'' Mikasa '' 

Mikasa, built by Vickers in Britain in 1899-1901, is preserved at a permanent berth in Yokosuka, near Tokyo, the world's only surviving pre-dreadnought battleship. The 15,000-ton Mikasa was Admiral Togo's flagship at theBattle of the Yellow Sea in August 1904 and the Battle of Tsushima in May 1905, in which the Japanese annihilated the Russian combined Baltic and Black Sea fleets. Undercutting then-accepted theories of eugenics and white racial supremacy used to justify imperialism and racial oppression, the Japanese victory over a European empire cast doubt upon the prevailing wisdom at the outset of a new century, and heralded Japan's ascendancy as a world power. Because of her pivotal role in a decisive point in Japan's emergence on the world stage, Mikasa (seen here in a 1:700 model by Tim Watson) holds a position in Japanese history analogous to that of HMS Victory in British national consciousness.

Mikasa's design closely followed the British Majestic class but with improved guns and mountings analogous to the British advances at the time (London class). In keeping with the latest British practice, the funnels were placed along the centerline instead of side-by-side as in the original Majestics. Mikasa and her near-sister Asahi were the most recently completed battleships in the Japanese fleet as hostilities opened. Like the Majestics, they had a prominent docking bridge and secondary control station at the aft end of the superstructure. Like the British model, they had their secondary armament in an armored box battery amidships, and single turret protection for the 6" guns at the corners of the citadel. Mikasa was a special beefed-up version with additional size and power, and extra armor forward, intended to act as flagship of the entire Japanese fleet -- a rôle she played with distinction.

Afmetingen:

• Lengte 379 mm
• Breedte 90,5 mm.

Aantal onderdelen; 420 stuks.

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