During the Battle of the Yellow Sea on 10 August , Asahi , now commanded by Captain Tsunaakira Nomoto , was second in line of the column of Japanese battleships , behind Mikasa , and was one of the primary targets of the Russian ships . She was only hit by a single 12 @-@ inch shell that wounded two crewmen . Both guns in her aft 12 @-@ inch gun turret , however , were disabled by shells that detonated prematurely in their barrels . In turn she concentrated most of her fire upon the battleships Poltava and Tsesarevich although both ships were only lightly damaged by the Japanese shells , which generally failed to penetrate any armour and detonated on impact . The ship made the critical hits of the battle , however , when two of her 12 @-@ inch shells struck the bridge of Tsesarevich , killing the Russian squadron commander , Vice Admiral Wilgelm Vitgeft , two of his staff officers and the ship 's quartermaster . The ship 's wheel was jammed to port by wreckage and then slowed to a halt which threw the rest of the Russian ships into total confusion . The second @-@ in @-@ command , Rear Admiral Prince Pavel Ukhtomsky , eventually gained control of the remainder of the squadron and headed back to Port Arthur . Slightly more than two months later , on 26 October , Asahi struck a mine off Port Arthur while on blockade duty . Severely damaged , she was under repair at Sasebo Naval Arsenal from November 1904 to April 1905 . Russian naval forces in the Far East had been destroyed or neutralized by this time and the Russians were forced to transfer ships from the Baltic Fleet that did not arrive until May .