The Battle of tsushima

The Battle of Tsushima, fought from May 27–28, 1905, was a decisive naval battle in the Russo-Japanese War. It took place in the Tsushima Strait between Korea and Japan. The Japanese fleet, under Admiral Tōgō Heihachirō, decisively defeated the Russian Baltic Fleet, commanded by Admiral Zinovy Rozhestvensky. This victory marked the first time in modern history that an Asian power defeated a European one in a major military engagement, securing Japan’s dominance in East Asia and signaling the decline of Russian imperial ambitions in the Pacific.

Tsushima: Japan humiliates Russia

Introduction

On July 8, 1853, the farmers and fishermen living around the port of Uraga, Japan, witnessed a disturbing sight: Four foreign warships boldly steamed into the bay and anchored just offshore; they were commanded by Commodore Matthew Perry, an American naval hero. For the previous 250 years, Japan had pursued a strict isolationist policy, closing its borders to almost all contact with foreigners and refusing even to meet with representatives of other nations. This policy had resulted in Japan missing the Industrial Revolution. At least 18 attempts by various countries had sought to establish economic or diplomatic ties with Japan, but every one of them had been rebuffed. Perry was determined to succeed where others had failed.

Japan’s Military Modernization

• (1) In July of 1853, through a combination of blunt force, bullying, and stubbornness, Commodore Matthew Perry, a U.S. naval hero, managed to make contact with representatives of the Japanese government, penetrating a strict isolationist policy that had been in place for the previous 250 years. On a follow-up visit the next year, he negotiated the Treaty of Kanagawa, which opened Japanese ports to American trade.
• (2) Much of Perry’s success was due to Japan’s lack of a real navy. This military inadequacy was intensely humiliating for the Japanese, and it was one of the main factors that sparked the Meiji Restoration. The new leadership adopted an astonishingly aggressive policy of modernization and industrialization.
• (3) The Japanese decided to mold their new army and navy on the best foreign models they could find.
  (a) Great Britain had the reputation of having the largest, most efficient, most well-trained, and most technologically advanced navy in the world. Accordingly, Japanese naval officers and engineers were to Britain to study the methods and practices of the Royal Navy, and contracts were signed for new Japanese warships to be constructed in British shipyards following the most up-to-date designs.
  (b) The modern Japanese army was initially to be based on the French model, but after Prussia’s impressive defeats of Austria in 1866 and France in 1870, the Japanese switched to the Prussian military, again dispatching observers and purchasing the latest in German rifles and cannons.
• (4) Nevertheless, Japan continued to be viewed as a strange but unthreatening and technologically backward nation. This assumption would be blown to bits in the narrow gap of water separating Japan from Korea, the Tsushima Strait. It was here that, on May 27, 1905, a thoroughly modern Japanese fleet annihilated a much larger Russian one, announcing Japan’s entrance onto the global stage as a major power.

The Navies and Their Technology

• (1) At the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War, the Japanese fleet had 6 modern battleships, all built in Great Britain within the previous seven years. The flagship was the Mikasa, a 15,200-ton battleship completed in 1902. It represented the state of the art, having 12-inch main guns that could be reloaded in whichever direction the guns pointed, a new technology that increased its rate of fire.
• (2) Next in size and strength were 8 powerful armored cruisers, also recently built in foreign shipyards and all well-armed with 8- and 6-inch guns. These 14 ships formed the core of the battle fleet, supported by several dozen smaller cruisers and destroyers, as well as some squadrons of torpedo boats.
• (3) The Japanese sailors were highly disciplined and dedicated. Because they had been subjected to vigorous training and drills, they knew their roles and had experience using their ships and weapons.
• (4) The admiral in charge of the Japanese fleet was Heihachiro Togo. As a young man, he witnessed an incident in which a British warship was able to shell Japan with impunity because of its lack of an effective navy, causing him to pursue a naval career. Accordingly, he was sent to England as a cadet in the British navy. After seven years, he returned to Japan, serving aboard a variety of warships and participating in several minor sea battles. In 1895, he attained the rank of admiral.
• (5) Russia had a much larger fleet divided into three groups: the Black Sea Squadron, which had the most modern battleships; the Black Sea Squadron, trapped in that body of water by Turkish control of the Bosphorus; and the Pacific Squadron. The Pacific Squadron, based near Japan at Port Arthur, consisted of 7 battleships, 7 cruisers, and a smattering of smaller craft. Although some of the vessels were reasonably modern, others were outdated, and the crews were generally ill-trained.

The Campaign

• (1) Tsar Nicholas II of Russia had determined to focus his expansion efforts in the east and began to commit more troops and ships to increasing Russian power there. The obvious targets were Manchuria and the Korean peninsula. But Japan, whose imperial ambitions were growing along with its modernized military, also coveted these two regions. On February 4, 1904, Japan severed relation with Russia, and the Russo-Japanese War officially began.
• (2) The Japanese struck first, with Togo launching a surprise torpedo attack against the Russian ships anchored at Port Arthur. Psychologically, the attack was a great blow to Russian confidence and an equally powerful boost to Japanese morale. The tsar dispatched the most renowned admiral in Russia, Stepan Makarov, to Port Arthur to take control of the situation and restore Russian pride.
• (3) Makarov quickly refloated the battleship and revived the spirits of the pacific fleet. Unfortunately for the Russians, while leading the fleets on its very first sortie, Makarov’s flagship struck a mine and sank within minutes, carrying Makarov and 662 members of its crew to the bottom.
• (4) Togo now had the upper hand. The Japanese launched a massive invasion, ferrying hundreds of thousands of troops to Manchuria, defeating Russian armies at the battles of the Yalu River and Nanshan, capturing the port of Dalny, and surrounding Port Arthur.
• (5) The tsar, determined to make a maximum effort to win the war, sent the Baltic Squadron to reinforce the Pacific Squadron. Renamed the Second Pacific Squadron, this was a powerful force that included 4 new battleships, 3 older battleships, and an attendant swarm of cruisers, destroyers, and support ships.
• (6) The man selected to lead the Second Pacific Squadron was admiral Zinovy Rozhestvensky. He was a strict disciplinarian, but he was also fair-minded and relatively concerned for the welfare of his men. Rozhestvensky spent two years as a naval attache in Great Britain, where like Togo, he witnessed firsthand the organaization and technology of the Royal Navy.
• (7) Just getting his ships to the battle zone posed an enormous logistical challenge. The vessels were coal-powered, and there were not many friendly refueling stations along the route. The Hamburg–America steamship line was contracted to position supply ships bearing 340,000 tons of coal at intervals along the route. On October 15, 1604, the Second Pacific Squadron departed on what proved to be an epic journey.
• (8) Meanwhile, Port Arthur was being menaced by advancing Japanese troops; thus, the Russian fleet there was ordered to move to the port of Vladivostok. The remaining battleships and cruisers were intercepted by Togo. In the Battle of the Yellow Sea, the more efficient Japanese gunners disabled the Russian flagship and sank 2 cruisers. The rest of the Russian fleet fled to Port Arthur or to neutral ports, where they were interned for the remainder of the war.
• (9) After the destruction of the original Pacific Squadron, Tsar Nicholas decided to reinforce Rozhestvensky’s fleet. Nearly anything that could float and had a gun was rounded up and organized as the Third Pacific Squadron. The ships in this group included a number of hopelessly outdated ironclads and slow coastal defense vessels. Rozhestvensky realized that these ships would add nothing to the offensive capability of his fleet and tried to persuade his superiors not to burden him with them, but he was nevertheless ordered to wait for their arrival before proceeding to Vladivostok.

The Battle

• (1) Rozhestvensky’s combined fleet, now with nearly 50 vessels, finally approached the vicinity of Japan in late May 1905. Despite the presence of many ships of questionable value, Rozhestvensky still had a solid core of 7 modern battleships to Togo’s 4 and the advantage of more 10- and 12-inch cannons—41 to Togo’s 17. The Japanese, however, had a significant edge in training, gunnery, speed, morale, and 8-inch guns.
• (2) Early on May 27, a Japanese ship sighted the Russian fleet in the Tsushima Strait and radioed its position and course. Togo moved to intercept, and the two fleets drew near each other. Because their approched would have put Togo’s cruisers into action first, rather than his battleships, Togo had his entire fleet execute a semicircular turn within range of the Russian guns, exposing each ship to concentrated fire for a few moments. But the Russian gunners were unable to take advantage of the opportunity, and the maneuver was pulled off without serious damage.
• (3) Both fleets were deployed into several columns, and the battle now began in earnest, with the two sides trading fire at relatively close range. Within 20 minutes, the well-directed gunnery of the Japanese began to take its toll, including the loss of Russia’s newest battleship and the severe wounding of Rozhestvensky.
• (4) With the Russians leaderless and having lost their best ships, the battle began to become a massacre. the fighting continued into the night, with the Japanese hunting down the remaining groups of Russian ships. With the destruction of its navy, Russia had to ask for peace talks. Japan gained Port Arthur and Sakhalin Island and was effectively free to do whatever it wanted in Korea.

Outcomes

• (1) In Russia, the disasters of the Russo-Japanese War led to the uprisings of 1905. Although temporarily suppressed, these social tensions continued to boil until finally exploding in 1917 as the Russian Revolution.
• (2) The degree of success Japan experienced had the long-term result of encouraging and strengthening the militaristic and imperialistic elements within Japan. This would lead to continued expansionist policies and territorial aggression in the early 20th century, culminating in another invasion of Manchuria during the 1930s.
• (3) With Russia removed from the equation, the only navy that could stand up to Japan in the Pacific was that of the United States, and the rivalry between the two nations steadily increased until they came into conflict in World War II.
• (4) Thus, the Battle of Tsushima can be said to have directly contributed to both the fall of tsarist Russia and the rise of a militaristic Japan whose expansionist policies contributed to the global catalysm of World War II.

Conclusion

The Battle of Tsushima was a pivotal moment in both the Russo-Japanese War and global military history. Japan’s resounding victory over Russia not only marked the first major defeat of a European power by an Asian nation in modern warfare, but it also reshaped the balance of power in East Asia. This battle solidified Japan’s emergence as a formidable military and imperial power, while Russia’s defeat accelerated internal strife, contributing to the 1905 revolution. Tsushima’s legacy is a testament to the significance of modern naval strategy, technology, and national ambition in determining the outcome of conflicts.

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