Battleship Mikasa

Mikasa was ordered from Vickers in Britain, launched at Barrow-in-Furness in 1900 and handed to the Japanese navy in March 1902. It became flagship of the Combined Fleet in December 1903, and on May 27 and 28, 1905, Admiral Togo Heihachiro commanded from its bridge as the fleet met and destroyed the Russian Baltic Fleet off Tsushima, the battle that pushed Russia toward the Portsmouth peace talks. Four months later a magazine explosion sank the ship in Sasebo harbour and killed 339 men. The 1922 Washington Naval Treaty would have meant scrapping it; instead it was kept, and in 1925 it was set into the shore here, bow toward the Imperial Palace. After 1945 its guns, masts and funnels were stripped and the hull housed a dance hall and an aquarium. A restoration funded by public donations and the state reopened it in 1961. Today the upper deck guns and bridge are reconstructions, and the middle deck holds displays, the admiral's cabins and a film. Volunteers give free 50-minute tours on weekends and holidays.