Having just read the reveiw of the Hasegawa 1/350 IJN Mikasa, and that it is held in the same esteem by the Japanese as HMS Victory and USS Constitution is to the British and Americans respectively, it makes me proud to know that this ship was British built in my home town of Barrow-in-Furness by the then Vickers Shipbuilding and Engineering company. In fact in the area of Barrow where I live the streets are named after famous Barrow ships and at the bottom of my street is Mikasa street.
Interesting tidbit, thanks.
The list of ships, submarines and civilian vessels built here in Barrow is, I think, an impressive one. Barrow has been building submarines since 1886 when the yard built subs for Nordenfelt; one of which was the first to fire a torpedo while submerged. The list includes Mikasa, Kongo, HMS Illustrious, the X craft from WW2, HMS Ajax and the armed merchant ship Jervis Bay.
As I type this there are two other posts in this section which refer to Barrow built vessels. British Majestic Class Aircraft Carriers. and AE2 - 1914 British E-Class submarine
Here is a link to some photos of Barrow built ships.
A good part of the Japanese battlefleet was built in England until just after WW-I. They even reverse-engineered the British designs when building their own and that’s why they were so stout.