Russian expansion and new armor enlarge the battle line

Russia's more ambitious construction program and possible concentration in East Asia made Japan's original four armored cruisers look inadequate. Meanwhile, Harvey and Krupp cemented armor promised resistance to all but the largest armor-piercing shells at long battle ranges. Japanese planners therefore considered armored cruisers capable of reinforcing the battle line, an idea that anticipated later battlecruiser arguments. The 1897 revision added two more armored cruisers, producing the Asama and related Izumo designs as modified members of the same broad family. The purchase expanded a force already seeking four of the largest and most capable armored cruisers available.