10 6 in.
Takasago (C) Elswick 4,300 2 8 in. 10 4.7 in.
Kasagi (C) Cramp (Philadelphia) 5,000 2 8 in. 10 4.7 in.
(B) battleship; (C) cruiser.
