The design of the Fusō @-@ class battleships was shaped both by the ongoing international naval arms race and a desire among Japanese naval planners to maintain a fleet of capital ships powerful enough to defeat the United States Navy in an encounter in Japanese territorial waters . The IJN 's fleet of battleships had proven highly successful in 1905 , the last year of the Russo @-@ Japanese War , which culminated in the destruction of the Russian Second and Third Pacific Squadrons at the Battle of Tsushima .