The design resembled a smaller version of the Esmeralda concept (the 1883 protected cruiser built by Armstrong/Elswick shipyards for Chile) and is most similar in size to the Chinese protected cruiser Chi Yuan (1883) a ship built at about the same time as Esmeralda.
Sumatra was armed with: one 21 cm A. No. 2 (Krupp 21 cm L/35) forward and one 15 cm A. No.2 (Krupp 15 cm MRK L/35) aft, both in shields. On the sides were sponsons for two 12 cm L.A. The smaller guns were: one 7.5 cm A., four 3.7 cm, two 3.7 cm revolver guns, and one mr. 7.5 cm A.
The Dutch Navy also built a larger protected cruiser with heavier armament, launched in 1892, which had an 11-inch gun forward and was most comparable to the Japanese protected cruisers of the type.[1] These ships represented a design philosophy in which navies that could not afford first-class battleships (including the Netherlands) mounted heavy weapons on coastal defense ships or moderately sized protected cruisers with the idea these ships would pose a threat to first-class opponents.