Museum ship “Mikasa” (三笠) at Yokosuka, Japan, on 22nd March 2019
Type: pre-Dreadnought battleship
Original operator: Imperial Japanese Navy
Builder: Vickers, Sons & Maxim, Barrow-in-Furness, England
Original displacement: 15,140 long tons
Length overall: 131.7 m
Laid down 24th January 1899
Commissioned 1st March 1902
Took part in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-05, including the Battle of Tsushima against the Russian Baltic Fleet on 27th May 1905 at which she was the flagship of Admiral Heihachiro Togo (sometimes referred to as “Japan's Nelson”)
During the night of 11-12th (shortly after the warfinished) she caught fire & sank at the Sasebo naval base, with the loss of 251 lives; raised & repaired the following year.
Decommissioned 20th September 1923
Opened as a memorial/museum ship in 1926