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Fuji was the first modern battleship of the Imperial Japanese Navy. Lead ship of the Fuji-class of two pre-dreadnought battleships. She was laid down at Thames Iron Works in London on 1st August 1894. Launched on 31st March 1896, and completed on 17th August 1897. When she arrived at Yokosuka, Japan on 31st October 1897, she was the most powerful ship in the Imperial Japanese Navy at that time. Her sistership Yashima followed on 30th November 1897. Fuji was named after Mount Fuji located between Shizuoka and Yamanashi Prefectures and about 100 kilometers southwest of Tokyo.

During the Russo-Japanese War, the ship was assigned to the 1st Division of the 1st Fleet under Vice Admiral (later Admiral) Heihachiro Togo. She participated in the Battle of Port Arthur (9th February 1904) where the Japanese and Russian fleets fought in a surface engagement. The Fuji-class battleships shelled Port Arthur from Pigeon Bay on 10th March and 22nd March but did little damage and withdrawn in both attempts.

The ship participated in an action on 13th April where the Japanese successfully lured a portion of the First Pacific Squadron out of Port Arthur including the flagship Petropavlovsk with Vice Admiral Stepan Makarov onboard. The engagement was brief, on the way back to Port Arthur, the Petropavlovsk struck a mine and sunk, killing Vice Admiral Makarov and 676 others. Her sistership Yashima was sunk by naval mines on 15th May. Fuji later participated in the Battle of the Yellow Sea (10th August 1904) where she received no hits.

During the Battle of Tsushima, she was hit a dozen times and lost eight men but she scored a hit that finished the Russian battleship Borodino. After the war, she was present at the Fleet Review on 23rd October 1905 to celebrate Japan's Victory over the Russians. On October 1907, she escorted the battleship Katori carrying Crown Prince Yoshihito for a tour to Korea along with the battleships Shikishima and Asahi.

On 23rd October 1908, a dinner was hosted onboard Fuji for the officers of the United States Navy's Great White Fleet during its visit to Japan. The ship later participated in the Fleet Maneuvers and the Imperial Naval Review as part of to the 1st Division of the 1st Fleet under Vice Admiral Baron Goro Ijuin. The commanding officer of the ship is Captain Takeshi Takarabe from the 15th class of the Imperial Naval Academy who commanded the ship since 15th September 1908.