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The Japanese used mostly [[high-explosive]] shells filled with [[Shimose powder]], which was a pure [[picric acid]] (as opposed to the French [[Picric acid|Melinite]] or the British [[Lyddite]], which were picric acid mixed with [[collodion]] (French) or with [[dinitrobenzene]] and [[vaseline]] (British) for stability).<ref name=koike /> Engineer Shimose Masachika (1860–1911) solved the instability problem of picric acid on contact with iron and other heavy metals by coating the inside of a shell with unpigmented [[Toxicodendron vernicifluum#Lacquer|Japanese lacquer]] and further sealing with wax.<ref name=shimose>[[:ja:下瀬火薬|Shimose Powder (in Japanese)]]</ref> Because it was undiluted, Shimose powder had a stronger power in terms of detonation velocity and temperature than other high explosives at the time.<ref name=koike>{{cite journal|last=Koike|first=Shigeki|title=The Russo-Japanese War and the system of SHIMOSE gunpowder |publisher=Takasaki City University of Economics|journal=Bulletin of Papers|issue=49|volume=1|date=2006|language=ja|url=http://www1.tcue.ac.jp/home1/k-gakkai/ronsyuu/ronsyuukeisai/49_1/koike.pdf |access-date=18 September 2020|archive-date=5 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305093421/http://www1.tcue.ac.jp/home1/k-gakkai/ronsyuu/ronsyuukeisai/49_1/koike.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref> These shells had a sensitive Ijuin fuse<ref name=Ijuin>[[:ja:伊集院信管|Ijuin Fuse (in Japanese)]]</ref> (named after Vice Admiral [[Ijuin Gorō]]{{efn|He was credited with this invention as he spearheaded its development program as one of the leaders of IJN (as the senior member of [[Imperial Japanese Navy General Staff|Navy General Staff]]), together with Navy Minister (Admiral) [[Yamamoto Gonnohyōe]] who appointed [[Tōgō Heihachirō]] to the Commander in Chief of the [[Combined Fleet]] disregarding seniority ranking within IJN. He was a major proponent of [[Anglo-Japanese Alliance]] after having attended the [[Royal Naval College, Greenwich|Greenwich Naval Academy]] for a period, and was the key figure in IJN's tight relationship with [[Armstrong Whitworth|Armstrong Mitchell & Company]].}}) at the base as opposed to the tip of a shell that armed itself when the shell was spun by the rifling. These fuses were designed to explode on contact and wreck the upper structure of ships.{{efn|After hitting {{ship|Russian battleship|Peresvet|up=yes}} 13 times with 12" and 15 more times with 6" or 8" shells;<ref>[[:ru:Пересвет (броненосец)#Бой в Жёлтом море]]</ref> hitting {{ship|Russian battleship|Retvizan||2}} 18 times, {{ship|Russian battleship|Tsesarevich||2}} 15 times,<ref>[[:ru:Цесаревич (броненосец)#Сражение в Жёлтом море]],</ref> {{ship|Russian battleship|Poltava||2}} 12–14 times, and {{ship|Russian battleship|Pobeda||2}} 11 times with 8" and larger armour-piercing shells with delayed detonation fuze without being able to sink any of them (likewise none of the Japanese battleships was sunk despite receiving many hits) in the [[Battle of the Yellow Sea]], the Japanese tactical priority shifted from sinking to the destruction of [[superstructure]]. This concept of high explosive incendiary shells (the first example of what is called the HEI-BF "High Explosive Incendiary – Base Fuze" shells today) was not used by any navy in the world at the time. The Russian Navy used what is known as [[Armour-piercing ammunition#History|Makarov tip]] on its shells to improve penetrating performance upon hitting the target at an angle, without the experience of [[Armour-piercing ammunition#Projectile composition and construction|high explosive armour-piercing shells]] not being effective enough against the Harvey / Krupp armour and [[Compartment (ship)|compartmented hull]] used on the battleships.}}{{sfn|Semenoff|1907|page=63}} The Japanese Navy imported [[cordite]] from Great Britain as the smokeless propellant for these Shimose shells,<ref name=koike /> so that the smoke off the muzzle would not impede the visibility for the spotters.
In the early 1890s, Vice Admiral [[Stepan Makarov|Stepan O. Makarov]], then the Chief Inspector of Russian naval artillery, proposed a new 12-inch gun design, and assigned a junior officer, Semyon V. Panpushko, to research the use of picric acid as the explosive in the shell. However, Panpushko
As a result, Japanese hits caused more damage to Russian ships than Russian hits on Japanese ships. Shimose blasts often set the superstructure, the paintwork and the large quantities of coal stored on the decks on fire,{{sfn|Corbett|2015b|pp=142, 161, 193}} and the sight of the spotters on Russian ships was hindered by the large amount of smoke generated by the propellant on each uncoordinated firing.{{efn|On Christmas day on Julian Calendar in 1904 off Madagascar, Alexey Novikov-Priboy onboard battleship ''Oryol'' wrote: "At noon, the ocean expanse was filled with the thunder of guns. Each ship fired a salute of thirty-one shots. The squadron was enveloped in black powder smoke."{{sfn|Novikov-Priboy|1937}}}} Moreover, the sensitivity difference of the fuse caused the Japanese off-the-target shells to explode upon falling on the water creating a much larger splash that sent destabilizing waves to Russian [[inclinometer]]s,{{efn|12" shells creating an "incomparably larger splash than the enemy's on the water"{{sfn|Tsukamoto|1907|p=75}}}}{{efn|"Japanese shells exploded even when they hit the water."{{sfn|Novikov-Priboy|1937|loc=Book 2, Chapter 1}}}} as opposed to the Russian shells not detonating upon falling on the water.{{efn|12" shells creating a "tall splash of 10–20 m"{{sfn|Tsukamoto|1907|p=74}}}} This made an additional difference in the [[#Salvo firing director system|aforementioned shot accuracy]] by aiding the Japanese spotters to make an easier identification in fall of shot observation.
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