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Admiral Togo

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Admiral Heihachiro Togo (1848-1934) was one of the most famous Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) admirals in history.  He was born in Kyushu, and educated in naval warfare by the British Royal Navy.  His first assignment was HMS Worcester, where the other cadets, who knew little about Japan, called him "Johnny Chinaman" at first.  Aboard HMS Hampshire, he circumnavigated the world in 1875, and then returned to Britain to train in Portsmouth and at the Royal Naval College (Greenwich, London).  He remained in Britain until 1878, supervising the construction of IJN warships such as HIJMS Fuso and HIJMS Hiei

Upon returning to Japan, Togo was given command of HIJMS Daini Teibo and later HIJMS Amagi.  He observed the French Navy during the 1884-1885 Franco-Chinese War, and applied his observations during the 1894-1895 First Sino-Japanese War.  By that time, he was Captain Togo of HIJMS Naniwa, and he controversially sank the British ship SS Kowshing, which had been chartered by China as a military transport.  At the Battle of the Yalu River, he helped the IJN sink the Chinese Beiyang (North Sea) Fleet, which had previously been the largest and strongest navy in Asia.

Promoted to admiral, Togo was made commander-in-chief of the IJN Combined Fleet in 1903, surprising Emperor Meiji.  Admiral Yamamoto Gonnohyoe defended his decision, telling the Emperor "Togo is a man of good fortune."  His judgment proved correct in the 1904-1905 Russo-Japanese War, during which Admiral Togo, aboard the battleship HIJMS Mikasa, fought the Russian Navy at the battles of Port Arthur and the Yellow Sea before defeating them in the May 1905 Battle of Tsushima. 

After the end of the Russo-Japanese War, Admiral Togo was given several honors by Japan and its allies, namely Britain, and gained the reputation of the "Nelson of the East."  Despite his professed political neutrality, he protested the London Naval Treaty, whose aim was to reduce naval power after World War I.  He died in 1934, and there are now several memorials dedicated to him, such as this statue in front of his flagship, HIJMS Mikasa, in the port city of Yokosuka.  He was also played by no less an actor than Toshiro Mifune in the 1969 war movie The Battle of the Sea of Japan.
Image size
1992x3105px 1.37 MB
Make
NIKON
Model
COOLPIX S6300
Shutter Speed
10/12500 second
Aperture
F/5.6
Focal Length
34 mm
ISO Speed
400
Date Taken
May 1, 2015, 11:30:46 PM
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Comments8
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RD-DD1843's avatar
He was the victor of the best SUCCESSFUL pre-dreadnought naval battle of the 20th Century (far more than really Jellicoe was winning the battle of Jutland in 1916 with dreadnoughts).