Mikasa (1902) Mikasa (1902)Admiral Heihachiro Togo’s flagship, and Japan’s largest battleship in the Russian-Japanese War of 1905, the British-built Mikasa was involved in two fierce battles, in the Yellow Sea and at Tsushima. Later sunk, and raised, it is the only surviving battleship of the pre-Dreadnought era.
In 1898 Japan had embarked on a substantial programme of fleet enlargement, despite having limited facilities for building capital ships. Diplomatic tensions with Russia following the war between Japan and China in 1894–95 were a prime reason for the build-up, whose requirements included six battleships. Mikasa was ordered from the Vickers yard at Barrow in Furness, England, laid down on 24 January 1899, launched on 8 November 1900, and commissioned into the Imperial Navy on 1 March 1902 as its largest and most potent battleship. Total cost was £880,000.
Mikasa was the second of three ships in the Asahi class, all built in British yards between 1900 and 1902. In general they were very similar to the British Majestic class ‘pre-Dreadnoughts’ in design.
Radio communication at Tsushima
Radio very quickly became a vitally important part of a capital ship’s operating system. Early ship-to-ship radio could transmit messages by the Morse code over 80km (50 miles) but at first only on a one-to-one basis. Thus the message, ‘Enemy ship in sight’ was relayed from the auxiliary cruiser Shinano Maru to the cruiser Itsukushima and then to Mikasa’s wireless-telegraphy room in the aft superstructure. Admiral Togo could know the Russian ships’ position and direction with a precision that was previously impossible at other than close range. Tsushima was the first naval battle in which wireless communication (in use on both sides, the Japanese using their own system, the Russians using German Telefunken equipment) played a significant part. The British Royal Navy introduced wireless communication from 1900. By 1907 the American ‘Great White Fleet’ was equipped with radio-telephones, but this was ineffective and abandoned until a new system was introduced in 1916.
The design was an enlarged version of the Royal Navy’s Majestic class, whose plans were drawn up in 1897–98. A slightly raised forecastle topped a ram bow, and its four 305mm (12in) gun turrets were mounted in barbettes at each end of a casemate which housed ten 152mm (6in) guns, with an upper level armed with a further four 152mm (6in) and twenty 12-pounder guns, four of them mounted on the 152mm turrets. Eight 3-pounder, four 2.5-pounder and eight Maxim multi-barrelled machine guns completed the batteries, and four submerged 457mm (18in) torpedo tubes were fitted. The 305mm (12in) guns were of Vickers’ own design, in typical British-type turrets with sloping faces and roofs through which armoured sighting hoods protruded.
Four Scottish-made Barr & Stroud FA3 coincidence rangefinders, effective up to 7315m (8000yd) were fitted, and the turrets had 24-power magnification gunsights. Krupp cement armour, which had replaced Harveyised nickel steel as the most shell-resistant protection, was fitted to the steel plates, and the internal armoured deck sloped downwards fore and aft to meet the ram and to cover the steering gear. Mikasa had two pole masts fitted with derricks and radio aerials.
Deck plan of Mikasa. The anchor cables come out on the open forecastle deck. A derrick was also mounted on the foremast (starboard side).
Mikasa’s aggressive and defensive abilities were to be heavily tested in the Russo-Japanese war of 1904–05: a campaign watched with intense interest by the other naval powers because there had been no major naval battle for decades. On 10 August 1904 the Japanese fleet under Admiral Heihachiro Togo, with Mikasa as his flagship, engaged the Russian Pacific fleet in the fast-moving Battle of the Yellow Sea. No ships were sunk, but the Russians were driven into the shelter of Port Arthur. Mikasa sustained around 20 shell strikes, the aft main turret was put out of action and it lost its radio links, but its machinery was undamaged.
Specification
Dimensions |
Length 131.7m (432ft), Beam 23.2m (75ft 6in), Draught 8.28m (27ft 6in), Displacement 13,789 tonnes (15,200 tons) |
Propulsion |
25 Belleville watertube boilers, 2 vertical triple-expansion engines, 11,185kW (15,000hp), 2 screws |
Armament |
4 305mm (12in) guns, 14 152mm (6in) guns, 20 12-pounder, 8 3-pounder, 4 2.5-pounder guns, 4 457mm (18in) torpedo tubes |
Armour |
Belt 229–102mm (9–4in), Bulkheads 305mm (12in), Deck 76mm (3in), Barbettes 356–254mm (14–10in), Main turrets 254–203mm (10–8in), Lower deck redoubt and battery 152mm (6in) |
Range |
13,000km (7000nm) at 10 knots |
Speed |
18 knots |
Complement |
830 |
Mikasa in drydock at the Royal Navy yard, Portsmouth, England, early 1902, before making the voyage to join the Imperial Japanese Navy.
Nine months later, when the Russians had despatched their Baltic fleet 33,000km (18,000nm) to the Pacific, the major battle of Tsushima was fought in the waters between Japan and Korea on 27–28 May 1905, with Mikasa again as Togo’s flagship. While the Japanese had only four battleships against the Russians’ eight, they had a much larger number of cruisers, destroyers and torpedo boats – altogether 89 vessels against the Russians’ 28. The result was a Nelsonian-scale victory for Togo, with seven Russian battleships and fourteen other enemy vessels sunk, for the loss of three torpedo boats. Though Mikasa took some 40 strikes, including 10 from 305mm (12in) shells, no major damage was done.
Tsushima was the first battle in which radio communication between ships was important. It also demonstrated the value of heavy guns, long-range fire (with range-finders to guide the guns), and speed. A battleship’s secondary armament of 203mm (8in) or 152mm (6in) guns was shown to be ineffective and perhaps even detrimental to successful combat. It was the 305mm (12in) guns, firing at relatively long range, which decided the issue.
Only a few weeks later, anchored at the Sasebo base, Mikasa suffered a fire and internal explosion, and sank in relatively shallow water on 11 September, killing 339 of the crew. Refloating was achieved on 8 August 1906 and the ship was repaired at Maizuru Naval Arsenal and restored to active service in 1908, with new 305mm (12in), 45 calibre guns that fired shells faster and farther. It remained in active service, though progressively reduced in status until by 1 September 1921 it was rated as a coastal defence ship, first-class. Shortly after that, it grounded off the Russian coast while supporting Japanese forces intervening in Russia’s post-revolutionary civil war. Though repaired, that marked the end of Mikasa’s active service. It was decommissioned late in 1921. Since 1925 it has been a museum display ship at Yokosuka (restored 1958–61).
