Finally got around to posting these photos, almost a year old. I took them especially with Texags in mind.

This is the Battleship Mikasa, which was the flagship of the Japanese Imperial Navy at the Battle of Tsushima Straits in 1905, when the Japanese Navy utterly destroyed the Russian fleet.

This ship was far too old and outdated by the time World War II came about, and though we bombed it from the air, we did not destroy it. After the war, the Russians demanded we turn it over to them or destroy it (out of vengeance). Admiral Nimitz, however, decided to let the Japanese keep it in a much-recognized (by the Japanese) effort at allowing them to retain some of their history after the devastation of the war.

Anyway, I did a Navy exercise out of Yokosuka last year and made a pilgrimage across town to check this out. Here are a few photos. The main link is here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/61877854@N03/sets/72157629417565054/with/7063193287/


Mikasa (It's permanently mounted in the ground just off the water's edge).




A really cool automated display (very Japanese) of the battle, in which the two fleets sail out on little rails and battle it out.



What would a battleship tour be without the gun shot? I've got this from the Texas, the Alabama, the Wisconsin and now the Mikasa. One of these days, I will collect them all...


The bridge. There's also an armored bridge (next photo in the set) where they moved in the event of a battle.



They had a little tribute in the on-board museum to other nations with great naval traditions (a way of saying "Hey, we're not the only militarists out there!" )
This, right next to a model of HMS Victory, is of course the USS Constitution.



John Paul Jones, noted non-Japanese badass.





The Mikasa still flies the Rising Sun.




Me and one of my fellow naval officers prowling the Sea of Japan, fighting for freedom and monitoring our Geiger counters.


--------------------------------




[This message has been edited by aalan94 (edited 4/9/2012 11:12p).]

[This message has been edited by p_bubel (edited 4/9/2012 11:47p).]

Nice pics. Thanks for sharing!

That is awesome! Thanks for sharing. I just recently learned more about this battle in War Made New by Max Boot. Can you imagine going on such a long voyage from the Baltic all the way to the Pacific just to have your tail handed to you?

Yeah, the Russian fleet's journey was epic and in peacetime would have been an extraordinary accomplishment, much like the Great White Fleet's trip. I don't think they even went through the Suez canal, I think they actually did the cape.

Proves that true courage and heroism often is on both sides of the battlefield. I'm sure the Russians were as courageous and motivated as the Japanese. They just had older equipment and no chance to fully refit after their journey. And the Japanese were disciplined, motivated and well trained. They had already sunk the Russian far east fleet and went on to sink the Russian Baltic Fleet.

Both Russia and Japan had pretenses to world power status that they couldn't really claim with honesty. The difference was that Japan fought with short supply lines and the Russians fought with amazingly long ones.

Yeah they definitely went the Cape route.

I'm probably stereotyping but when you take away any factor of technological or tactical edge, doesn't the traditional Japanese mindset and attitude seem to play really well into the role required by an expert naval crew?

In a job that calls for meticulous attention to detail, anthill-like teamwork and discipline in the face of all hell, I'd put my money on the Japanese over Russians any day of the week.