JAPAN'S NELSON.

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 126, 30 May 1934, Page 7

JAPAN'S NELSON.

ADMIRAL TOGO. j Hero of Russo-Japanese War Passes. DEATH IN 87TH YEAR. (United P.A.-Electric Telegraph—Copyright. (Received 12.30 p.m.) TOKYO, May 29. Admiral Count Heihachiro Togo, the 87-year-old Japanese Admiral whose exploits in the Russo-Japanese war 30 years ago gained him great popularity, and who has been suffering all this year with cancer of the throat, died at seven o'clock this morning. Tho Emperor yesterday elevated the Admiral from Count to Marquess. He had held the former title 29 years. Admiral Togo has been called "the Nelson of Japan." His signal at lsushima, when he annihilated the great Russian ileet under i-tozhdestvensky, read: "Tlie destiny of our country depends on this battle. You are all expected to do your utmost." Third sou of a samurai of the Satsuma clan, he was trained at the Thames Nautical College, Greenwich, and on H.M.S. Worcester. After his return to his native country, he aided in the creation of the Japanese Navy, which later proved itself t>o effective. He first came into prominence as commander of the Naniwa, which sank the Kowehing and forced the war of 1891 on China. During the war he was third in command, and ended with the rank of vice-admiral.

At the close of January. 1904, he was summoned to Tokyo, and told that he had been selected to command the entire Japanese Fleet in the inevitable hostilities against Russia. His principal exploits were the bombardment of Port Arthur, the heroic attempts to blockade the fairway by means of sunken ships, the pursuit and defeat of the Port Arthur Fleet, and finally the complete destruction of Rozhdestvensky's fleet at the Battle of Tsushima in the Sea of Japan. He received the Order of Merit nt the hands of Prince Arthur of Connaught in 1906, and wag raised to the rank of count in 1007.