As a teenage samurai, Tg Heihachir witnessed the destruction wrought upon his native land by British warships. Later, as the legendary Silent Admiral, he was at the forefront of innovations in warfare, pioneering the Japanese use of modern gunnery and wireless communication. Best known as the Nelson of the East for his resounding victory over the Tsars navy in the RussoJapanese War, he also lived a remarkable life studying at an English maritime college and witnessing the SinoFrench War, the Hawaiian Revolution, and the Boxer Uprising.

This biography spans Japans sudden, violent leap out of its self-imposed isolation and into the 20th century. Delving beyond Tgs finest hour at the Battle of Tsushima, it shines new light on his reluctant celebrity in America and the accumulation of peacetime experience that forged a wartime hero.