Battle of Tsushima — major naval battle between Russia and Japan during the Russo-Japanese War
The only decisive battle between modern steel battleship fleets, it forced Russia to seek peace and ended the Russo-Japanese War.
Key Facts
- Russian battleships lost
- 11 (7 sunk, 4 captured)
- Russian casualties (dead)
- more than 5,000 personnel
- Russian prisoners taken
- 6,000 personnel
- Japanese dead
- 117 personnel
- Distance Russian fleet sailed
- 18,000 nautical miles
- Duration of voyage
- over 7 months from the Baltic Sea
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
Russia sought to relieve its besieged army in Manchuria by establishing naval dominance in Far Eastern waters. The Russian Second Pacific Squadron was dispatched from the Baltic Sea, sailing over 18,000 nautical miles across seven months to reach the Far East and challenge Japanese control of the sea lanes to Vladivostok.
On 27–28 May 1905, the Japanese Combined Fleet under Admiral Tōgō Heihachirō engaged the Russian Second Pacific Squadron under Admiral Rozhestvensky in the Tsushima Strait. Rozhestvensky was wounded early in the battle; four battleships were sunk by sunset, Japanese torpedo boats attacked through the night, and Admiral Nebogatov surrendered the remaining fleet on the morning of 28 May.
All 11 Russian battleships were lost, with more than 5,000 dead and 6,000 captured. The destruction of the Baltic Fleet compelled Russia to sue for peace. The Treaty of Portsmouth was signed in September 1905, ending the Russo-Japanese War. Admiral Tōgō was celebrated as a national hero in Japan, and his flagship Mikasa was preserved as a museum ship in Yokosuka.
Belligerents & Mobilization Analysis
Side A
1 belligerent
Admiral Tōgō Heihachirō.
Side B
1 belligerent
Admiral Zinovy Rozhestvensky, Admiral Nikolai Nebogatov.