 Prince Yamashina Kikumaro attended the launch, and afterwards had dinner with Baron William Armstrong, who made a toast that "the ship was destined to the service of a country which was likely never to come into collision with our own peace-loving country".The hull of the "Naniwa"-class cruiser was a typical flush deck with high freeboard to improve seaworthiness.The design came with a ram attached to the reinforced bow, which was standard practice for the time.