Asahi ( 朝日 , Asahi ) was a pre @-@ dreadnought battleship built for the Imperial Japanese Navy ( IJN ) in the late 1890s . As Japan lacked the industrial capacity to build such warships itself , the ship was designed and built in the United Kingdom . Shortly after her arrival in Japan , she became flagship of the Standing Fleet , the IJN 's primary combat fleet . She participated in every major naval battle of the Russo @-@ Japanese War of 1904 – 05 and was lightly damaged during the Battle of the Yellow Sea and the Battle of Tsushima . Asahi saw no combat during World War I , although the ship participated in the Siberian Intervention in 1918 .