IJN Mikasa

IJN Mikasa Story

In the First Sino-Japanese War (1894-1895), Japan competed with China for supremacy in Manchuria and Korea. The main disputed areas are southern Manchuria (including Port Lushun and Fengtian) around the Liaodong Peninsula, the waters surrounding North Korea and Japan, and the Yellow Sea. Japan's victory over China established its status as a regional power and propelled its influence in Asia to a world stage equal to that of the West - Western and European powers were impressed but surprised by Japan's victory.

Russia, however, was threatened by the rise of Japan and helped draft the "Triple Intervention of April 1895" with Germany and France. This forced the Japanese to abandon the Liaodong Peninsula (including Port Lushun) in exchange for economic compensation.

This contributes to the ambitions of the Russian Empire on its east coast.

Japan, realizing Russia's true intentions in Asia, began to increase its military might in the late 1890s by expanding its naval program. It built six battleships and six heavily armored cruisers. The last of these battleships, the Mikasa, was ordered by the IJN (Imperial Japanese Navy) and built at the Vickers shipyard in Barrow-in-Furness, England.

Based on the design of the Royal Navy's Majestic class, the Mikasa was shipped to Japan in 1902 for a record price of 8.8 million yen. Japan in the 18th century had neither domestic heavy industry construction facilities nor the technology to build modern cannon battleships, so all battleships and heavily armed corvettes of that period were built primarily in England - a country that had developed a 12-inch (305 mm) ) naval guns, and a skilled shipyard with the necessary shipbuilding facilities. The battleship Mikasa was designed with a displacement of 15,140 tons, a top speed of 18 knots in ideal conditions, and was equipped with the heaviest primary armament of the time - 4 x 12 in (305 mm) 40 caliber Mk III guns.

When she entered service in 1902, Mikasa was one of the most advanced battleships of her era.

Mikasa left British waters after completing the necessary sea trials and embarked on her maiden voyage from her Japanese homeport with her new IJN crew. She became a ship of national pride for the Japanese people and served as the flagship of Admiral Togo Heihachiro. In 1903, negotiations between Russia and Japan proved futile, and the war began on February 4, 1905.

Japan captured the 1st Pacific Squadron of the Imperial Russian Navy at Port Arthur, and in late July the Imperial Japanese Army besieged the port. This would require Russia to launch a counterattack against the Japanese navy or withdraw from Asia entirely.

On February 9, 1904, five days after the declaration of war, the first major confrontation in naval history took place between the fleet of modern steel battleships, when Admiral Togo's fleet confronted Russian Admiral Stark in port The battleship engaged in a 20-minute duel with Arthur. The "Battle of the Yellow Sea" on August 10, 1904 was an attempt by the Russian fleet to break out of the port of Vladivostok at Port Arthur and regroup with Russian warships. The Russians had at hand six battleships, four protected cruisers, and fourteen destroyers.

Admiral Heihachiro Togo was on standby aboard the flagship Mikasa along with three other battleships, two armored cruisers, eight protected cruisers, eighteen destroyers and three torpedo boats.

The Yellow Sea Battle lasted seven hours, of which about four hours were actual combat between the two sides. The fleet reported that with 7,382 rounds fired, Mikasa was hit 20 times, causing her rear main turret to be disabled. Two battleships of the Togolese fleet suffered heavy damage, one battleship was lightly wounded and one protected cruiser was lightly wounded, and 226 people were killed or wounded. The Russian fleet reported that one battleship was severely damaged and five battleships were lightly wounded, with 48 killed and 292 wounded.

Despite the fighting, the outcome of the fight was a tactical draw for both sides - nothing to gain, nothing to lose.

The Russians understood that if they didn't defeat the Japanese navy, they would lose Port Arthur and eventually their entire base in Asia. With no solution to the Battle of the Yellow Sea, it was decided to send part of the Baltic Fleet into Japanese waters more than 18,000 miles away and rendezvous with Russian ships from Port Arthur and possibly Vladivostok, the combined forces maneuvered to destroy the large part of the Japanese fleet. The formation of the Second Pacific Squadron consisted of 28 ships or 5 divisions of the Baltic Fleet, including 11 of her 13 battleships. The squadron left Russian waters for Japan on October 15, 1904, under the command of Admiral Zinovi Rozhestvinsky.

Due to the lack of friendly coal bases on the way, Russian ships loaded their decks with excess coal.

Russia's 2nd Pacific Squadron sailed through the North Sea and opened fire on British trawlers, prompting the Royal Navy to track the Russian fleet and deny its request to pass through the Suez Canal. This forced the Russians to circumnavigate Africa in May 1905 and anchor in Cam Ranh Bay in French Indochina.

The voyage was long, and the crew was of course exhausted and began to look at their Russian officers displeasedly. The news reached Rozhestvinsky that the city of Port Arthur had fallen, so the connection with Russian ships in the port of Vladivostok was now the main target of the fleet.

The Russians sailed through the Tsushima Strait to Vladivostok. Admiral Rozhestvensky chose Tsushima to shorten his voyage. The 2nd Pacific Squadron consisted of 28 ships, including 8 battleships, 3 littoral battleships, 8 cruisers and 9 destroyers. Admiral Togo, stationed in Busan, South Korea, believes that Russia's route will be Tsushima and has assembled a fleet of 89 ships to counter the Russian fleet. The Japanese fleet consisted of Mikasa and three other battleships, 27 cruisers, 21 destroyers and 37 torpedo boats as well as gunboats and additional support ships.

On paper, the Russian fleet has the advantage of battleships, but many are older and in need of repair. However, they had a numerical advantage in heavy artillery. On the contrary, the Japanese navy knows the superiority of the channel and the number of ships inside out.

In addition, the Japanese navy used high-explosive rounds, which caused more damage to surface ships than the armor-piercing rounds used by the Russians. Russian sailors were also tired after long voyages, while the Japanese drilled expertly in their own waters.

On the night of May 26, 1905, a Russian squadron attempted to navigate the strait. Togo had set up a row of picket boats in the strait; the cruiser Shinano Maru radioed Togo about Russia's position, course and speed at about 4:55. The Japanese radio technology was superior to that used by the Russians, and Togo ordered his fleet to go to the Russian formations and engage them at 13:40. The Russians headed towards the Japanese fleet in two columns, which reversed and blocked the Russian route to Vladivostok.

The fleet was opened, Japanese ships met Russian ships, in greater numbers and with greater precision.

The Japanese battleships delivered multiple direct strikes against the Russian flagship Knyaz Suvorov from an altitude of 6,200 meters. When his flagship sank, Admiral Rozhestvinsky was seriously wounded. As the battle progressed, the new Russian battleships Borodino and Alexander III were also sunk.

By evening, the core of the Russian fleet had been destroyed, with relatively little impact on the Japanese.

On the evening of the 27th, Togo launched the largest night raid by modern warships to date, involving 37 torpedo boats and 21 destroyers. They sailed between Russian ships and attacked with torpedoes and bombs for about three hours.

The battleship Navarin was sunk and the battleship Sisoy Veliki was paralyzed. Two Russian armored cruisers were paralyzed and sank just after dawn. All 21 Japanese destroyers returned, while 3 of the 37 torpedo boats were sunk in the attack. At dawn, Togo entered with his fleet and attacked the remaining fragments of the Russian fleet. At 10:34, with only six ships remaining, Admiral Nebogatov raised the white flag of surrender.

Opting not to surrender, some Russian ships called on Togo's fleet to hunt them down.

The Battle of Tsushima was the only decisive naval action by the steel battleships. The Russian fleet was completely destroyed, 21 ships were sunk, 6 were captured, 3 fled to Vladivostok, and 6 were detained while fleeing to neutral ports. The Russian crew killed 4,380 and took 5,917 prisoners. Japanese losses were relatively minor, with 3 torpedo boats sunk, 117 killed and 583 wounded.

After Tsushima, Russia was forced to demand peace. Combined with its defeat in China, Russia's defeat in the Tsushima naval battle boosted Japan's status as a world naval power, which in turn weakened Russia's status as an international naval power.

Thus, Japan's presence would continue until the end of World War II in 1945.

Mikasa mounted her main guns in a centrally located armored turret, so that the rest of the ship was evenly protected by heavy, thick German Krupp armored steel plates. This arrangement allowed Mikasa to take 20 direct hits in the Battle of the Yellow Sea and about 30 hits in the Battle of Tsushima, with minimal damage recorded both times.

The firepower and extended range of Mikasa's 12-inch (305 mm) guns were operated by highly skilled and motivated Japanese sailors. The accurate gunshots are largely thanks to a modern British-made rangefinder developed by Barr and Stroud of Glasgow, as well as specialist training.

Modern radio equipment used on Japanese ships also proved to be superior to those of the Russian fleet and ensured good communication between ships involved in the heat of battle.

By September 1905, the war with Russia was over, and while moored at the port of Sasebo, a fire broke out near a powder magazine on the Mikasa, causing an explosion that killed 339 crew members and injured another 300 - the ship sank 36 meters of water. Although severely damaged, Mikasa was launched on 8 August 1906 and towed to the Maizuru Naval Arsenal for repairs. Decided to restore Mikasa - an expensive job that took two years to replace her corroded 12" x 40 card gun with a newer, more powerful 12" x 45 card gun. Following the groundbreaking development of the British battleship HMS Dreadnought in 1906, some saw the decision as a bad one.

Mikasa returned to active duty in 1908, and when she left the shipyard, she was downgraded to a second-rate battleship. During World War I in 1914, she was further downgraded to a third-rate warship.

During the conflict, Mikasa turned to patrolling and coastal defense in home waters near the Maizuru Naval Shipyard from 1914 to 1918.

Classified as a first-class coastal defense ship, she participated in the Japanese intervention in Siberia in 1921. During the Russian Civil War, Mikasa was sent by Western troops to patrol around Vladivostok to support the Belarusian army against the Bolshevik Red Army. On September 17, 1921, while patrolling near Vladivostok, she ran aground near Askold Island.

She was refloated when IJN Fuji, IJN Kasuga and IJN Yodo arrived and helped her travel to the port of Vladivostok for repairs. After the repair was completed, he was ordered to return to the home port of Maizuru. Once there, the Japanese Navy decided her active duty was over and she was transferred to the inactive fleet. The Mikasa was preserved as a commemorative ship for participating in a major battle in Japan and was moored in Yokosuka.

The museum officially opened to the public on November 12, 1926.

During World War II, Mikasa was bombed in an air raid as the U.S. Navy approached the Japanese islands. After Japan surrendered in 1945, the U.S. occupying forces took control of all military ships, aircraft and equipment.

Although Mikasa was a blown up museum ship, her guns were removed as ordered by the surrender agreement.