On 25 July 1894, Togo’s ship, Naniwa, sank the trans-
port ship Kowshing, chartered from the British and car-
rying Chinese soldiers to fortify Chinese forces in Korea;
Togo ordered his men to rescue the British members of
the ship but left the Chinese to drown. The sinking
caused an international incident, which did not bother
Togo. A memoir on his life published in 1937 by one of
the men who served under him describes the incident:
“On that day, the flag-ship Yoshino, the Akirsushima and
the Naniwa, of the First Flying Squadron, were cruis-
ing in the Yellow Sea... the three vessels which were at
sea came across two Chinese men-of-war off Feng-tao,
and the latter opened fire on us. Rear-admiral [Kozo]
Tsuboi, commanding, gave the command ‘fire’ at once;
and after twenty minutes of engagement, we were able
to repulse the enemy.... Even in this country [Japan],
Captain Togo was the target of reverse criticism. But
in due course of time that measure taken by him was
judged to be right, which won its author distinction; and
the world came to know that there was a man of the
name of Heihachiro Togo in the Japanese navy.” Togo
spent much of the war patrolling the waters off Korea,
and following the conflict he was promoted to the rank
of rear admiral (1895).
In the remaining years of the 19th century, Togo
occupied several posts, including chief of the Japanese
Naval Technical Council (1896). In 1900, when the
Boxer Rebellion broke out in China, he commanded
ships sent to China to keep in check the rampages of the
nationalist groups known as Boxers.
In 1904, Japanese ambitions in the Pacific again
resulted in conflict. The Russo-Japanese War, caused
by Japan’s desire to control portions of Manchuria then
ruled by czarist Russia, was the first real indication of the
growing Japanese military strength. In 1904, however,
Japan was considered a second-rate power, especially
compared to Russia. In battleships alone, Russia out-
numbered Japan two to one. Togo realized that the only
chance of a Japanese victory was a preemptive strike on
the Russian fleet at Port Arthur, the Russian base neigh-
boring northwest Korea. Before a declaration of war was
made, Togo struck at the Russian Pacific fleet on 7 Feb-
ruary 1904. While he did destroy part of the fleet at Port
Arthur, he did not inflict the scale of damage upon the
Russians that the Japanese later dealt to the American
fleet at Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941. However, his
attack forced the Russians to find shelter in the harbor
at Port Arthur and take precautions against further at-
tack. Assaults against the Russian fleet continued on 23
June 1904 and 10 August 1904 (the Battle of Shantung),
when Japanese forces sank most of the Russian fleet in
the Yellow Sea. While Togo attacked the remaining ships
of the Russian fleet, Japanese land forces moved in and
captured Port Arthur.
Togo now concentrated his attacks on the Russian
Baltic fleet, which had sailed all the way around the
world from Europe. Although Togo’s fleet was about
the same size as the Russian armada, the Russians had
been sailing for more than seven months and the crews
were tired. The two forces faced each other at Tsu-
shima Straits, between what is now Japan and Korea,
on 27 May 1905 in a battle that lasted two days and is
ranked by most historians as one of the most decisive in
world history. Historian Eric Grove writes: “Sir Julian
Corbett in his confidential Staff History of the battle,
called Tsushima ‘perhaps the most decisive and complete
naval victory in history.’ No major Japanese unit had
been seriously damaged and only three torpedo-boats
sunk: 117 Japanese officers and men had been killed and
583 wounded. On the Russian side twelve major units,
four destroyers and three auxiliaries had been sunk or
scuttled after being disabled, and four major units and
a destroyer captured. Of all Rozhestvensky’s motley, but
imposing array only one armed yacht and two destroyers
got through to their destination. The toll in casualties
was terrible, in the worst Russian tradition: 4,830 killed,
5,907 prisoners, 1,862 interned.” For his services in the
war, Togo was given the title of koshaku, or count, in- He was also named as a member of the British
Order of Merit in 1906.
Togo died on 30 May 1934 of throat cancer after
an illness of several months. Historian Michael Lee Lan-
ning writes: “Togo received a state funeral, but his death
did not end his influence. His belief in a large navy and
his example of surprise attack in an undeclared conflict
emerged as the Japanese strategy in World War II. Togo
brought Japan from the status of isolation and little in-
fluence to the rank of world power. As winner of one
of history’s most significant naval battles, Togo remains
a Japanese hero and one of the world’s great admirals,
ranking behind only Horatio nelson, Chester William
nimitz, Alfred Thayer Mahan, and John Arbuthnot
fisher.”
References: Bodley, Ronald Victor Courtenay, Admiral
Togo: the Authorized Life of Admiral of the Fleet, Marquis togo, heihAchiRo, count