Editing Battleship (section)

====Early combat experiences====
[[File:Battle of Tsushima, 1905 by Tōjō Shōtarō.jpg|thumb|Painting of the [[Battle of Tsushima]], 1905]]

Pre-dreadnought battleships received their first test in combat in the [[Spanish-American War]] in 1898 at the [[Battle of Santiago de Cuba]]. An American squadron that included four pre-dreadnoughts had blockaded a Spanish squadron of four armored cruisers in [[Santiago de Cuba]] until 3 July, when the Spanish ships attempted to break through and escape. All four cruisers were destroyed in the ensuing engagement, as were a pair of Spanish [[destroyer]]s, and American ships received little damage in return. The battle seemed to indicate that the mixed batteries of pre-dreadnought battleships were very effective, as the medium-caliber guns had inflicted most of the damage (which reinforced the observations of the [[Battle of Manila Bay]], where only cruisers armed with medium guns had been present). It also led navies around the world to begin working on better solutions for [[rangefinding]] in the hope of improving gunnery at longer ranges.{{sfn|Sondhaus|2001|pp=176–177}}

Conflicting colonial ambitions in Korea and [[Manchuria]] led Russia and Japan to the next major use of pre-dreadnoughts in combat. During the [[Russo-Japanese War]] of 1904–1905, squadrons of battleships engaged in a number of battles, including the [[Battle of the Yellow Sea]] and the [[Battle of Tsushima]]. [[Naval mine]]s also proved to be a deadly threat to battleships on both sides, sinking the Russian {{ship|Russian battleship|Petropavlovsk||2}} in March 1904 and the Japanese battleships {{ship|Japanese battleship|Hatsuse||2}} and {{ship|Japanese battleship|Yashima||2}} on the same day in May. The action in the Yellow Sea began during a Russian attempt to break out of [[Dalian|Port Arthur]], which the Japanese under Admiral [[Tōgō Heihachirō]] had blockaded. The Russians outmaneuvered the Japanese and briefly escaped, but the latter's superior speed allowed them to catch up. A 12-inch shell struck the Russian flagship, killing the squadron commander and causing the Russian ships to fall into disarray and retreat back to Port Arthur. With night falling, the Japanese broke off and reimposed the blockade. At Tsushima, Togo outmaneuvered the Russian Second Pacific Squadron that had been sent to reinforce the Pacific Fleet, and the Japanese battleships quickly inflicted fatal damage with long-range fire from their 12-inch guns.{{sfn|Sondhaus|2001|pp=187–191}}

In both actions during the Russo-Japanese War, the fleets engaged at longer range (as far as {{cvt|11000|m|yd|order=flip}} at the Yellow Sea), where only their 12-inch guns were effective. Only in the final stages of the battle at Tsushima, by which time the Russian fleet had been severely damaged and most of its modern battleships sunk or disabled, did the Japanese fleet close to effective range of their secondary guns, fighting as close as {{cvt|2500|m|yd|order=flip}}. The actions, particularly the decisive engagement at Tsushima, demonstrated that the lessons taken from the Spanish-American War were incorrect, and that the large-caliber gun should be the only offensive weapon carried by battleships.{{sfn|Sondhaus|2001|pp=189–191, 197–198}}