Imperial Japanese Navy of the Russo-Japanese War / Mark Stille; illustrated by Paul Wright.

In 1904, the Imperial Japanese Navy had been built up from nothing in just two decades. When it destroyed Russia's battle fleet in the battle of Tsushima, it marked Japan's emergence as a major naval power - and sparked a revolution in naval technology. The catastrophic results of the Russo-Japanese War, the only clash of pre-dreadnoughts in history, caused the world to rethink naval technology, and set the stage for the dreadnought race of the next decade. With extensive tables and carefully researched new artwork, this book explains in concise detail the IJN's fleet of 1904-1905, from its battleships and armored cruisers to the torpedo boats that launched "the first great torpedo attack in history," and how these warships performed in the devastating battles agains the Russian fleet.