Japanese Admiral Heihachiro Togo -led his country to victory in the Russo- Japanese War of 1904-1905. His defeat of the Russian navy at Tsushima rivals
Trafalgar as the most influential sea battle in his¬tory. Togo’s leadership not only won the war; he also vaulted Japan to the status of world power.
Togo was born into a military family on January 27, 1848, at Kajiya, Satsuma. At age eighteen, Togo joined the Satsuma fleet and in 1871 entered the newly formed Imperial Japanese Navy as a cadet and later that year began training with the British fravy.
During the next seven years, Togo served at sea aboard the HMS Worcester, sailed as an ordinary seaman onboard the HMS Hamp¬shire during a round-the-world cruise, studied mathematics at Cam¬bridge, and observed shipbuilding at Sheerness, at the mouth of the Thames River.
After returning to Japan in 1878, Togo spent the next sixteen years mostly at sea as he advanced through the ranks and earned a reputation as a hard disciplinarian who produced well-trained and motivated crews. In 1894, as war between Japan and China loomed, Togo assumed command of the cruiser Naniwa. When he spotted a British transport, the Kowching, ferrying Chinese troops toward Japanese-occupied Korea, he did not hesitate to engage the vessel. After sinking the ship, Togo rescued the British crew but re¬fused to pick up Chinese survivors and even shelled their lifeboats.
Togo experienced continued success during the remainder of the war, including directing the seizure of Formosa as he rose to the rank of rear admiral. By October 1903, Togo commanded the entire Japanese navy as it prepared to meet a threat from neigh¬boring Russia. The Rus-sian fleet, split between the Pacific and the Baltic, outnumbered Togo’s force about two to one in battleships and cruisers. Togo, aware that the Baltic Fleet would require months to sail to Pacific waters, determined to take immediate ac¬tion to engage the Far Eastern fleet before the two enemy forces could join.
Not waiting for a formal declaration of war, Togo launched a surprise attack against the Russian Far Eastern fleet at its Port Arthur base on February 7, 1904. Because the attack was not deci¬sive, Togo continued operations for the next several months until, in battles in the Yellow Sea on June 23 and August 10, he sank the majority of the Russian Far Eastern fleet and drove the remainder back into Port Arthur. Togo then blockaded the port while Japa¬nese land forces captured the city.
With the Far Eastern fleet now destroyed, Togo turned his ships to meet the Baltic Fleet, which was steaming toward Japan. The Russian ships had been ordered by Czar Nicholas II to seek revenge for the humiliating loss in the Yellow Sea. The Baltic Fleet and Togo’s force were equal in size, but the Russians had been at sea for seven months. Togo’s crews were fresher and better trained and soon proved to be better led.
Although seriously wounded in the thigh by a shell fragment early in the battle, Togo refused to leave the bridge of his flagship Mikasa and continued to direct the fight His expert gunnery crews scored hit after hit on the Russian vessels.
In short order, twelve ships of the Baltic Fleet went to the bot-tom. Russian dead totaled 4,830 and their admiral, Zinovy Rozhdestvenshy, was captured. Togo’s losses totaled one ship dam-aged and 110 sailors killed. Never before had two large navies of equal force fought with such a one-sided result
The Battle of Tsushima ended the Russo-Japanese War, with Japan emerging not only as the victor but also as a Pacific and world power. Japan honored Togo as a national hero and en¬shrined his flagship Mikasa as a memorial. The navy promoted him to chief of the general staff, and the Japanese court declared him a count.
In 1913 the Imperial Palace appointed Togo admiral of the fleet and assigned him the personal duty of overseeing the educa¬tion of Crown Prince Hirohito. Togo finally retired from active duty in 1921 but remained a member of the Board of Field Mar¬shals and Fleet Admirals. In 1930, he recommended an increase in the size and capabilities of the Japanese navy, and these recom¬mendations were in the implementation stage when he died, at age eighty-six, on May 30, 1934, of throat cancer.
Togo received a state funeral, but his death did not end his influence. His belief in a large navy and his example of surprise at-tack in an undeclared conflict emerged as the Japanese strategy in the World War II. Togo brought Japan from the status of isolation and little influence to the rank of world power.