Tōgō Masamichi

Tōgō was born to a samurai family of Fukui Domain. He was sent by the domain to the predecessor of the Imperial Japanese Army Academy when it was still located in Osaka, but left without graduating, and then entered the fourth class of the Imperial Japanese Naval Academy located in Tsukiji, Tokyo and was commissioned into the Imperial Japanese Navy.

He served in his early career on the corvette {{ship|Japanese corvette|Tsukuba||2}}, gunboat Kenko and the ironclads {{ship|Japanese ironclad|Ryūjō||2}} and {{ship|Japanese ironclad|Fuso||2}}.Nishida, People of the Imperial Japanese Navy He was promoted to lieutenant in 1885 and lieutenant commander in 1890. He later served on the staff of the Readiness Fleet. Tōgō was then executive officer on the cruiser {{ship|Japanese cruiser|Yaeyama||2}}, ironclad Kongō, and cruiser {{ship|Japanese cruiser|Chiyoda||2}} before receiving his first command, the training ship Manju, in 1893.

During the First Sino-Japanese War, Tōgō was captain of the gunboat {{ship|Japanese gunboat|Chōkai||2}}. He later commanded the Saikyō Maru, and corvettes {{ship|Japanese corvette|Amagi||2}} and {{ship|Japanese corvette|Musashi||2}}. After a stint at the Naval Staff College, he commanded the cruisers Yaeyama and Saien.

In 1897, Tōgō was appointed chief of staff of Kure Naval District and in 1899 oversaw the completion of the new armored cruiser {{ship|Japanese cruiser|Yakumo||2}} at AG Vulcan Stettin in Germany and her first voyage to Japan. In 1902, he was promoted to rear admiral and served as commandant of the Imperial Japanese Naval Academy.

Immediately before the start of the Russo-Japanese War, Tōgō was appointed commander of the 6th Battle Division of the IJN 3rd Fleet, which consisted of four cruisers led by his flagship, {{ship|Japanese cruiser|Suma||2}}. He fought at the Battle of the Yellow Sea and the Battle of Tsushima. In November 1905, after the end of the war, he was promoted to vice admiral and commander of the IJN 4th Fleet; however, he died only two months later. He was promoted to baron (danshaku) under the kazoku peerage posthumously. His grave is at Aoyama Cemetery in Tokyo.

• {{cite book | last = Kowner| first = Rotem|author-link=Rotem Kowner| year = 2006 | title = Historical Dictionary of the Russo-Japanese War| publisher = The Scarecrow Press |isbn=0-8108-4927-5 }}
• {{Cite book | last = Jukes | first = Geoffry | year = 2002 | title = The Russo-Japanese War 1904-1905 | publisher = Osprey Essential Histories | isbn = 978-1-84176-446-7 | url-access = registration | url = https://archive.org/details/russojapanesewar00juke_0 }}

{{Commons category|Masamichi Tōgō|Tōgō Masamichi}}

• {{cite web| last = Nishida| first = Hiroshi| url = http://homepage2.nifty.com/nishidah/e/px04.htm#v001| archive-url = https://archive.today/20130104090107/http://homepage2.nifty.com/nishidah/e/px04.htm#v001| url-status = dead| title = People of the IJN| work = Imperial Japanese Navy| archive-date = 2013-01-04}}

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Category:1852 births

Category:1906 deaths

Category:People from Fukui (city)

Category:Military personnel from Fukui Prefecture

Category:Imperial Japanese Navy admirals

Category:Kazoku

Category:Japanese military personnel of the First Sino-Japanese War

Category:Japanese military personnel of the Russo-Japanese War