During the Russo-Japanese War, the three ships of the "Matsushima" class, by then hopelessly obsolete, were assigned to the 5th squadron of the reserve IJN 3rd Fleet), together with the equally outdated ironclad battleship under the command of Admiral Shichiro Kataoka. All were present at the blockade of Port Arthur, the Battle of the Yellow Sea and the final Battle of Tsushima. Later assigned to the IJN 4th Fleet, all were part of the flotilla that provided protection for the Japanese invasion of Sakhalin.