during the 1870s and 1880s, the japanese navy remained an essentially coastal defense force, although the meiji government continued to modernize it. in 1870 an imperial decree determined that the british navy should be the model for development, and the second british naval mission to japan, the douglas mission (1873–79) led by archibald lucius douglas laid the foundations of naval officer training and education. (see ian gow, 'the douglas mission (1873–79) and meiji naval education' in j. e. hoare ed., "britain & japan: biographical portraits volume iii", japan library 1999.) tōgō heihachirō was trained by the british navy.