The Japanese naval shipbuilding program according to the Dutch newspaper Algemeen Handelsblad evening edition dated 28 February 1911

According to the latest tidings from Tokyo were at that moment at government and private yards 2 battleships, 4 cruisers and 2 destroyers being build. The destroyer Yamakaze (1) which was being build at the Mitsoe yard was slightly changed using the latest modifications applied at the British destroyer HMS Swift.(2)

There was a budget available for building 4 battleships and 3 protected cruisers although according tot well informed sources the budget was intended to be used for building four dreadnoughts each of 26,000 tons. One of these dreadnoughts was all ready ordered in England.(3)

A considerable part of the budget was to spent on the increase of the Yokosuka docks where within short time apparently the keel was to be lay down of the first of such dreadnoughts. The very large dock of the Mitsoe Bisju yard was also to be increased.

Notes

1. The Yamakaze of the Umikaze-class laid down at the Mitsubishi shipyards at Nagasaki, Japan on 1 June 1909, launched on 21 January 1911, completed on 21 October 1911, commissioned on 1 June 1930 as the minesweeper No. 8 (other sources said W-7), stricken on 1 April 1936 and broken up. The Umikaze-class was mainly based on the design of the British Tribal-class.

2. This must be the British destroyer HMS Swift laid down in 1905 at the yard of Cammell Laird at Birken head, England, launched in 7 December 1907, commissioned in August 1910 and sold to be broken up on 9 December 1921. The Swift was in fact a failure. She was designed as a very fast large ocean-going destroyer but was to weak armed, to costly and lacking the contracted speed of 36 knots. She was nicknamed Flying Scud.

3. Presumably the battle cruiser Kongo laid down at the yard of Vickers-Armstrong, Barrow-in-Furness, England on 17 January 1911, launched on 18 may 1912 and commissioned on 16 August 1913.