Prior to the Russo-Japanese War, countries constructed their battleships with mixed batteries of mainly 6-inch (152В mm), 8-inch (203В mm), 10-inch (254В mm) and 12-inch (305В mm) guns, with the intent that these battleships fight on the battle line in a close-quarter, decisive fleet action. The destruction of the fleet caused a bitter reaction from the Russian public, which induced a peace treaty in September 1905 without any further battles. In London in 1906, Sir George Sydenham Clarke wrote, 'The battle of Tsu-shima is by far the greatest and the most important naval event since Trafalgar' decades later, historian Edmund Morris agreed with this judgment. In this battle the Japanese fleet under Admiral TЕЌgЕЌ HeihachirЕЌ destroyed the Russian fleet, under Admiral Zinovy Rozhestvensky, which had traveled over 18,000 nautical miles (33,000В km) to reach the Far East. It was fought on 27вЂ“ (14вЂ“15 May in the Julian calendar then in use in Russia) in the Tsushima Strait located between Korea and southern Japan. It has been characterized as the 'dying echo of the old eraВ вЂ“ for the last time in the history of naval warfare, ships of the line of a beaten fleet surrendered on the high seas'.

It was naval history's first, and last, decisive sea battle fought by modern steel battleship fleets, and the first naval battle in which wireless telegraphy (radio) played a critically important role.

The Battle of Tsushima ( Japanese: еЇѕй¦¬жІ–жµ·ж€¦, Tsushimaoki-Kaisen, Russian: Р¦СѓСЃРёРјСЃРєРѕРµ СЃСЂР°Р¶РµРЅРёРµ, Tsusimskoye srazheniye), also known as the Battle of Tsushima Strait and the Naval Battle of the Sea of Japan (Japanese: ж—Ґжњ¬жµ·жµ·ж€¦, Nihonkai-Kaisen) in Japan, was a major naval battle fought between Russia and Japan during the Russo-Japanese War.

Great naval battles 2