The name Kawachi comes from Kawachi Province, now a part of Osaka prefecture. The Kawachi had a sister ship, the Settsu, which had a clipper bow as opposed to the straight bow of the Kawachi.
The Kawachi was a modified version of the IJN Aki initially designed with six dual 12 inch / 50 caliber guns, but completed as a "semi-dreadnought" with a mixed main battery of 12" / 50 caliber and 12" / 45 caliber guns due to worldwide shortages of 12" / 50 caliber guns. Construction was also delayed by a severe world economic depression. The 12 inch guns were acquired from Great Britain, but the 25.000shp Brown-Curtis turbine engines were built under license by Kawasaki.
The Kawachi was sunk by an explosion caused by spontaneous ignition of instable cordite in its ammunition magazine on 12 July1918, in Tokuyama Bay, with the loss of 621 officers and crew out of a complement of 1059 men. Stricken on 2 September1918, its hulk was later salvaged and scrapped.
