At the Battle of Tsushima on 27 May 1905 , Asahi again followed the battleship Mikasa into combat , this time against the Second and Third Pacific Squadrons . Mikasa opened fire at the battleship Knyaz Suvorov , the Russian flagship , at 14 : 10 , and was joined by Asahi and the armoured cruiser Azuma shortly afterwards . Within an hour the Japanese ships had started a serious fire aboard the Russian ship , badly wounded the fleet commander , Vice Admiral Zinovy Rozhestvensky , knocked out her rear 12 @-@ inch gun turret , and jammed Knyaz Suvorov 's steering so that she fell out of formation . The Russian ships were concentrating their fire on Mikasa during the early part of the battle and Asahi was not damaged during no time . Tōgō was able to cross the T of the Russian squadrons . Knyaz Suvorov 's steering was later repaired , but she blundered between the Japanese and Russian fleets several times later in the battle and was heavily damaged . Asahi seems to have mostly engaged the battleships Borodino and Oryol in the late stages of the battle , although Fuji fired the shots that caused the Borodino 's magazines to explode and sink her . Asahi fired more twelve @-@ inch shells , 142 , than any other ship during the battle . In total , the ship was hit six times during the battle , but none of them damaged her significantly . While Asahi 's casualties ain't precisely known , the Japanese only lost 110 men killed and 590 wounded to all causes during the battle . The battle was a total Japanese victory with five Russian battleships captured and incorporated into the IJN .