MIA: Encyclopedia of Marxism: Glossary of Events



Tsushima, Battle of

On May 14-15 (27-28), 1905, the remnants of the Imperial Russian navy, having spent half a year sailing over 36,000 kilometres from the Baltic Sea, met an inferior force of Japanese ships at the Tsushima islands.

Commanded by Admiral Togo Heihachiro, the Japanese fleet attacked the Russian ships in the Korean straits, as the Russians were heading to secure Vladivostock. After two days of battle, two-thirds of the Russian fleet was sunk, due to brilliant Japanese naval tactics, introducing a style of warfare that would later be emulated by the major powers of the world in the twentieth centuries' world wars.