After Japan was forced out of its isolation period in 1853, the country underwent a rapid transformation from a medieval, feudal agricultural society, into a modern, industrial, imperialist state. During the Meiji Restoration, the feudal samurai were disbanded, becoming the core of a new military officer and civil servant class. The army was modernized and new modern navy was created. Until Japan was able to establish its own naval industry, foreign shipyards were contracted to build their warships. These were initially protected and light cruisers of types suitable for small, regional powers. It wasn't long before the rising power of Japan came into military conflict with neighboring Imperial China and Korea. In 1894, Japan and China fought a war over Korea. The new Japanese navy smashed the poorly organized Chinese navy at the Battle of Yalu River. Japan occupied Korea and seized the strategic Port Arthur.
The Japanese flagship at Yalu River 1894, Matsushima (right), was one of three French-built protected cruisers, featuring a single 12 inch gun and a battery of 6 inches. She and her sisters appeared powerful, but the 12 inch gun was only capable of firing two shells an hour. Poor protection was also a problem. Matsushima survived the battle but was very badly damaged.
Japan's victory over China would be short-lived as Imperial Russia, which had its own designs on Korea and the northern Chinese ports, called a conference of the European Powers to reverse Japan's gains. Japan retained possession of the Korean peninsula, but Port Arthur was allocated to Russia as a protectorate. For Japan, this was a humiliation that set the country on a collision course with Russia. For the time being however, Japan needed to consolidate its gains and rebuild its forces, as it had suffered considerable losses of ships in the Sino-Japanese War.
The Mikasa is launched in 1900.
Having experience of French, Italian and British ships during the Sino-Japanese War, Japan embarked on an ambitious capital ship building program of the latest British designs. Six battleships and six armored cruisers were ordered from Britain. The last ship in this program was the IJN Mikasa, ordered in 1899 from the Vickers Yard in Barrow-in-Furness. The Mikasa and her sisters were not a cut-down or cut-price version of a British battleship, but built to British pre-dreadnought standards and could equally have served in the Royal Navy. Only minor adjustments were made for Japanese accommodation, bathing and dining halls (floor seating and sleeping) and the fitting of locally made minor battery guns. Between 1899 and 1904, six modern battleships were ordered from British yards, along with a number of cruisers, making Japans navy among the most modern in the world.
Mikasa fitting out in the Vickers yard. She was completed in 1902 and set sail for Yokohama.
Tensions with Russia continued to grow through the early years of the 20th century as Russia continued to expand eastward, encroaching on Manchuria, where Japan had its own interests. The expansion of the Trans-Siberian railway toward the port of Vladivostok were also seen as a threat. Determined that Russian expansion must be stopped, in 1904 the Japanese navy launched a surprise attack on the Russian fleet at Vladivostok. The port was blockaded by sea and the Japanese invaded the hinterland, cutting the port off by land.
As the newest ship in the fleet, Mikasa was Admiral Togo's flagship in the Russo-Japanese War and as such led the fleet in all the engagements with the Russian Pacific Squadron. For the Russians the war went badly from the start. Their energetic commander, Vice Admiral Marakov, was killed when his flagship, the modern battleship Petropavlosk, steamed into a minefield and exploded. Lacking decisive leadership, the Port Arthur fleet attempted unsuccessfully to break out to Vladivostok several times, each time losing their nerve and returning to port. The fleet was eventually sunk at its moorings by Japanese land-based artillery. The Russian army fought a series of holding battles with the Japanese, and although effectively defeated each time, the Russians managed to withdraw in order, denying the Japanese the decisive victory they sought.
Meanwhile, the government in St Petersburg sought to recover the situation by mustering a relief fleet from the units of the Baltic Sea Fleet. While the fleet included four modern battleships of the Borodino class, it was saddled with two squadrons of obsolete coastal defense units. Slow, obsolete and weakly armed, these units would prove to be more a liability than an asset. The fleet was placed under the command of Admiral Rozhestvensky, who was renown as a gunnery expert. Denied access to the Suez Canal, the Baltic Fleet was forced to sail around Africa, across the Indian Ocean to the Sea of Japan. Additionally, Britain and France denied the Russians use of their colonial ports, repair and coaling facilities, so by the time the Russians arrived in the far east, their crews were exhausted and all their ships were in a terrible state of disrepair.
Admiral Rozhestvensky, had few illusions about the coming action. Despite his efforts to improve the fleets gunnery during the voyage, the fleet could barely maintain formation, its gunnery remained terrible and the coastal defense fleet, bringing up the rear, was terribly slow. To save what could be saved, he proposed to rush straight for Vladivostok where the fleet could be refurbished for a future battle on more favorable terms. He hoped the heavy guns of the first squadron of modern warships would be able to keep the Japanese at a distance as it ran the gauntlet, but he held little hope that the third squadron of coast defense ships would survive the encounter. The Japanese had a long time to prepare for the arrival of the Russian fleet and was in a high state of readiness. Admiral Togo correctly predicted Rozhestvensky's strategy and positioned his fleet on the north coast of Japan, where it could guard the Tsushima straits between Japan and Korea, the directest route to Vladivostok.
The Russian and Japanese fleets crossed paths on 27 May 1905. Togo turned his fleet towards the Russians to close the distance, which temporarily put the Japanese at a disadvantage as the Russians 'crossed his T.' The Russian first squadron opened a surprisingly accurate fire on the Mikasa and the leading Japanese battleships, landing some 15 heavy calibre hits on the Mikasa. However, as the Japanese fleet turned to run alongside the Russians, it opened a devastating fire on the leading Russian ships. The Russian battleship Oslabyia was struck below the waterline and rapidly began flooding. The ship rolled over and sank in short order, the first battleship to be sunk by gunfire alone. A Japanese shell struck the Russian flagship Knyaz Suvorov on the armored conning tower, killing or wounding the captain and his staff. Admiral Rozhestvensky was struck in the head with shell fragments. He would survive but was unconscious for the rest of the battle. With the flagship 'disabled', the Russian fleet was now leaderless and orderly resistance fell apart.
The Russian first squadron was pounded to destruction. Three of the Borodino battleships, including the Knyaz Suvorov, were sunk. Command fell by default to the second squadron, which was in little better condition. Night bought the Russians some relief and some of the faster ships managed to escape in the dark. The following morning the surviving Russian ships surrendered. The battle was an decisive Japanese victory.
The only surviving Borodino class battleship from Tsushima, Orel, after capture. She would be repaired and put into service with the Japanese navy as IJN Iwami. She was scrapped in 1925.
Mikasa took a beating at Tsushima, sustaining approximately 40 heavy and medium calibre hits and suffered 113 casualties. She was repaired and continued in service as the fleet flagship. On the night of 11/12 September 1905, six days after the official end of the Russo-Japanese War, the Mikasa suffered a catastrophic explosion in her forward magazine and sank at her moorings. 251 men were killed. Despite significant damage, the ship was raised and rebuilt, returning to service in 1908. By this stage, the Mikasa and her class had been made obsolete by the all-big-gun HMS Dreadnought, which had been designed in response to the lessons of Tsushima. During the First World War (1914-18), the Mikasa was reclassified as a coast defense ship, serving out the war in home waters. In 1921, the Mikasa served in the Russian Intervention, where she ran aground off Vladivostok. She was refloated and returned to Japan for repair.
By this stage, Mikasa was quite obsolete and there was little value in comprehensively repairing the damaged ship. The following year, the Washington Naval Treaty went into effect, placing limits on the leading power's navies and the Mikasa was ear-marked for scrapping, but the Japanese sought approval from the other signatories to preserve the ship as a de-militarized museum ship. This was unanimously agreed by the signatories. In 1923 the Mikasa was decommission and moved to Yokasuka, south of Tokyo where she was encased in a concrete mooring, and her engines and guns were removed. Crown Prince (later Emperor) Hirohito attended the opening of the Mikasa Memorial Ship Museum in 1926.
Despite being disarmed and encased in concrete, the Mikasa was bombed by the US repeatedly in the last months of the Second World War. In 1945 the US occupied the Yokasuka naval yard (and remain there today). The Soviets demanded that the Mikasa be scrapped as part of Japan's demilitarization, but deteriorating relations between the US and Soviets led to this being slow walked. Instead, the US navy had the Mikasa's superstructure and turrets removed. A hall was built over the center of the hull, becoming a dance hall and bar. The turret bases were converted into an aquarium and ice-skating rink.
The ship's condition rapidly deteriorated through the 1950s and discussion turned to finally scrapping the ship. A visit by a British journalist from Barrow-on-Furness however sparked renewed interest in the ship. His story about the Mikasa being the last ship of her type led to an international campaign to restore the ship. Support was even enlisted from retired US Admiral Chester Nimitz, who had visited the ship and met with Admiral Togo during the 1920s. Restoration commenced in the 1960s. Surprisingly, the project team discovered that the ship's original superstructure, turrets and guns - supposedly scrapped in 1946 - still existed, hidden away in warehouses by the Japanese demolition crew. These were recovered in reinstalled. Missing guns and period fittings were obtained from Chilean battleship Almirante Latorre (formerly HMS Canada), which was then in Yokohama dockyards for scrapping. Like the Mikasa, this ship had been built in Britain before the First World War.
In 1961 the restored Mikasa was opened to the pubic. She remains at her mooring at the harbourside in Yukosuka. When we visited in October 2026, the area around the ship was being redeveloped. There was also some repair work going on on her rear deck. Within the interior were good displays about the ship, its history and a lot of information about the Battle of Tsushima. Text is all in Japanese and English. There were also several good audio-visual displays and video games of the battle. We spend about an hour on board. It was well worth the visit and entry is very cheap. Yukosuka is about two hours south of Tokyo by train. We were coming from Yokohama, about an hour north of Yukosuka and an interesting destination in itself. We should have stayed another night in Yokohama actually. The sail training ship, Nippon Maru is moored as a museum ship in Yokohama, but I missed seeing it.
Standing at the prow looking back towards the bridge. The turret is a replica.
Inside the secondary battery. This is the breech of one of her six 6 inch guns.
Model of the Mikasa
Chrysanthemum floret from the bridge and the ships flag.
Admiral Togo's uniform on the right.
The famous painting of Admiral Togo and his bridge crew on the flying bridge during the battle. Despite the barrage of fire from the Russian ships, Togo refused to relocate to the conning tower but remained in the open. Togo's binoculars are also on display.
The officers dining mess
The officers bathroom. It is reminiscent of a first class train carriage from the 19th century.
One of the officers cabins.
One of the quick firing guns in the admiral's annex.
Admiral Togo's cabin and meeting room at the back of the ship
Inside the armored conning tower. From here the ship would be commanded during battle. At this time, armored glass was not available and the vision slits are open. A Japanese shell struck the conning tower of the Russian flagship Knyaz Suvorov in the early phase of the battle, showing the interior with shell fragments, killing and wounding everyone inside, including Admiral Rozhestvensky. He would be in a coma for several days, waking to find himself in a hospital in Japan. Togo met with him to wish him well and offered his condolences for the losses.
The bridge
Looking back from the bridge. The square alongside the ship was being renovated.
Mikasa from the entry. Unfortunately, due to the renovation of the grounds I could not go up to the front of the ship.
Navy curry - it really is a thing.
The stern of the ship with the promenade outside the Admiral's cabin.
The Mikasa is well worth a visit.
Mikasa Memorial Warship
82-19 Inaokachō, Yokosuka, Kanagawa 238-0003, Japan
How to get there:
By Rail
KEIKYU(Keihin Kyuko) Line: Get off at Yokosuka Chuo Station. 15minutes walk.
JR Yokosuka Line:Get off at Yokosuka Station. Take a bus and get off at MIKAS Park stop or 25 minutes walk.
By Car
Yokohama-Yokosuka Toll road.
Take exit of Yokosuka IC, get on Honcho-Yamanaka Toll Road and get on to Route 16. Make a left turn at the road sign to the MIKASA Park.
By Ferryboat from Kanaya port, Chiba
From Kurihama Port, Take Route 134 to Ohtsu Intersection.After passing the intersection, take Yokosuka Kaigan Dori to Mikasa Park Then make right turn to the MIKASA Park.
https://www.kinenkan-mikasa.or.jp/en/index.html
Mikasa guidebook: https://www.kinenkan-mikasa.or.jp/en/documents/guide_e_2018.pdf
USS Olympia (another rare survivor from the pre-dreadnought era): https://militarymuseum.blogspot.com/2020/01/uss-olympia-independence-seaport.html
USS Monitor https://militarymuseum.blogspot.com/2019/10/uss-monitor-centre-newport-news-usa.html
SMS Leitha https://militarymuseum.blogspot.com/2019/10/sms-leitha.html
HNLMS Buffel https://militarymuseum.blogspot.com/2019/08/hnlms-buffel-rotterdam.html
HMVS Cerberus: https://militarymuseum.blogspot.com/2019/10/hm-victorian-ship-cerberus-melbourne.html
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