The need for such a vessel to operate on the rivers of the Asian mainland to protect Japanese commercial interests at various treaty ports had been perceived even before the Boxer Rebellion.

The Japanese government turned to the United Kingdom, and placed an order for two such vessels in 1903: one the Sumida to John I. Thornycroft & Company and the other the (Fushimi) to Yarrow Shipbuilders in Scotland.

However, due to official British neutrality in the Russo-Japanese War, the unfinished ship was impounded in Hong Kong until the end of that conflict.

Due to its more powerful engine, it was capable of navigating the Three Gorges of the upper Yangtze River and was the first Japanese warship to call on Chongqing in April, 1907.

Fushimi continued to operate on the Yangtze River in China during the early 1930s, but was already considered obsolete, and was struck from the navy list on March 1, 1935.