# Battle of Tsushima order of battle

This is the order of battle of the Japanese and Russian fleets at the Battle of Tsushima on 27–28 May 1905. The utter destruction of Russian naval power at Tsushima was the climactic action of the Russo-Japanese War.
The Russian fleet had suffered such attrition from Japanese mines and combat with the Japanese fleet during 1904 that the Russian high command made the fateful decision to dispatch the Baltic Fleet in October of that year to the Pacific coast base at Vladivostok. This involved an exhausting voyage of over seven months; those ships that went down the Atlantic, around Cape of Good Hope, across the Indian Ocean and up the China Sea eventually covered 17,000 mi (27,000 km) before ending in disaster as the fleet attempted to transit Tsushima Strait.
Vice-Admiral Zinovy Rozhestvensky, in command of the Russian fleet, rejected the idea of circling the Japanese home islands to the east as impractical and instead drove straight through Tsushima Strait as the most direct route to Vladivostok. Admiral Tōgō Heihachirō, in command of the Japanese fleet, was waiting in port at Busan on the Korean coast.
Despite the devastation of its navy, Russia could have continued the war. For their part, the Japanese did not want to reveal how much they had been weakened by wartime expenditures and agreed to a settlement negotiated by U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt at Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

## Japanese Combined Fleet

Source: "Combined Fleet Command for Battle of Tsushima" Japanese version Wikipedia

### First Squadron

Admiral Tōgō Heihachirō in Mikasa
    First Division
    Vice Admiral Misu Sōtarō in Nisshin
       4 pre-Dreadnought battleships (all 4 × 12-inch (305 mm), 18 knots)
          1 Formidable-class variant
             Mikasa (Capt. Ijichi Hikojirō)
          2 Shikishima-class
             Shikishima (Capt. Teragaki Izō)
             Asahi (variant) (Capt. Nomoto Tsunaaki)
          1 Fuji-class
             Fuji (Capt. Matsumoto Kazu)
       2 armored cruisers: both Giuseppe Garibaldi-class variants
          Kasuga (Capt. Katō Sadakichi)
             (forward: 1 × 10-inch (254 mm), aft: 2 × 8-inch (203 mm), 20 knots)
          Nisshin (Capt. Takenouchi Heitarō)
             (4 × 8-inch (203 mm), 20 knots)
       1 dispatch vessel (2 × quick-firing 4.7-inch (120 mm), 21 knots)
          Tatsuta (Cmdr. Yamagata Bunzō)
    Third Division
    Vice Admiral Dewa Shigetō in Kasagi
       4 protected cruisers
          2 Kasagi-class (2 × 8-inch (203 mm), 22.5 knots)
             Kasagi (Capt. Yamaya Tanin)
             Chitose (Capt. Takagi Sukekazu)
          2 Niitaka-class (6 × quick-firing 6-inch (152 mm), 20 knots)
             Niitaka (Capt. Shōji Yoshimoto)
             Otowa (Capt. Arima Ryōkitsu)
    First Destroyer Division
    Captain Fujimoto Shūshirō
       4 Harusame-class destroyers (1 × quick-firing 12-pounder, 29 knots)
          Harusame (1902) (Capt. Fujimoto)
          Fubuki (1905) (Lt. Tōjima Otsukichirō)
          Ariake (1904) (Lt. Cmdr. Kutsumi Tsuneo)
          Arare (1904) (Lt. Watanabe Shingo)
       1 ex-Russian destroyer Reshitel'nyi (1 × 3-inch (75 mm), 25.75 knots)
          Akatsuki (1904) (Lt. Harada Shōsaku)
    Second Destroyer Division
    Captain Yajima Junkichi in Oboro
       4 Ikazuchi-class destroyers (1 × quick-firing 12-pounder, 30 knots)
          Oboro (1899) (Lt. Fujiwara Eisaburō)
          Inazuma (1899) (Lt. Cmdr. Suga Tetsuichirō)
          Ikazuchi (1898) (Lt. Cmdr. Saitō Hanroku)
          Akebono (1899) (Lt. Yamanouchi Shirō)
    Third Destroyer Division
    Captain Yoshijima Jyūtarō in Shinonome
       4 destroyers
          2 Shinonome-class (1 × quick-firing 12-pounder, 30 knots)
             Shinonome (Lt. Cmdr. Yoshida Mōshi)
             Usugumo (Lt. Cmdr. Masuda Chūkichirō)
          1 Akatsuki-class (1 × quick-firing 12-pounder, 30 knots)
             Kasumi (Lt. Cmdr. Shiraishi Naosuke)
          1 Ikazuchi-class (1 × quick-firing 12-pounder, 30 knots)
             Sazanami (Lt. Cmdr. Aiba Tsunezō)
    14th Torpedo-Boat Division
    Lieut. Commander Seki Shigetaka
       4 Hayabusa-class torpedo boats (3 × 18-inch (450 mm) torpedo tubes, 29 knots)
          Chidori (1901) (Lt. Cmdr. Seki)
          Hayabusa (1899) (Lt. Ebihara Keiichi)
          Manazuru (1900) (Lt. Tamaoka Yoshirō)
          Hashitaka (1903) (Lt. Miyamoto Matsutarō)

### Second Squadron

Vice Admiral Kamimura Hikonojō in armored cruiser Izumo
    Second Division
    Rear Admiral Shimamura Hayao in armored cruiser Iwate
       4 armored cruisers
          2 Izumo-class (4 × 8-inch (203 mm), 20.75 knots)
             Izumo (Capt. Ijichi Suetaka)
             Iwate (Capt. Kawashima Reijirō)
          2 Asama-class (4 × 8-inch (203 mm), 21 knots)
             Asama (Capt. Yashiro Rokurō)
             Tokiwa (Capt. Shigetarō Yoshimatsu
          1 armored cruiser (4 × 8-inch (203 mm), 21 knots)
             Azuma (Capt. Murakami Kakuichi)
          1 armored cruiser (4 × 8-inch (203 mm), 20 knots)
             Yakumo (Capt. Matsumoto Arinobu)
       1 dispatch vessel (2 × quick-firing 4.7-inch (120 mm), 21 knots)
          Chihaya (Cmdr. Eguchi Rinroku)
    Fourth Division
    Vice Admiral Uryū Sotokichi in Naniwa
       4 protected cruisers
          2 Naniwa-class (2 × 10.2-inch (260 mm), 18 knots)
             Naniwa (Capt. Wada Kensuke)
             Takachiho (Capt. Mōri Ichihei)
          1 Suma-class (2 × quick-firing 6-inch (152 mm), 20 knots)
             Akashi (Capt. Ushiki Kōshirō)
          1 Niitaka-class (6 × quick-firing 6-inch (152 mm), 20 knots)
             Tsushima (Capt. Sentō Takenaka)
    Fourth Destroyer Division
    Commander Suzuki Kantarō in Asagiri
       2 Harusame-class destroyers (1 × quick-firing 12-pounder, 29 knots)
          Asagiri (1903) (Lt. Iida Nobutarō)
          Murasame (1902) (Lt. Cmdr. Kobayashi Kenzō)
       2 Shirakumo-class destroyers (1 × quick-firing 12-pounder, 31 knots)
          Shirakumo (Lt. Cmdr. Kamata Masamichi)
          Asashio (Lt. Cmdr. Nanri Dan'ichi)
    Fifth Destroyer Division
    Commander Hirose Juntarō in Shiranui
       4 Murakumo-class destroyers (1 × quick-firing 12-pounder, 30 knots)
          Shiranui (Lt. Cmdr. Kuwashima Shōzō)
          Murakumo (Lt. Cmdr. Shimanouchi Kanta)
          Yūgiri (Lt. Cmdr. Tashiro Miyoharu)
          Kagerō (1899) (Lt. Yoshikawa Yasuhira)
    9th Torpedo-Boat Division
    Commander Kawase Hayaharu
       4 Hayabusa-class torpedo boats (1 × 2.2-inch (57 mm), 29 knots)
          Aotaka (1903) (Cmdr. Kawase)
          Kari (1903) (Lt. Awaya Gazō)
          Tsubame (1903) (Lt. Tajiri Yuiji)
          Hato (1903) (Lt. Iguchi Daijirō)
    19th Torpedo-Boat Division
    Commander Matsuoka Shūzō
       3 Hayabusa-class torpedo boats (1 × 2.2-inch (57 mm), 29 knots)
          Kamome (1904) (Cmdr. Matsuoka)
          Ootori (1904) (Lt. Ōtani Kōshirō)
          Kiji (1903) (Lt. Kanzai Uemon)

### Third Squadron

Vice Admiral Kataoka Shichirō in protected cruiser Itsukushima
    Fifth Division
    Rear Admiral Taketomi Kunikane in Hashidate
       3 Matsushima-class protected cruisers (1 × 12.6-inch (320 mm) (Canet gun), 16.5 knots)
          Itsukushima (Capt. Tsuchiya Tamotsu)
          Hashidate (Capt. Fukui Masayoshi)
          Matsushima (Capt. Okumiya Mamoru)
       1 ex-Chinese turret ship (rebuilt) Zhenyuan (4 × 12-inch (305 mm), 15.4 knots)
          Chin'en (Capt. Imai Kanemasa)
       1 dispatch vessel (4 × quick-firing 4.7-inch (120 mm), 20.75 knots)
          Yaeyama (Cmdr. Nishiyama Sanechika)
    Sixth Division
    Rear Admiral Tōgō Masamichi in Suma
       1 Suma-class protected cruiser (2 × quick-firing 6-inch (152 mm), 20 knots)
          Suma (Capt. Tochiuchi Sōjirō)
       1 protected cruiser (10 × quick-firing 4.7-inch (120 mm), 19 knots)
          Chiyoda (Capt. Higashifushimi Yorihito)
       2 2nd class protected cruisers
          Akitsushima (Capt. Hirose Katsuhiko)
          Izumi (ex-Chilean cruiser Esmeralda) (Capt. Ishida Ichirō)
    Seventh Division
    Rear Admiral Yamada Hikohachi in Fusō
       1 ironclad cruiser
          Fusō (Capt. Nagai Gunkichi)
       2 unprotected cruisers
          Takao (Capt. Yashiro Yoshinori)
          Tsukushi (Cmdr. Tsuchiyama Tetsuzō)
       2 Maya-class gunboats
          Chōkai (Cmdr. Ushida Jūzaburō)
          Maya (Cmdr. Fujita Sadaichi)
       1 gunboat
          Uji (Lt. Cmdr. Kaneko Mitsuyoshi)
    15th Torpedo-Boat Division
    Lieut. Commander Kondō Tsunematsu
       4 Hayabusa-class torpedo boats (3 × 18-inch (450 mm) torpedo tubes, 29 knots)
          Hibari (1903) (Lt. Cmdr. Kondō)
          Sagi (1903) (Lt. Yokoo Nao)
          Hashitaka (1903) (Lt. Mori Shunzō)
          Uzura (1904) (Lt. Suzuki Ujimasa)
    10th Torpedo-Boat Division
    Lieut. Commander Ōtaki Michisuke
       No. 43 (1900) (Lt. Cmdr. Ōtaki)
       No. 40 (1901) (Sub-Lt. Nakahara Yahei)
       No. 41 (1901) (Lt. Mizuno Hironori)
       No. 39 (1900) (Lt. Ōgane Minoru)
    11th Torpedo-Boat Division
    Lieut. Commander Fujimoto Umejirō
       No. 73 (1903) (Lt. Cmdr. Fujimoto)
       No. 72 (1903) (Lt. Sasao Gennojō)
       No. 74 (1903) (Lt. Ōtawara Tōru)
       No. 75 (1903) (Lt. Kawai Taizō)
    20th Torpedo-Boat Division
    Lieut. Commander Kubo Kimata
       No. 65 (1902) (Lt. Cmdr. Kubo)
       No. 62 (1902) (Lt. Tona Genzaburō)
       No. 64 (1902) (Lt. Tominaga Torajirō)
       No. 63 (1902) (Lt. Eguchi Kinma)
    1st Torpedo-Boat Division
    Lieut. Commander Fukuda Masateru
       No. 69 (1903) (Lt. Cmdr. Fukuda) Lost in battle
       No. 70 (1903) (Lt. Nangō Jirō)
       No. 67 (1903) (Lt. Nakamuta Takemasa)
       No. 68 (1903) (Lt. Teraoka Hyōgo)

### Special Duty Squadron

Rear Admiral Ogura Byōichirō in transport Taichū Maru
    Eighth Division (Special Duty Division)
       1 transport
          Taichū Maru (Capt. Matsumura Naoomi)
       17 armed merchantmen
          Amerika Maru (Capt. Ishibashi Hajime)
          Sado Maru (Capt. Kamaya Tadamichi)
          Shinano Maru (Capt. Narikawa Hakaru)
          Yawata Maru (Capt. Kawai Shōgo)
          Tainan Maru (Capt. Takahashi Sukeichirō)
          Taijin Maru (Capt. Arakawa Noriyuki)
          Heijō Maru (Capt. Chayama Toyoya)
          Keijō Maru (Capt. Hanafusa Yūshirō)
          Ehime Maru (Cmdr. Yonemura Sueki)
          Kōryū Maru (Cmdr. Karashima Masao)
          Kōsaka Maru (Cmdr. Kawamura Tatsuzō)
          Mukogawa Maru (Cmdr. Tachikawa Tsuneji)
          5th Uwajima Maru (Cmdr. Yonehara Sueo)
          Kaijō Maru (Cmdr. Ishimaru Tōta)
          Fusō Maru (Cmdr. Nakamura Kumazō)
          Kantō Maru (Cmdr. Sata Naomichi)
          Miike Maru (Cmdr. Kunieda Katsusaburō)
       3 torpedo boat depot ships
          Kumano Maru (Capt. Asai Shōjirō)
          Nikkō Maru (Capt. Kimura Kōkichi)
          Kasuga Maru (Capt. Obana Sangō)
       1 dispatch boat
          Manshū Maru (Cmdr. Nishiyama Yasukichi)
       2 hospital ships
          Kōbe Maru (Medical Inspector Ishikawa)
          Seikyō Maru (Medical Inspector Oota)

### Divisions outside of the Combined Fleet

Kure Naval District
    5th Torpedo-Boat Division
    Lieut. Commander Ogawa Mizumichi
       Fukuryū (1885) (Lt. Cmdr. Ogawa)
       No. 25 (1894) (Lt. Moritsugu Kumashirō)
       No. 26 (1894) (Lt. Tanaka Yoshitarō)
       No. 27 (1894) (Lt. Nakayama Tomojirō)
Takeshiki Guard District
    16th Torpedo-Boat Division
    Lieut. Commander Wakabayashi Kin
       Shirataka (1899) (Lt. Cmdr. Wakabayashi)
       No. 66 (1902) (Lt. Kakuta Kanzō)
    17th Torpedo-Boat Division
    Lieut. Commander Aoyama Yoshie
       No. 34 (1900) (Lt. Cmdr. Aoyama) Lost in battle
       No. 31 (1899) (Lt. Yamaguchi Sōtarō)
       No. 32 (1900) (Lt. Hitomi Saburō)
       No. 33 (1899) (Lt. Kawakita Kazuo)
    18th Torpedo-Boat Division
    Lieut. Commander Kawada Katsuji
       No. 36 (1900) (Lt. Cmdr. Kawada)
       No. 60 (1901) (Lt. Kishina Masao)
       No. 61 (1901) (Lt. Miyamura Rekizō)
       No. 35 (1900) (Lt. Soejima Murahachi) Lost in battle

## Russian Fleet (Second and Third Pacific Squadrons)

The Russians suffered attrition among their fleet commanders as well as among their capital ships.
* Vice-Admiral Stepan Makarov was killed when his flagship Petropavlovsk struck a mine and sank off Port Arthur on the morning of 13 April 1904. This was most unfortunate for the Russians as Makarov was far and away their most aggressive admiral.
* His replacement, Rear-Admiral Wilgelm Vitgeft, was killed along with his immediate staff by Japanese shellfire at the Battle of the Yellow Sea on 10 August 1904.
* Having completed the arduous voyage from the Baltic Sea, Vice-Admiral Rozhestvensky was severely wounded during the first day's combat at Tsushima and captured. Treated as an honored guest by the Japanese, he recovered from his injuries and was repatriated after the war.
* Rear-Admiral Nebogatov surrendered himself and the remnant of the devastated Russian fleet the day after Rozhestvensky's wounding but found it to be unexpectedly challenging. Having been tricked earlier by a Chinese vessel that hoisted a white flag, Admiral Togo at first refused to believe the Russians were surrendering and continued shelling. Not until Nebogatov literally had Japanese rising sun flags hoisted on his ships' masts did Togo relent.
Following repatriation, Rozhestvensky was court-martialed, pled guilty and pardoned. Nebogatov and other officers involved in the surrender of the fleet were assigned the death penalty but had their sentences commuted to prison.

### Battle Fleet

    First Division
    Vice-Admiral Zinovy Rozhestvensky in Knyaz Suvorov
       4 Borodino-class battleships (4 × 12-inch (305 mm), 18 knots)
          Knyaz Suvorov (sunk 27 May) (Capt. 1st rank Vasily Ignatius)
          Imperator Aleksandr III (sunk 27 May) (Capt. 1st rank Nikolai Bukhvostov)
          Borodino (sunk 27 May) (Capt. 1st rank Pyotr Serebrennikov)
          Oryol (captured 28 May) (Capt. 1st rank Nikolay Yung)
       1 Izumrud-class protected cruiser (6 × 4.7-inch (120 mm) guns, 24 knots)
          Zhemchug (Capt. 2nd rank Pavel Levitsky)
    Second Division
    Captain 1st rank Vladimir Baer in Oslyabya
       3 pre-Dreadnought battleships
          Oslyabya (Peresvet-class) (sunk 27 May) (Capt. 1st rank Vladimir Baer)
          Sissoi Veliky (battleship) (sunk 28 May) (Capt. 1st rank Manuil Ozerov)
          Navarin (variant of Trafalgar-class) (sunk 28 May) (Capt. 1st rank Baron Bruno von Vietinghoff)
       1 Imperieuse-class armored cruiser (variant)
          Admiral Nakhimov (sunk 28 May) (Capt. 1st rank Aleksandr Rodionov)
       1 Izumrud-class protected cruiser
          Izumrud (wrecked 29 May) (Capt. 2nd rank Hans William von Fersen)
    Third Division
    Rear-Admiral Nikolai Nebogatov in Imperator Nikolai I
       1 Imperator Aleksandr II-class battleship
          Imperator Nikolai I (captured 28 May) (Capt. 1st rank Vladimir Smirnov)
       3 Admiral Ushakov-class coastal defense ships
          General Admiral Graf Apraksin (captured 28 May) (Capt. 1st rank Nikolai Lishin)
          Admiral Seniavin (captured 28 May) (Capt. 1st rank Sergei Grogoryev [ru])
          Admiral Ushakov (scuttled 28 May) (Capt. 1st rank Vladimir Miklukha)
    First Cruiser Division
    Rear-Admiral Oskar Enkvist) in Oleg
       2 protected cruisers
          Oleg (Bogatyr-class) (Capt. 1st rank Leonid Dobrotvorsky)
          Aurora (Pallada-class) (Capt. 1st rank Evgeny Egoriev, Capt. 2nd rank Arkady Nebolsin)
       2 armored cruisers
          Dmitrii Donskoi (scuttled 29 May) (Capt. 1st rank Ivan Lebedev)
          Vladimir Monomakh (scuttled 28 May) (Capt. 1st rank Vladimir Popov)
    Second Scouting Division
       1 protected cruiser
          Svetlana (sunk 28 May) (Capt. 1st rank Sergei Shein)
       1 armed merchant cruiser
          Ural (sunk 27 May) (Capt. 2nd rank Mikhail Istomin)

### Destroyer Flotilla

    First Destroyer Division
       Byedovy (Capt. 2nd rank Nikolai Baranov)
       Bystryy (1902) (Lt. Otto Theodor von Richter)
       Buiny (Capt. 2nd rank Nikolai Kolomeytsev)
       Bravyy (Lt. Pavel Durnovo)
    Second Destroyer Division
       Blestyashchiy (Capt. 2nd Rank Aleksandr Shamov)
       Gromky (Capt. 2nd rank Georgy Kern)
       Grozny (Capt. 2nd rank Konstantin Andrzhievsky)
       Bezuprechny (Capt. 2nd rank Iosif Matusevich II)
       Bodryy (Capt. 2nd rank Pyotr Ivanov)

### Transport Squadron

    Auxiliaries
       1 armed yacht classified as 2nd class cruiser
          Almaz (Capt. 2nd rank Ivan Chagin)
       2 transport/merchant ships
          Anadyr (Capt. 2nd rank Vladimir Ponomarev)
          Irtuish (Capt. 2nd rank Konstantin Egormyshev)
       1 repair ship
          Kamchatka (Capt. 2nd rank Andrey Stephanov)
       1 ammunition ship
          Koreya (Capt. 1st rank Bakanov)
       2 fleet tugs
          Rus (Capt. 1st rank V. V. Pernits)
          Svir (Enisgn Gustav Rosenfeld)
       2 hospital ships
          Oryol (Capt. 2nd rank Yakov Lakhmatov)
          Kostroma (Colonel Nikolai Smelsky)