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Shikishima was the lead ship of her class of two pre-dreadnought battleships of the Imperial Japanese Navy. She was built by the Thames Iron Works in London on 29th March 1897, launched on 1st November 1898, and commissioned on 26th January 1900.

During the Russo-Japanese War, she was assigned to 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. She later participated in the Action of 13th April 1904 where the Japanese lured a portion of the 1st Pacific Squadron into a surface battle. The Russian fleet commander, Vice Admiral Stepan Makarov realized that he was outnumbered by the Japanese, then ordered his ships to return to Port Arthur. The flagship Petropavlovsk later struck a mine and was sunk, killing Vice Admiral Makarov and 676 others.

In May 1904, the battleships Hatsuse, Shikishima, and Yashima along with the protected cruiser Kasagi and dispatch vessel Tatsuta under Rear Admiral Nashiba Tokioki were sent to Port Arthur to relieve the blockading force. While underway, the force encountered a minefield and the Hatsuse struck one of the mines and was disabled. The Yashima came to assist but it also struck a mine. Hatsuse drifted into another mine and was sunk, killing 496 of her crew. The Japanese tried to tow the Yashima but eight hours later she was abandoned after progressive flooding. Shikishima survived this incident but the reduction of Japanese battleships from six to four meant that they were now outnumbered by the Russians.

At the Battle of the Yellow Sea (10th August 1904), she was not hit by the enemy, but a shell detonated prematurely inside one of her turrets, disabling it. At the Battle of Tsushima (May 1905), she helped sink the Russian battleship Oslyabya by gunfire. During the battle, she was hit multiple times and a shell detonated prematurely inside her forward turret, similar to what happened at the Battle of the Yellow Sea. Later, she contributed in the sinking of the auxiliary cruiser Ural using torpedoes.

After the war, she was present at the fleet review on 23rd October 1905, celebrating Japan’s victory over the Russians. She participated in the 1908 Fleet Maneuvers and the Imperial Naval Review as the flagship of the 3rd Division under Vice Admiral Hikohachi Yamada who is also the deputy commander of the 1st Fleet. The commanding officer of the ship is Captain Teijiro Kuroi from the 13th class of the Imperial Naval Academy who commanded the ship since 28th August 1908.

This is part of my project called “Imperial Japanese Navy (November 1908)”. In this project, I build warships of the Imperial Japanese Navy present in the Imperial Naval Review held at Kobe, Japan from November 17 to 18, 1908. The first part of this project will consist of Capital Grade Warships. I hope you will like this build.