page_title: Japanese cruiser Asama
section_title: Battle of Tsushima
hierarchical_section_title: Japanese cruiser Asama / Construction and career / Russo-Japanese War / Battle of Tsushima
context_page_description: Asama was the lead ship of her class of armored cruisers built for the Imperial Japanese Navy in the late 1890s. As Japan lacked the industrial capacity to build such warships herself, the ship was built in Britain. She served in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–05 during which she participated in the Battle of Chemulpo Bay and the Battle of the Yellow Sea without damage, although her luck did not hold out during the Battle of Tsushima. Early in World War I, Asama unsuccessfully searched for German commerce raiders until she was severely damaged when she ran aground off the Mexican coast in early 1915. Repairs took over two years to complete and she was mainly used as a training ship for the rest of her career. The ship made a total of 12 training cruises before she was crippled after running aground again in 1935. Asama then became a stationary training ship until she was broken up in 1946–1947.
context_section_description: As the Russian 2nd and 3rd Pacific Squadrons approached Japan on 27 May, having sailed from the Baltic Sea, they were spotted by patrolling Japanese ships early that morning, but visibility was limited and radio reception poor. The preliminary reports were enough to cause Tōgō to order his ships to put to sea and the 2nd Division spotted the Russian ships under the command of Vice Admiral Zinovy Rozhestvensky at around 11:30. Kamimura closed to about a range of 8,000 meters (8,700 yd) before sheering off under fire to join Tōgō's battleships. Asama was fifth of six when Tōgō opened fire on the 2nd Pacific Squadron at 14:10 and, like most of the ships in the division, engaged the battleship Oslyabya. The cruiser was hit by a 12-inch (305 mm) shell at 14:28 and the shock knocked out her steering mechanism. She fell out of formation for repairs which were completed six minutes later. While she was attempting to rejoin Kamimura, she was struck by two more 12-inch shells that caused serious flooding, enough to increase her draft by 5 feet (1.5 m) and reduce her speed. Despite the damage, Asama was able to join the 1st Division at 15:15. The cruiser attempted to rejoin her own division at 15:50. But she was so slowed by her damage and a 6-inch hit at 16:10 that holed the base of her rear funnel, which reduced her boiler draught until repairs were completed 20 minutes later, that the ship could not take station aft of Iwate until 17:05.
  After 17:30 Kamimura led his division in a fruitless pursuit of some of the Russian cruisers, leaving Tōgō's battleships to their own devices. He abandoned his chase around 18:03 and turned northwards to rejoin Tōgō. His ships spotted the rear of the Russian battleline around 18:30 and opened fire when the range closed to 8000–9000 meters. Nothing is known of any effect on the Russians and they ceased fire by 19:30 and rejoined Tōgō at 20:08 as night was falling. Asama's flooding increased overnight and she was forced to stop at 06:30 for nearly an hour before continuing. The main body of surviving Russian ships were spotted the next morning and the Japanese ships opened fire around 10:30, staying beyond the range at which the Russian ships could effectively reply. Rear Admiral Nikolai Nebogatov therefore decided to surrender his ships as he could neither return fire nor close the range. The elderly Russian armored cruiser Dmitrii Donskoi was spotted shortly before 18:00 and Asama was ordered by Tōgō to join the pursuit in support of the protected cruisers of the 4th Division. By the time the cruiser met up with the 4th Division, night had fallen and Dmitrii Donskoi had taken refuge in shallow water. She was found the following morning by the Japanese, after most of her crew had been disembarked and the ship prepared to be scuttled. The Japanese attempt to seize her was thwarted when the ship capsized and sank. During the battle, Asama was struck by three 12-, two 9-inch (229 mm) and about seven smaller shells that killed 11 men and wounded 13 more. The ship reached Maizuru Naval Arsenal on 30 May to begin repairs. She carried Emperor Meiji through the fleet during the victory review in Tokyo Bay on 15 September.
  The ship was assigned to the Training Squadron from 1 June 1910 to 1 April 1911, during which time she made a training cruise with naval cadets to North and Central American and Hawaii from 16 October 1910 to 6 March 1911, accompanied by the protected cruiser Kasagi. This was the first of her dozen training cruises that lasted until 1935 and the next lasted from 20 April to 11 August 1914.
caption: A Japanese postcard of Asama at anchor, after 1904
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