Mikasa

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Mikasa was built in the United Kingdom, and closely resembled contemporary British battleships. Excellent ships, she and her sisters were large, powerfully armed, and well protected.

Mikasa was the largest, most modern, and most powerful vessel in the Imperial Japanese Navy upon her delivery, and was Admiral Togo's flagship during the Russo-Japanese War. She was in the thick of the fighting throughout the war, being damaged by three hits during the bombardment of Port Arthur, 22 hits at the Battle of the Yellow Sea, and 32 hits at the Battle of Tsushima.

On September 12, 1905, Mikasa was moored in Sasebo when a spontaneous explosion in a powder magazine occurred. Badly damaged, she sank with the loss of 114 men. Salvage took nearly two years. She was refloated August 7, 1907, and entered drydock for an extensive reconstruction. She was to have received new boilers, four new Armstrong-pattern 12"/45 caliber main guns, sixteen new 6"/45 caliber secondary guns, and new funnels. but this reconstruction was cancelled for financial reasons, and the ship was repaired to her original design. However, it was found that her original guns had been ruined by immersion in saltwater, so the new 12/ 45 guns were fitted after all.

Mikasa re-entered service on August 24, 1908. During WWI she served on coast defense duties at Maizuru in 1914-15, with the battle fleet's 2d Division 915-17, and was back at Maizuru in 1918. She took part in the Japanese intervention in Siberia in 1921, and was re-rated as a First Class Coast Defense Vessel. While operating off Vladivostok, she ran aground off Askold Island on September 17.

The ship was refloated but received only a minimum of repairs, and was inactive until stricken on September 20, 1923. She was slated to be broken up under the Washington Treaty, but the Japanese Government requested, and received, permission from the other signature nations to retain the ship as a museum. The ship was encased in concrete, and officially opened on November 12, 1926 at Yokosuka by honored guests Prince Hirohito and Admiral Togo.

The ship escaping destruction but suffering some damage from US aircraft during WWII. After the war, she was completely disarmed by US occupation forces. The ship began to deteriorate badly, as she no longer operated as a museum following Japan's defeat. She was partially stripped, with all fittings removed, and her funnels, masts, charthouse, and much of the bridge were cut away and replaced with a wooden structure. The new structure, along with the battery deck, operated as "Cafe Togo", a cheap dive providing entertainment to US servicemen, with a round entrance constructed where the aft turret used to be. The club shortly failed, and the ship received little upkeep. She was completely abandoned in very bad shape, and in 1958 there was talk of cutting her up for scrap as an eyesore.

But a public campaign, aided by the American Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, raised enough money to restore the ship as a museum once again. A Japanese company was in the process of purchasing the Chilean battleship Almirante Latorre for scrap, and permission was received from Chili to use many of the fittings from that ship in the restoration effort. The US returned the the parts of the ship that the had in storage, and work began rebuilding the superstructure. By 1962 the ship was completely restored, a testimony not only to the Japanese naval tradition, and Admiral Togo's victory at Tsushima, but also to the improvement of US-Japanese relations following the Second World War.

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