Scale 1:48. A contemporary builder’s full hull model of the ‘Takao’ (1888), a Japanese armed sloop. Model is decked, fully equipped and is complete with its original and ornate ‘japanned’ display case.

Measuring 231 feet in length by 34 feet in the beam and a tonnage of 1927, this composite despatch vessel was one of several small cruisers built to the great French warship designer, Emile Bertin. Armed with four 6-inch guns and two torpedo tubes, this was the first steel-hulled warship to be built in Japan and carried a crew of 222. In 1900, her armament and rig was modernized and after a period of serving as a survey ship, she was broken up in 1918. This highly decorated cased model is one of six that were presented to the Royal Naval College, Greenwich, by the Japanese Government in 1910, (see SLR1377, et al) in appreciation for the training of their naval officers.