1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Togo, Heihachiro

TOGO, HEIHACHIRO, Count (1847–), Japanese admiral, was born in Kagoshima. He studied naval science and navigation in England from 1871 to 1878, and first became a prominent figure when, in 1894, as captain of the cruiser “Naniwa,” he sunk the Chinese troopship “Kowshing” en route for Korea, thus precipitating war with China. When the Russo-Japanese conflict broke out in 1904, he was appointed to the command-in-chief of the Japanese fleet, and under his direction various brilliant operations took place, culminating in the battle of the Sea of Japan when the Russian fleet was annihilated. For these services he received (1907) the title of count. In 1906 he was made a member of the British Order of Merit.