It was still quite early--half-past six o'clock in the morning, to be
exact--when a gun from the _Mikasa_ and a string of flags, drooping from
the end of her signal yard in the breathless calm of a hot August
morning, gave the signal for the Japanese fleet to go forth to battle.
In accordance with the Admiral's instructions, the _Yakumo_ was to lead
the way to sea, and it was a proud moment for me when, standing upon the
cruiser's navigating bridge, I personally rang down the order to the
engine-room, "Ahead, half-speed, both engines!" And I considered--and
still consider--that I had every reason to be proud; for here was I, a
lad not yet quite nineteen years of age, captain of one of the finest
and most formidable cruisers in the Japanese navy. And I had attained
to that position--I may say it now, I think, without laying myself open
to the charge of being unduly vain--solely by my own exertions and
without a particle of favour shown me, excepting that, when my own
country contemptuously dispensed with my services, the aliens whom I was
now serving received me with the utmost courtesy and kindness. Ah,
well! thank God, that bitter period in my life is past now, and I can
bear to look back upon it with equanimity, but the memory of it often
swept down upon me like a black cloud in the days of which I am now
writing.
But there was no thought of my unmerited disgrace and ruined career in
my own country to interfere with my happiness or humble my pride upon
that glorious morning; I enjoyed the satisfaction of knowing that my
innocence had been made clear, that the stain of guilt had been removed
from my name, and I was as happy just then as I suppose it is ever
possible for mortal to be.
And indeed, quite apart from matters of a purely personal nature, it
would have been very difficult for any normal-minded individual to have
been otherwise than buoyant upon that particular morning, for everything
conspired to make one so. The weather was glorious; the sky, a clear,
rich sapphire blue, was, for a wonder, without a cloud, the air was so
still that until we got under way and made a wind for ourselves the
signal flags drooped in motionless folds, and their interpretation was
largely a matter of guesswork. Then there was all the pomp and
circumstance of modern war, the ships already cleared for action, and
each of them decorated with at least two enormous battle-flags--wrought
by the dainty fingers of Japan's fairest daughters--flaunting defiantly
from her mast-heads. It must have been a magnificent sight to behold
that proud fleet steaming out to sea, ship after ship falling into line
with machine-like precision and keeping distance perfectly, first the
squadron of cruisers, led by the _Yakumo_; then the other five armoured
cruisers, with the _Asama_ in the van; then the four battleships--
accompanied by the _Nisshin_ and _Kasuga_, which were powerful enough to
take their place in the line of battle--and, finally, the swarm of
heterogeneous craft composed of the older and less important cruisers
and other vessels, and those wasps of the sea, the destroyers.
The _Yakumo_ had scarcely begun to gather way when the flagship
signalled "Course South-West by South; speed twelve knots."
As our signalman ran up the answering pennant, I entered the chart-room
and, approaching the table, upon which a chart of the Yellow Sea lay
spread out, requested Mr Shiraishi, the navigating lieutenant, to lay
down a South-West by South course upon the chart, that we might see
where it would take us. He did so, and I saw with satisfaction that it
would take us some twenty-five miles to the eastward of Encounter Rock,
that unfortunate spot near which the Japanese fleet had too prematurely
revealed its presence upon the occasion of its previous encounter with
the Russians. Twenty-five miles! That was excellent. If we held on
upon that course we should cross the bows of the Russians at such a
distance as would enable us to pass unseen, and then come up from the
southward in the enemy's rear, so cutting him off from Port Arthur and
rendering it impossible for him to avoid a fight.
Shortly after clearing the harbour, the _Asama_ and her attendant
cruisers parted company with us, striking off to the westward, with the
object of working round in the rear of the Russians, and again I
mentally complimented Togo upon his astuteness.
Nine o'clock came, and a few minutes later there arrived a wireless
message from the Admiral for our squadron to change course thirty-four
degrees to the westward. I wondered what this might portend, for we had
been receiving almost continuous wireless messages from the squadron off
Port Arthur, the latest of which told us that the Russians, although
undoubtedly intending a sortie, had not yet started. I again visited
the chart-room, and with Shiraishi's assistance discovered that our new
course would bring us within about seven miles south-east of Encounter
Rock about noon.
"Four bells" had just gone tinkling along the line of the Japanese
ships, informing those whom it might concern that the hour was ten
o'clock in the morning, when a fresh wireless message came from our
blockading squadron, informing us that at last the Russian fleet was
actually steaming out of Port Arthur harbour, with battle-flags flying,
bands playing, and the ship's companies singing the Russian National
Anthem, with the battleship _Tsarevich_, Vitgeft's flagship, leading.
As the message was decoded and the news spread throughout the Japanese
fleet, an almost audible sigh of relief escaped the breasts of officers
and men; the Russians were not only coming out, but actually meant to
fight; and the fateful hour which had been so long and so eagerly
awaited was now at last at hand. A great cheer arose, passing along the
line from ship to ship, and officers who had already assured themselves
that all preparations for meeting the enemy were complete once more went
the rounds, to make assurance doubly sure.
The Japanese blockading fleet gradually closed in behind the Russian
ships, compelling Vitgeft to send back his gunboats, mining craft, and
reserve destroyers, as our boats were threatening to cut them off; and
about eleven o'clock we got a message informing us that the fleet which
we should have to meet consisted of six battleships, four cruisers, and
seven destroyers, an eighth destroyer, believed to be the _Reshitelny_,
having contrived, by her superior speed, to give our boats the slip, and
steam away in the direction of Chifu. Meanwhile, the glass was falling,
great masses of cloud came driving up from the eastward, and a little
breeze from the same quarter sprang up, rapidly freshening and knocking
up a sea which soon set even our battleships rolling and pitching
ponderously. "Well, so much the better for us," we told each other.
Our gunners were by this time quite accustomed to shoot from a rolling
and pitching platform, while the Russians had had no such profitable
experience; and the heavier the sea, the greater would probably be the
superiority of our shooting.
It was nearing noon when at length, broad on our starboard bow, a great
cloud of black smoke began to show on the south-eastern horizon; and
shortly afterward a forest of masts, from the truck of each of which
flaunted a great white flag bearing a blue Saint Andrew's cross, began
to rise above the sea-line, followed by numerous funnels belching
immense volumes of black smoke. The two fleets were nearing each other
fast, it was therefore not long before the ponderous bulk of the
_Tsarevich_ topped the horizon, with the _Retvisan, Pobieda, Peresviet_
(flying Rear-Admiral Prince Ukhtomsky's flag), _Sevastopol_, and
_Poltava_ following. Then came our old friend of the five funnels, the
_Askold_, followed by the _Pallada_ and _Diana_, with a hospital ship,
flying a Red Cross flag, bringing up the rear but well astern. On the
port beam, but well to the rear of the line of battleships, was the
cruiser _Novik_--easily distinguished by her three funnels with a single
mast stepped between the second and third funnel--and seven destroyers.
Up fluttered a signal aboard the _Mikasa_, and scarcely had the flags
broke out when away went our destroyers at top speed, like hounds
released from the leash, to attack the enemy. And a stirring sight it
was to witness their dash, for it was now blowing quite fresh and a
nasty, choppy sea had arisen, through which the plucky little boats
raced, like a school of dolphin chasing flying-fish, now throwing a
third of their length clean out of the water, and anon plunging into an
oncoming wave until the water foamed and hissed over turtle-back and
bridge and poured in torrents down upon the main deck and overboard.
But the Russian Admiral was not going to tamely submit to a torpedo
attack in broad daylight; he allowed the boats to get well within range
of his guns, and then opened a brisk fire upon them, driving them off
for the moment. Nevertheless, although the boats never actually scored
a hit that day, they were of the utmost assistance, hovering on the
enemy's flanks and rear, dashing in upon him from time to time, and
distracting his attention at many a critical moment.
Encounter Rock now bore north-west from us, seven miles distant, and was
broad upon the port beam of the Russians, at about the same distance;
and had both fleets held on as they were then going the Russians must
very soon have cut through our line--provided, of course, that we had
permitted them to do so. But the attempt evidently did not appeal to
Vitgeft, for the _Tsarevich_ suddenly starboarded her helm and led away
from us in a north-westerly direction, while Togo, perhaps afraid that
this was the preliminary to a retreat on the part of the Russian fleet,
feigned a nervousness that he certainly did not feel, and shifted his
helm, heading South-South-West, at the same time forming his battleships
in line abreast. The result was that, for a time, the two fleets were
actually steaming away from each other, the Russians being upon our
starboard quarter. After steaming a short distance in this direction,
our formation was altered back to line ahead, and the course was changed
to South-West, apparently with the object of getting the ships well in
hand.
It was close upon one o'clock in the afternoon when our Admiral, having
put us through one or two further manoeuvres and apparently satisfied
himself that he had strung us up to the necessary pitch of alertness,
finally formed line ahead and changed course to East-North-East, at the
same time hoisting the signal, "Engage!" The signal was greeted with a
terrific outburst of cheering from every ship, and faces that had begun
to look gloomy as the distance between the two fleets increased, once
more became wreathed in smiles. Speed was increased, and we began to
rapidly overhaul the enemy, the spray flying high over our bows as we
pushed our way irresistibly through the rising sea. And now the horizon
all round from north, west, and south showed dark with smoke as the
Japanese cruisers began to close in from those points upon the Russians.
It was the _Tsarevich_ which at length opened the ball, by bringing the
12-inch guns in her fore-turret to bear upon the _Mikasa_. There was a
brilliant double flash, a big outburst of white smoke that for a moment
partially veiled the great ship ere it drove away to leeward, a huge
double splash as the ponderous shells hit the water about a mile away,
and then came a crashing _boom_ as the sound of the explosion reached us
against the wind. The shots had fallen short. These two shots appeared
to be regarded by the rest of the Russian battleships as a signal to
open fire, for they immediately did so, the flashes bursting out here
and there all along the enemy's battle-line, first from one ship and
then from another, as though each ship were striving which could first
get off her shots, while projectiles seemed to be falling everywhere
excepting aboard the Japanese ships; true, two or three shells flew,
muttering loudly, high over our heads, but the rest fell either wide or
very far short. Our anticipations, it seemed, were proving correct, the
roll and pitching of their ships was playing the mischief with the aim
of the Russian gunners. Then the big guns of the flagship and the
_Asahi_ spoke, just four shots each, coolly and deliberately fired, one
shot at a time, to test the range. This was found to be too great for
effective practice, and the fire thereupon ceased.
But although not one of those eight ranging shots had actually touched a
Russian ship, they all fell much closer to their mark than had the
Russian projectiles, and close enough, at all events, to make Vitgeft
nervous, for their immediate effect was to cause him to haul up to the
northward, so that it looked as though he were seriously contemplating
the advisability of doubling round Encounter Rock and retreating back to
Port Arthur. It was a moment when everything seemed to be hanging in
the balance, when a single false move would ruin everything, and the
chance that we had been so long waiting for would be lost. Port Arthur
was still close enough under the lee of the Russians to permit of their
reaching the shelter of its batteries without very serious loss, should
they elect to make the attempt. It was a moment demanding both boldness
and astuteness of action, and, gambler-like, Togo resolved to risk
everything upon a single throw. Instead of making the signal to close
with the enemy and immediately bring him to battle, the Admiral
signalled, "Change course sixteen points east," which meant that the
whole fleet, now steaming in line ahead, parallel to the Russian's
course, and heading in the same direction, must swerve round upon a port
helm and go back over the ground which it had just traversed, that in
fact it must turn tail and run away from the Russians! The manoeuvre
was executed in splendid style, and two minutes later the Japanese fleet
was heading south-west, while the Russian fleet, now some nine miles
distant, bore about two points abaft our starboard beam.
The object of the manoeuvre was of course to impress the Russian Admiral
with the conviction that we were as little anxious to put our fortunes
to the touch as he was; and apparently the ruse was successful, for
almost immediately the Russians shifted helm, heading about south-east
and standing across our wake, with all their funnels belching great
volumes of smoke, showing that a tremendous effort was going to be made
to give us the slip.
For what seemed to us all an interminable half-hour, the astute little
Japanese "Nelson" permitted them to lay the flattering unction to their
souls that they were going to succeed, for during that half-hour the
Japanese fleet plugged steadily away to the south-west, every moment
increasing the distance between themselves and the enemy. Then, at
last, judging from the respective positions of the two fleets that our
superior speed must certainly frustrate any further attempt at escape on
the part of the enemy, up went the longed-for signal for us to swerve
round and give chase.
This manoeuvre of ours was the signal for another shift of helm on the
part of the Russians. They had been heading about south-east, but now,
seeing us coming straight for them, they swerved away until they were
heading almost due east, as though even now anxious to defer the evil
moment as long as possible. But they must speedily have recognised the
impossibility of escape, for now, with carefully-cleaned furnace fires
and a full head of steam, our ships were racing along through the
fast-rising sea at a speed which would enable us to rapidly overhaul the
chase, notwithstanding that they were plunging until they were buried to
the hawse-pipes, and their fore-decks were smothered with spray.
The two fleets were now running upon converging lines, the enemy, about
a point before our port beam, steering east, while we were steering
east-north-east, and visibly gaining as the minutes slipped by. At last
it looked as though the fight could no longer be delayed, and a thrill
of excitement passed through me as I now began to fully realise that I
was about to take part in a great naval battle, fought under modern
conditions in ships protected by ponderous plates of steel armour and
furnished with all the most modern engines of destruction. What would
such a battle look like, and how would it end? Meanwhile the day was
passing, and although the two fleets had been within sight of each other
for more than two hours, nothing had thus far been done.
Both fleets were now steaming in single line ahead, the battleships
leading, and the cruisers following closely, the Russian fleet being
slightly ahead and steaming surprisingly well, considering the condition
of their ships, though we were rapidly overhauling them.
Five bells (half-past two o'clock) in the afternoon watch pealed out,
and at the same moment the _Asama_ and _Yakumo_ received orders to haul
out from the fleet and heave-to, holding ourselves ready to deal with
any enemy ships which might attempt to break back toward Port Arthur.
So we were not to be allowed to take part in the fight, after all! It
was positively heart-breaking, and for a moment I felt inclined to
imitate Nelson at Copenhagen and turn a blind eye to the signal, but the
sight of the _Asama_ promptly sheering out from the line brought me to
my senses. I knew that poor Yamada would be just as bitterly
disappointed as myself; yet there he was, obeying the order with the
same promptitude that he would have displayed had he been ordered to
attack the enemy single-handed. I nodded--rather savagely, I am
afraid--at Arisaka, the Commander, who was regarding me with eyebrows
raised questioningly.
"All right," I growled. "Hard a-port, sir, and sheer out of the line."
We swept right round in a wide semi-circle, finally stopping our engines
when we arrived at a spot about midway between the rears of the two
fleets. Our engines had just stopped, and I was on the point of opening
a semaphore conversation with the _Asama_, hove-to about half a mile
distant, with the purpose of making some sort of arrangement for coping
with certain possible eventualities, when a vivid flash and a great
cloud of smoke burst from the _Mikasa_, and was immediately followed by
similar outbursts from the rest of our battleships, which were opening
fire upon the Russian rear as the ships came within range. To give them
their due, the Russians were by no means slow to reply, and it was
presently evident from the number of shells falling round her, that they
were concentrating their fire upon the _Mikasa_. The first hit was
scored by one of our ships--the _Shikishima_, we afterwards learned--
which landed a 12-inch shell under the _Askold's_ forward bridge. We
saw the flash and smoke of the exploding shell, but could not, of
course, tell what damage was done. The next second another shell hit
the same craft about her waterline, and within a minute huge volumes of
smoke were seen pouring from her, seeming to indicate that she was on
fire. But with ourselves at a standstill and both fleets steaming away
from us at high speed, they soon passed beyond our range of vision, and
all that we knew about the fight was that there was a terrific
cannonading going on, while the eastern horizon bore a dense veil of
smoke which came driving rapidly down upon us before the rising gale.
The cannonading continued with tremendous energy for about
three-quarters of an hour, and then began to slacken, until by seven
bells--half-past three in the afternoon--it had ceased altogether.
What had happened? Was the fight over? It might be so, although I
could scarcely believe that the Russians had been utterly beaten in the
short space of an hour; for although their ships were in anything but
first-class condition, the men were brave, and were scarcely likely to
yield so long as the merest ghost of a chance of success remained to
them. We were not doomed to remain very long in suspense, however, for
just as eight bells was striking a wireless message arrived from the
Admiral, ordering the _Asama_ and ourselves to rejoin forthwith, and
giving us our course, east-south-east.
I believe our engines were the first to move, but the _Asama_ was now
nearly a mile to the eastward of us, we standing higher out of the water
than she, and therefore drifting to leeward faster, consequently she
really had the best of the start. But I wasn't going to let her get
into action before me, if I could help it, and I called down the
voice-tube to Carmichael, our Engineer Commander, explaining the state
of affairs, and begging him to do his best. Unfortunately for us,
however, the _Asama's_ "chief" was Scotch, too; it therefore at once
became a race between the two ships, all the keener because of the
friendly rivalry between the two Scotchmen. It was generally conceded
that _Asama_ had the advantage of _Yakumo_ by about half a knot; but
when at length, shortly before four bells in the first dog watch, we
rejoined the line, the two craft were running neck and neck.
The battle recommenced about a quarter of an hour before we were able to
resume our former position in the fighting line, the _Poltava_ opening
fire with her 12-inch guns upon the _Mikasa_, against which ship, it
appeared, the Russians had concentrated their efforts during the earlier
phase of the fight. The _Poltava_ was the sternmost ship in the Russian
battle-line; and as though her shots had been a signal, the fire
instantly ran right along the Russian line from rear to van. The din
was frightful, for our ships at once returned the Russian fire, and in a
moment, as it seemed, the sea all round about the _Mikasa_ on our side,
and the _Tsarevich, Peresviet_, and _Retvisan_ on the side of the
Russians, was lashed into innumerable great fountains of leaping spray
which shone magnificently, like great showers of vari-coloured jewels,
in the orange light of the declining sun. And presently, as the gunners
got the range, there were added to the deafening explosions of the guns
the sounds of the projectiles smiting like Titan hammers upon the
armoured sides and other protected parts of the ships, and the crash of
bursting shells. Great clouds of powder smoke whirled about the ships,
hiding them for a second or two and then driving away to leeward upon
the wings of the increasing gale. Splinters of wood and iron, and
fragments of burst shells swept over the ships like hail, and prostrate
forms here and there about the decks, weltering in their blood,
proclaimed the growing deadly accuracy of the fire on either side. The
pandemonium of sound was such that the human voice could no longer make
itself heard, and the officers on the bridges were obliged to give their
orders in dumb show. Even the shrieks of the wounded went unheard in
that hellish babel of sound. As the distance between the contending
ships decreased one began to realise the terrific character of the
forces employed by man for the destruction of his fellow-man, for now it
could be seen that the _Tsarevich_, ponderous as was her bulk, literally
and visibly heeled and swayed under the tremendous impact of the enemy's
projectiles. But we were by no means getting things all our own way,
for when the fight had been raging for about half an hour, the _Mikasa_
was struck upon her fore barbette by a 12-inch shell which shook the
ship from stem to stern as it exploded, and put the barbette, with its
two 12-inch guns, out of action for a time through the jamming of its
turning machinery. The damage, however, was speedily repaired, and
meanwhile the fight went on with ever-increasing fierceness and
determination.
At length the superiority of the Japanese fire began to make itself
apparent. The speed of the Russian ships steadily fell, and it could be
seen that many of them, particularly the battleships, were in great
distress. Especially was this the case with Vitgeft's flagship, the
_Tsarevich_, upon which much of the fire of our own battleships had been
concentrated. She had a great hole in her bows, about ten feet in
diameter; her anchors were shot away; and her hawse-pipes had vanished--
to enumerate only her more apparent injuries. Then a 12-inch shell
struck her fore-turret, wrecked its interior and, as we subsequently
learned, glanced off, entered the conning tower, killed everybody in it
except two, destroyed the compass, and killed the man at the wheel, who,
as he fell, jammed the helm hard a-starboard, causing the ship to swerve
sharply out of the line and wheel round in a wide circle, completely
upsetting the formation and seriously imperilling many of her sister
ships. A few seconds later another shell fell aboard her, hitting the
foot of her foremast and causing it to totter, though it did not
actually fall. This same shell, we afterward learned, literally blew
Admiral Vitgeft to atoms, also seriously wounding several of his staff,
and throwing the ship into a perfect chaos of confusion.
This was the beginning of the end; shells now literally rained upon her,
doing frightful damage both on deck and below, while it was patent to
all that she was completely out of control. Her erratic movements
produced the utmost confusion in the Russian battle-line, which broke up
and became a mere disorganised mob of ships, upon which the Japanese
ships at once closed, determined to avail themselves to the utmost of
the opportunity to bring the engagement to a speedy end.
And, indeed, the end appeared to be near; for serious as was the plight
of the _Tsarevich_, that of some of her sister battleships was even
worse. The _Peresviet_, for example--the flagship of Prince Ukhtomsky,
who, in consequence of the death of Admiral Vitgeft, was now in supreme
command--was a perfect wreck, so far as her upper works were concerned;
both masts were destroyed, her funnels were battered and pierced, and
she was on fire; while the _Poltava_ had two of her 6-inch guns smashed
and the containing turret jammed.
At the moment when the confusion created by the erratic movements of the
_Tsarevich_ was at its height, the _Peresviet_ displayed a signal from
her bridge and, sheering out of the melee, headed away back in the
direction of Port Arthur, followed by the _Sevastopol_ and _Poltava_,
while the _Askold_, Admiral Reitsenstein's flagship, followed by the
cruisers _Diana, Pallada_, and _Novik_, broke away from the rest of the
fleet and, under every ounce of steam that they could raise, headed away
in a south-easterly direction, followed by the _Asama_ and six other
cruisers. As for the _Pobieda_ and _Retvisan_, apparently animated by
the same desperate resolve, they suddenly shifted their helms and
steamed straight for our battle-line, as the mortally wounded lion will
sometimes turn upon the hunter and, with the last remains of his
fast-ebbing strength, slay his foe before perishing himself. It looked
as though both meant to use the ram, the successful employment of which
might cost us the loss of at least two of our treasured battleships; and
they were accordingly received with a terrific fire from every Japanese
ship present. The _Retvisan_, being slightly in advance of her
companion, received the heaviest of our fire, and under it she seemed to
crumple up into an almost shapeless mass of wreckage. It was not
possible for mere mortals to continue to face such a devastating hail of
shells, and as suddenly as she had started toward us she now swerved
away, instantly followed by the _Pobieda_, both steaming hard in the
wake of Prince Ukhtomsky's division, which they rejoined just as the
dusk of evening was turning to darkness.
With the flight of those two ships the battle came to an end; because
for some reason, known only to himself, Togo failed to follow up his
advantage and complete the destruction of the Russian fleet. Some of us
were of opinion that he felt himself handicapped by the stringent orders
which he had received not to risk the loss of any of our precious
battleships, one or more of which might easily have been destroyed in
the darkness by mines dropped by the flying enemy, or by torpedoes
launched from the decks of daring and enterprising destroyers. And if
he was influenced by such considerations as these who shall blame him,
or say that he was wrong?
Yet people were not wanting who complained that the battle was an
indecisive one, because no Russian ships had been either captured or
sunk in the course of the fight. But although this assertion was
undeniable, the grumblers forgot a little group of very important facts,
the chief of which was that the five Russian battleships and the
protected cruiser _Pallada_ which succeeded in regaining Port Arthur
harbour were so desperately damaged that they were practically reduced
to the condition of scrap iron, inasmuch as that, despite all the
efforts of the Russians to repair them, none of them was again able to
leave Port Arthur until they fell into the hands of the Japanese when
the fortress surrendered. As for the sixth Russian battleship, the
_Tsarevich_, she took advantage of the darkness to separate from the
rest of the fleet, and made for Kiaochau, where she arrived on the
following day, and where she was of course interned. The same fate
befell the cruisers _Askold_ and _Diana_, the former of which sought
shelter at Shanghai, while the latter succeeded in escaping as far south
as Saigon. The destroyer _Reshitelny_, which separated from the Russian
fleet immediately after its departure from Port Arthur, escaped the
Japanese destroyers and duly reached Chifu, whither she had been sent
with dispatches from Admiral Vitgeft, requesting that the Vladivostock
squadron might be dispatched to assist him in his proposed passage
through the Korean Strait. Her mission accomplished, her commander
agreed to assent to the demand of Sah, the Chinese admiral on the
station, that she should disarm and surrender certain vital parts of her
machinery. The Japanese, however, had their doubts as to the power of
the Chinese authorities to enforce this demand, and accordingly
Commander Fujimoto took matters into his own hands and, late on the
night of 11th October, entered Chifu harbour and, after an altercation
with the commander of the Russian vessel, calmly took the _Reshitelny_
in tow and carried her off. This was of course a violation of neutral
territory, and led to a little temporary friction, but it ended in the
destroyer being added to the Japanese navy.