Kagoshima, Satsuma, and Togo's first action

The Anglo-Satsuma War followed the killing of the British merchant Charles Richardson during the Namamugi incident. British demands for compensation collided with Satsuma's defense of local samurai authority and with the extraterritorial protections imposed by treaty. At Kagoshima, Royal Navy ships entered a typhoon-bound harbor without expecting serious resistance, then came under fire from evacuated coastal defenses. Cooper's force included HMS Euryalus, Pearl, Perseus, Argus, Coquette, Racehorse, and the gunboat Havoc. The British squadron burned captured merchant ships and bombarded the batteries but expended its ammunition and withdrew after suffering casualties. Satsuma later paid the demanded sum with money borrowed from the bakufu, then developed close British connections that helped shape Japanese naval development. Togo's service as a gun captain in the coastal defenses places his first action inside this abrupt shift from confrontation to partnership.