1904 under the command of Commander Yamaya Tanin, together with the cruiser , to force the disarmament of the , under the international norms for neutrality, accomplishing its mission by 31 March. Akitsushima then joined the blockade of Port Arthur. She assisted in the rescue of survivors from the battleship which had struck a naval mine on 15 May 1904, and also rescued survivors of the gunboat which sank on 16 May after colliding with the cruiser . In June Akitsushima was assigned to escort transports ferrying the IJA 2nd Army across the Bohai Gulf, and to provide fire support for the efforts of the Imperial Japanese Army's 3rd Army under General Nogi Maresuke to take Port Arthur. During the Battle of the Yellow Sea, Akitsushima attempted to intercept the Russian cruiser , but failed to catch her. During the final crucial Battle of Tsushima on 27 May, Akitsushima, under the command of Commander Hirose Katsuhiko saw combat against the Russian cruisers , and . Afterwards, in June 1905, she covered the landings of troops in the Japanese invasion of Sakhalin. Akitsushima was re-classified as a 2nd class Coastal Defense Vessel on 28 August 1912. In 1913, as a gesture of good will, the officers and crew of Akitsushima presided over the funeral of Russian admiral Stepan Makarov in the military cemetery of Port Arthur. The admiral’s remains and those of five of his officers were recovered by a salvage team from the wreck of the battleship which had been sunk by a naval mine during the Russo-Japanese War at the entrance to Port Arthur. World War I In 1909, Akitsushima was assigned the task of returning the body of former Prime Minister Itō Hirobumi to Japan, after he was assassinated in Harbin, Manchuria by a Korean nationalist. Despite her antiquated equipment and age was called upon again during World War I, to serve in the IJN 2nd Fleet during the Battle of Tsingtao against the Imperial German Navy. During the remainder of the war, she patrolled the sea lanes between Borneo, Singapore, Manila, and Saigon against German commerce raiders and U-boats, as part of Japan’s contribution to the Allied war effort under the Anglo-Japanese Alliance. In 1914, in a final attempt to improve on her stability, her torpedo tubes and all 47-mm guns were removed. After World War I, Akitsushima was re-designated a training ship and submarine tender on