She was a gunnery training ship for most of World War I until being rearmed in 1917 in time to escort troop transports during Japan's intervention in the Russian Civil War. "Asahi" was converted into a noncombat vessel during the 1920s and was then made a repair ship in 1937. On the night of 25–26 May 1942, "Asahi" was torpedoed and sunk by the submarine off modern-day Vietnam.