Admiral togo biography

Sino-Japanese War. Togo served as captain of the 'Naniwa protected cruiser ' from the beginning of hostilities in the Sino-Japanese War ofand had an active role in the Battle of Pungdo the sinking of the British Kowshing incidentthe Battle of Yalu Sino-Japanese Warand the Battle of Weihaiwei. At the end of the Battle of Weihaiwei he was promoted to rear admiral, and also became commanding officer of the Standing Fleet, but wartime organisation meant that he participated in the capture of Penghu as commander of the first attack column of the Combined Fleet.

After the Sino-Japanese War he temporarily lay low with sickness, but in became commander of the Sasebo Naval College, and in was assigned the first commander of the newly established Maizuru Naval Base. From the position of later preparations for war against America there was a tendency to see this as a leisurely post, but the important point was that it sat opposite Russia's Vladivostok naval port on the assumption that war with Russia would come.

However, Togo himself seemed to want to transfer to a central position. In actual fact, Hidaka had health problems which would make it difficult to command, and Togo, with the most experience of all the admirals at the time, was a very reasonable choice. Yamamoto also reportedly told Emperor Meiji that his reason for selecting him was because he was "a man of good fortune.

At the time of the Battle of Tsushima, staff officer Saneyuki AKIYAMA sent a report by telegraph to the Imperial General Headquarters which read, "Have received report that that enemy fleet has been sighted and our fleet will proceed forthwith to sea to attack and destroy the enemy. Weather today is fine but waves are high.

Admiral togo biography

Let every man do his utmost duty," and ordered the hoisting of the Z flag. Even Turkey, which was suffering pressure from Imperial Russia at the time, celebrated this victory as if it was its own, and Togo became a national hero there. That year in Turkey there were even people that named their children "Togo," and a street was also named after him.

Post Russo-Japanese War. Following victory in the Battle of Tsushima he was promoted to Navy General. Immediately after the close of the Russo-Japanese War he travelled to allied Britain and went to see a football match at Newcastle United with other commissioned officers and the crew. From to he worked as the Chief of Naval General Staff and was put in charge of the president of Togu School a school to educate the crown prince.

He was also granted the title hakushaku count in In April he received the honorary title of gensui Naval Marshall-General and was permitted to stand before the Emperor while holding a cane. In he was awarded the Collar of the Supreme Order of the Chrysanthemum. He reformed the curriculum, and was promoted to vice admiral during this time. During the rebellion, he was responsible for patrolling the Chinese coast.

He was subsequently posted to supervise the construction of and become the first commander of the naval base at Maizuru. The Battle of Tsushima was considered a daring naval victory pitting a small but rapidly militarising emerging Asian nation against a major European adversary. Russia was at the time the world's third-largest naval power.

Tsushima broke Russian naval dominance in East Asia, and is said to have been a contributing factor in subsequent uprisings in the Russian Navy uprisings in Vladivostok and the battleship Potemkin uprisingcontributing to the Russian Revolution of The Russian commander of the destroyed Baltic fleet, Admiral Zinovy Rozhestvensky who was badly wounded in the battle attempted to take full responsibility for the disaster, and the authorities and rulers of Russia acquitted him at his trial.

However, they made Admiral Nikolai Nebogatovwho had tried to blame the Russian government, a scapegoat. Nebogatov was found guilty and sentenced to ten years' imprisonment in a fortress, but was released by the tsar after serving only two years. He also served as a member of the Supreme War Council. He added the award to his existing Order of the Golden Kite 1st class and already existing Order of the Chrysanthemum.

He was accorded a state funeral. The idea of elevating him to a Shinto kami had been discussed before his death, and he had been vehemently opposed to the idea. The statues to him in Japan include one at Ontaku Shrine, in AganoSaitama and one in front of the memorial battleship Mikasa in Yokosuka. Incorporates information from the corresponding Japanese Wikipedia article [ 15 ].

The village of Togo, SaskatchewanCanada was named in his honor. In the game Civilization VI Togo Heihachiro is portrayed as a admiral togo biography admiral that can be earned and used in naval warfare. Contents move to sidebar hide. Article Talk. Read Edit View history. Tools Tools. Download as PDF Printable version. In other projects.

Wikimedia Commons Wikiquote Wikisource Wikidata item. Japanese Marshal Admiral. Early life [ edit ]. Tokugawa conflicts — [ edit ]. Studies in Britain — [ edit ]. However, due to the lack of advanced naval education in Japan, Togo and 12 other cadets were sent abroad for further training. They received instruction from British specialists and witnessed the construction of the Japanese navy's first armored ships in British shipyards.

After seven years of training in England, Togo returned to Japan in and quickly rose through the ranks. He commanded various cruisers and played a significant role in the First Sino-Japanese War Togo distinguished himself in battles such as the Battle of the Yalu River and played a crucial role in the blockade of Port Arthur. His successes earned him promotions, and inTogo was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Combined Fleet.

Under Togo's admiral togo biography, the Japanese fleet engaged in a series of naval battles against the Russian navy during the Russo-Japanese War. The most significant and decisive battle took place on May, in the Tsushima Strait. Togo's fleet successfully destroyed the Russian Pacific Squadron, effectively ending Russia's naval presence in the Far East.

The battle gave the Japanese navy mastery over the Yellow Sea, leaving the Russian Pacific fleet as its only real rival in the western Pacific. Military historians cite Japan's year-long war with China as a significant milestone in the development of Japan's modern military prowess. The naval and military tactics Japan's navy and army used surprised strategists from other countries.

Japan's success in the war, leading to China's suing for peace on April 1,shocked governments around the world. No one had expected Japan, which was considered small and backward compared to China, to win the war. These terms disturbed Britain, France, and Russia so severely that Japan backed down from the agreement. Russia took steps to reinforce China's position against Japan after the war, leading to the Russo-Japanese War several years later.

He reformed the school's curriculum and had a Russian treatise on naval strategy, written by Admiral Stepan Ossipovich Makarov, translated into Japanese. He was promoted to vice admiral during this period. Three years later, inTogo was appointed commanding officer of the naval base at Sasebo, which was the heart of the navy's command center for its Yellow Sea fleet.

With the rising of the Boxer Rebellion in China, Togo was promoted to admiral of the fleet, and recalled to active sea duty on May 20, During the Boxer Rebellion, Togo was posted to patrol China's coasts and, in doing so, had the opportunity to observe the American, British, French, German and Russian fleets that were performing similar duties. He was relieved of his command as the Boxer Rebellion withered inand was raised to the Order of Merit, and presented with the Grand Cordon of the Rising Sun in recognition of his service to the emperor.

Togo then was posted to supervise construction and become the first commanding officer of the Japanese naval base at Maizuru, directly across the Sea of Japan from Vladivostok. In OctoberTogo was recalled from Maizuru and given command of the navy, which at that time was the largest force Japan had ever had. Togo put his flag on the Mikasa, a British-built battleship that was one of the most advanced of its day.

It displaced 15, tons, had a speed of 19 knots, and carried four inch guns and fourteen 6-inch guns. Togo commanded four, new Mikasa -class battleships among the more than warships in the combined fleet that he commanded. The fleet assembled at the naval base at Sasebo. As political tensions grew between Japan and Russia, the Russian Pacific fleet was divided between stations at Vladivostok and Port Arthurand comprised seven battleships and nine cruisers, along with ancillary destroyers and torpedo boats.

The Pacific fleet was promised support from the Russian Baltic fleet, for which new ships were being built at the start of hostilities. Japanese military leaders drafted plans for the opening of hostilities long before diplomatic relations were severed. In what military historians see as the direct model on which the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor was based, Japanese strategy in its war with Russia called for an immediate, nighttime attack on the Russian fleet stationed at Port Arthur to cripple or destroy that portion of the Russian fleet.

Togo was to be the sword with which Japan's emperor slashed Russia's Pacific fleet. The Japanese combined fleet sailed out of Sasebo the morning of February 6,heading west. Diplomatic relations with Russia were formally broken off that afternoon. On the night of February 8,Japanese torpedo admirals togo biography and destroyers, under cover of the main body of the fleet, entered the harbor at Port Arthur, where the Russian squadron was anchored.

The Japanese damaged the Russian cruiser Pallada, and the battleships Czarevich and Retvisan, but Togo's caution in not attacking Port Arthur at full force ultimately allowed most of the Russian ships to escape. By May, they had broken out and sailed for Vladivostok under the command of Admiral Makarov. As Togo patrolled, the Russian Second Pacific Squadron, consisting of four identical, 13,ton battleships, two older battleships, seven cruisers, transport ships, ocean-going tugboats, and miscellaneous other ships, assembled in the Baltic seaport of Kronstadt under the command of Vice Admiral Zinovy Petrovich Rozhdestevensky.

Because of poor shipbuilding, poorer training for the crews, and numerous stops along the way for provisioning, the Russian Second Pacific Squadron took seven months to sail to the Sea of Japan. The mile wide ocean between Japan and Korea is divided into two mile wide channels by the island of Tsushima at the straits. Togo awaited Rozhdestevensky at the Korean port of Pusan while his torpedo boats patrolled the straits.

Rozhdestevensky arrived at daybreak, May Togo had four battleships, eight armored cruisers, four knot cruisers, three light cruiser divisions, and five destroyer flotillas in his fleet.