Esmeralda

History: Esmeralda was developed as a custom-design by naval architect George Wightwick Rendel of Armstrong Whitworth for the Chilean Navy, and followed through by his successor William Henry White. Assigned shipyard number 429, the cruiser was laid down on 5 April 1881 and launched on 6 June 1883, and completed on 15 July 1884. During speed trials, the new vessel attained 18.29 knots (33.87 km/h; 21.05 mph), which made it the fastest cruiser of the world at the time. This created a sensation among professionals and in the news, and led the Prince of Wales (the future King Edward VII) to visit the ship of 22 August 1884. Esmeralda served in the Chilean Navy for approximately ten years, until 1894. She was then sold to Japan as part of Japan's Emergency Fleet Replenishment Programme during the First Sino-Japanese War, and was commissioned into service with the Imperial Japanese Navy on 15 November 1894 as Izumi.

Type: Cruiser

SubType: Protected

Primary Country: Chile, officially the Republic of Chile (Spanish: República de Chile), is a South American country occupying a long, narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far south. Chilean territory includes the Pacific islands of Juan Fernández, Salas y Gómez, Desventuradas, and Easter Island in Oceania. Chile also claims about 1,250,000 square kilometres (480,000 sq mi) of Antarctica, although all claims are suspended under the Antarctic Treaty.