The Battle of Tsushima demonstrated Russia’s military incompetence and damaged Russian prestige. It ensured that Russia lost the war and helped spark the 1905 revolution. Conversely, it put Japan on the map.

Japan’s fleet under Admiral Heihachiro Togo launched the Russo-Japanese war

After Russia excluded Japan from exploiting the resources of Manchuria, Japan’s fleet under Admiral Heihachiro Togo launched the Russo-Japanese war by neutralizing the Russian Pacific fleet with shellfire and torpedo strikes at Port Arthur and Chemulpo in Korea. Incensed, Tsar Nicholas II sent the Russian Baltic fleet, under Admiral Zinovy Rozhdestvensky, around the world avenging the attacks. After a farcical incident in the North Sea when the Russians fired on British fishing vessels, mistaking them for the Japanese, Rozhdestvensky arrived west of Japan. His fleet consisted of eight battleships, eight cruisers, twenty one destroyers and sixty torpedo boats, all newer than their Russia counterparts.

Ambush

Togo ambushed the Russians between the islands of Honshu and Tsushima. Within an hour, he had disabled the Russian flagship Suvorov and wounded Rozhdestvensky. Three more Russian battleships were sunk before the Japanese torpedo boats began on the survivors. About 10,000 Russian sailors have died. One Russia cruiser and two destroyers survived. Only three Japanese torpedo boats and 1,000 men were lost.

“Japan expects this day the courage and energy of every officer and man in the fleet.” – Admiral Heihachiro Togo, May 27, 1905.