Tōgō Heihachirō

"I am firmly convinced that I am the re-incarnation of Horatio Nelson."

- Heihachiro Togo

Marshal-Admiral The Marquis Tōgō Heihachirō was a Japanese admiral who served as the commander of the Japanese combined fleet from 1903 to 1913, and is most famous for his victories at the Battle of the Yellow Sea and the Battle of Tsushima in the Russo-Japanese War, and is considered one of the greatest naval commanders in Japanese history.

Togo was born in 1848 to a samurai family, and had his first experience of war at age 15, when he manned a cannon used to defend against the British Royal Navy when they bombarded Kagoshima in retaliation for the killing of a British citizen by the guards of the Satsuma daimyo in 1863. In 1866, Togo joined the Satsuma navy and served on the steamship Kasuga during the Boshin War on the side of the Imperialists. In 1870, Togo secured a place in the newly establish Imperial Japanese Navy and was selected to travel to London to study at the Royal Naval College. In 1872, with no places available in the Royal Naval College, Togo instead trained at the Thames Nautical Training College, which he graduated second in his class in 1873. Togo would go on to circumnavigate the globe on a British training ship, study at Cambridge University, and observe Western shipbuilding techniques in London.

Togo returned to Japan in 1878 and served as an officer on multiple ships of the Imperial Japanese Navy, getting his first command of a ship in 1883. Togo would serve in the First Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 as the commander of the cruiser Naniwa, which fought at the Battles of Pungdo and the Yalu River. In 1900, Togo was promoted to the rank of Fleet Admiral, and in 1903, he was made commander of the Japanese Combined Fleet. During the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905, Togo led the Japanese fleet at the Battles of Port Arthur and the Yellow Sea, winning both battles. In 1905, Togo won his greatest victory at Tsushima, where his fleet sunk 7 Russian battleships and 14 other ships, and captured an additional 7, while losing only three torpedo boats. At Tsushima, Togo made use of the emerging technology of wireless telegraph, as well as long-range gunnery to win the battle, foreshadowing the emergence of the tactics which would lead to the emergence of the first dreadnought battleships later that year.

Togo would serve as a fleet commander until 1913, when he retired to oversee the education of crown prince and future emperor Hirohito. Togo died in 1934, at the age of 86.