Four 8-inch guns in twin turrets formed Asama's main battery, backed by fourteen 6-inch guns, twelve 12-pounders, eight 3-pounder Hotchkiss guns, and five 18-inch torpedo tubes. For a ship completed in 1899, that was an unusually formidable cruiser armament. The unprotected Spanish cruisers faced by American forces make a useful comparison. Against a fully worked-up opponent of Asama's quality, the United States probably still would have won, though at a much higher cost. This counterfactual measures contemporary capability without implying that Japan and the United States were about to fight.
Notable Point · 17:19-18:32
Asama's armament reframes an American victory
Asama's heavy gun and torpedo battery shows how much more costly the Spanish-American War might have been against a fully worked-up modern cruiser.