[3][4] During the Battle of Tsushima, Kagerō took part in a torpedo attack against the Imperial Russian Navy squadron on the evening of 27 May 1905, then put into port along with the destroyer Sazanami at Ulsan, Korea, for reprovisioning and repairs.

[5] At 16:00, they identified the smoke as coming from two Russian destroyers and gave chase at 23 knots (43 km/h; 26 mph), and as the Japanese closed the range, Groznyi received orders at 16:30 to proceed on her own and try to escape.

[5] With the range down to 4,000 yards (3,700 m) at 16:45, the Japanese opened gunfire, and Groznyi returned fire and made off at high speed with Kagerō in hot pursuit.

[5] Meanwhile, Bedovyi refrained from firing and promptly stopped and surrendered to Sazanami, whose boarding party found the wounded Russian fleet commander, Vice Admiral Zinovy Rozhestvensky, aboard and took him prisoner in addition to capturing the ship.

[3][9] Later that year, she took part[citation needed] in the Japanese seizure of the German Empire′s colonial possessions in the Caroline, Mariana, and Marshall Islands.