3.83 Fall and Rise of China: Russo-Japanese War #10: Tsushima

Last time we spoke about the end of the land campaign for the Russo-Japanese War, the battle of Mukden. Kuropatkin had been served defeat after defeat after defeat and found himself against the wall at Mukden. Meanwhile Oyama received reinforcements in the form of General Nogi’s 3rd IJA and created a 5th IJA under Kawamura. Pretending the 5th IJA was a full strength army, Oyama unleashed a devilish deception against Kuropatkin’s eastern flank. Kuropatkin took a defensive stance, handing the initiative completely to Oyama who performed a full crescent pincer attack against his army. Using Nogi’s 3rd IJA as the surprise left pincer, Oyama attempted defeating the Russians once and for all, but yet again Kuropatkin’s army was able to flee intact. Despite taking the majority of his army further north into Manchuria, the Russians were in no position to launch a counter offensive and now all hope for their cause lay upon the arrival of the baltic fleet.

 

#83 The Russo-Japanese War part 10: The battle of Tsushima

 

Welcome to the Fall and Rise of China Podcast, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about the history of Asia? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on history of asia and much more  so go give them a look over on Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel where I cover the history of China and Japan from the 19th century until the end of the Pacific War.

As Kuropatkin was withdrawing to a new line of defense at Siping, the Tsar would write in his diary “it is painful and distressing”, but the pain and distress had only just begun. All the way back in October of 1904, Rear Admiral Zinovi Petrovich Rozhdestvenski, the commander in chief of the Baltic Fleet was given command of the new second Pacific Squadron. His new fleet departed Kronstadt on October 15th and would be facing an incredible and very difficult journey. The logistics of the fleets deployment were colossal. It was estimated the fleet would require 3000 tons of coal a day at economic speed, 10,000 tons at full speed. Most great powers with large navy’s had coaling stations within their spheres of influence, Russia did not. Of the great powers she had no significant oversea colonies. Under international law, neutral ports were forbidden from providing support to warships. Britain held numerous coaling stations, but was allied to Japan, thus Russia sought aid from France and Germany. France agreed to allow their coaling stations to be used, and Germany supplied a fleet of 60 colliers to perform coal ups. 

Rozhdestvenski took the battleship Kniaz Suvarov for his flagship, along with her was Orel, Alexander III and Borodino comprising the first battleship division. The second battleship division led by Rear Admiral Felkerzam had older battleships Osylabya the flag, Sissoy, Veliky and Navarin. The first cruiser division was led by Rear admiral Enquist had Dmitri Donskoi the flag, Svetlana, Oleg, Izumrud, Zhemchug, Aurora and Admiral Nakhimov. 

The movement of the 2nd Pacific Squadron through the Baltic was very painful, there were endless delays because of ships requiring repairs, to coal up and mine clearing operations. Rozhestvensky ordered "no vessel of any sort must be allowed to get in among the fleet" fueled by rumors the IJN sought to ambush them using torpedo boats. When the fleet reached Dogger Bank on the night of October 21st, jittery Russian crewmates aboard the repair ship Kamchatka, last in the Russian line, saw something. The Kamchatka had lost touch with the fleet and saw a Swedish merchantman of the Gamecock fishing fleet operating out of Hull. Kamchatka sent a contact report to the fleet stating “chased by torpedo boats”. Hearts leapt throughout the fleet, thousands of sailors peered over the rails into the sea. Suvarov signaled “how many! From which direction!?” Kamchatka responded “about eight from all directions”. Sailor Politovski recalled when all hell broke loose “a small steam was rolling helpless on the sea. One funnel, a bridge, and the red and black paint on her side were clearly visible. First one, then another projectile from our ship struck this unfortunate steamer. They were, no doubt, fishermen. Now there will be a universal scandal.’’ Facing the Russians was a 100 ton trawler Crane, with fishermen aboard holding up fish to the searchlights trying to indicate what they were. They were boats of the Gamecock fleet operating out of hull in the traditional fishing grounds of Dogger Bank. A young Joseph Alfred Smith was awoken by gunfire. He ran up the deck to find his father and third hand both headless in a pool of blood. Most of the rest of the crew were wounded. The first hand frantically waved a red lantern as the little boat began to sink. Three other trawlers, rushed over to pick up Crane’s men as Rozhdestvenski realized his fleet was firing upon British fishing boats. Rozhdestvenski signaled to cease fire, but then other ships of the Baltic fleet came into the area prompting those firing on the fisherman to fire upon them! A fire fight broke out between battleships and cruisers, with some receiving hits. Orel fired 500 rounds, hitting Dimitri Donskoi and Aurora a few times. Two Russians were killed from friendly fire and the battleship Aurora took a hit below her waterline. The chaos went on for 25 minutes and several Russian ships signaled torpedoes were being fired upon them. The Borodino even sent a report saying they believed they were being boarded by the Japanese. Finally the Suvarov put up a blue light signaling to cease fire before sailing off without providing any lifeboats to the fishermen.

The battered fisherman returned to Hull with their dead and news of the incident spread like wildfire. The infamous incident became known as the “Dogger Bank Incident”. The attack on the British fishing ships was seen as an act of war. The British admiralty put the Home, Channel and Mediterranean fleets on a war footing as masses of protestors hit Trafalgar Square demanding justice. Meanwhile Rozhdestvenski was completely unaware of everything until he hit their first port of call at Vigo. Spains immediately passed on the message from Britain. Rozhdestvenski sent off a signal claiming that the attack on the Gamecock fleet had been an accident. He argued his officer believed two torpedo boats were in the vicinity and every effort had been made to avoid the imprudent fishing boats. Rozhdestvenski apologized and asked ‘to express our sincere regret for the unfortunate victims of circumstances in which no warship could, even in times of profound peace have acted otherwise’. 

So yeah the great journey had quite a rough start. After averting war with Britain, Rozhdestvesnki fleet continued on and at Tangier he decided to split up in two. He believed the older ships would not survive the long journey around the Cape, so he sent them through the Suez Canal route led by Admiral Felkerzam. Rozhdestvenski fleet hit port after port, coaling up and carrying on. Coaling up in the southern hemisphere where temperatures could hit 120 degree F, saw men die of sunstroke. Sir Winston Churchill wrote on the subject  ‘ordeal of coaling exhausted the whole ship’s company. In wartime it robbed them of their brief period of rest; it subjected everyone to extreme discomfort’. Each port they came to coal out brought news of the war. At Diego Suarez in Madagascar, the Russians heard news 203 meter hill had fallen to the Japanese. Rozhdestvenski said “203 meter hill, and what is that?”. They departed west africa on december 17th and now Rozhdesvenski needed to link back up with Felkrzams squadron and make it post haste to rescue Port Arthur. However Felkerzam had a shorter route and should have reached Diego Suarez before Rozhdestvenski, but he had not. It would turn out St Petersburg redirected Felkermaz to Nossi Be 600 miles distant, causing great delays. Rozhdestvenski outraged raced towards Nossi Be, but along the way received the disastrous news, Port Arthur had fallen.

 

Without Witgeft’s fleet, the second pacific squadron was in trouble. St Petersburg sought to assemble a 3rd pacific squadron from the Black Sea, but this was diplomatically impossible. Russia had an ongoing issue with Turkey, thus trapping their black sea fleet. Thus the third pacific squadron would consist of warships previously rejected by Rozhdestvenski, the older battleships Imperator Nikolai I flagship, General Admiral Graf Apraksin, Admiral Seniavin, Admiral Ushakov, cruiser Vladimir Monomakh and 7 other auxiliaries. The squadron was led by Rear admiral Nikolai Nebogatov and departed Libava on February 15th, passing through the Suez canal to meet up with the rest.

 

Meanwhile the IJN expected to see the Baltic fleet around the Formosan straits by early January 1905. The massive amount of delays prompted Rozhdestvenski to say to his staff  ‘Telegraph to St Petersburg that I wish to be relieved of my command,’ Christmas brought Rozhdestvenski out of his depression and soon his squadron met up with Felkerzam at Nossi Be on January 10th. While coaling up, Rozhdestvenski met with the other commanders to issue the orders they had received from St Petersburg. They were to meet up with the incoming 3rd pacific squadron and combined, would regain command of the sea. To achieve this aim they would need to strike the IJN combined fleet as quickly as possible, because the Japanese had been at sea for nearly a year and perhaps would be worn out. Yet Rozhdestvenski had his own thought on the matter, and made them known to the Russian admiralty when he signaled “I have not the slightest prospect of recovering command of the sea with the force under my orders. The despatch of reinforcements composed of untested and in some cases badly built vessels would only render the fleet more vulnerable. In my view the only possible course is to use all force to break through to Vladivostok and from this base to threaten the enemy’s communications. “

 

The German colliers declared they would not further support the Russian fleet east of Madagascar, prompting Rozhdestvenski into another depression. Meanwhile Captain Nicholas Klado who had departed after the Dogger Bank incident was back in St Petersburg writing about his views on the upcoming battle “The personnel of the expedition, after hearing of the fate of Port Arthur and the destruction of our fleet had no longer any faith in the success of our enterprise. We shall never in this war gain the command of the sea; that is we shall never accomplish the task imposed upon us. What ought to be done? It is shameful to acknowledge it, but I say, quite impartially, it is necessary to put an end to the naval operations.” Russian crew members read such words, demoralizing them greatly. Added to this word of Bloody Sunday and the unrest back home began to spread amongst the crews. There was a bread shortage, general discomfort of always coaling up under the extreme heat, men were exhausted and losing their minds. Many court martials began to occur, during some training exercises ships hit another by accident and narrowly ran into each other. Terrible news came from Mukden, that Kuropatkin had been served another defeat. Then on march 15th, news the 3rd pacific squadron was coaling at Crete came. Rozhdestvenskis fleet had traveled 4560 miles, pausing no fewer than 5 times to coal up, but now were stuck waiting for the incoming 3rd squadron. 

 

On april 14th the Russian fleet entered Kam Ranh Bay, many crews began mutiny’s, suicides were rampant and desertions occurred at ever port call. On May 9th, the 3rd pacific squadron finally arrived. Nebogatov met with Rozhdestvenskis for just 30 minutes, without any battle plans given before they set sail. The fleet was now 52 warships strong, Rozhdestvenski signaled the admiralty ‘I will not telegraph you again before the battle. If I am beaten, Togo will tell you. If I beat him I will let you know.’

 

Now its important to point out some differences between the two fleets. The Japanese would be enjoying some technological advantages. The IJN had electric firing mechanisms, superior ammunition and telescopic sights, the Russians did not. Basically the way gunnery worked up until this point had a local gunnery officer assigned to a gun. The man would specify elevation, deflection figures and give firing orders keeping his eyes on an inclinometer that helped indicate the roll and pitch angles of the ship. A spotter on the mast would calculate the new elevation and deflection when observing salvos for the next round. Basically quite a few guys are doing math during a heated battle to keep correcting salvo shots, very difficult stuff. Yet months before the battle we are going to talk about, Chief gunnery officer, Lt Commander Kato Hiroharu was advised by the Royal navy on how to utilize a new mechanism. The Dumaresq fire control “computer”. This was a system of centrally issuing gun laying and salvo firing orders. This saw a central system allowing the spotter to identify a salvo of distant shell splashes much more effectively than trying to identify a single splash among the countless going on in battle. Furthermore the spotter now only needed to track one at a time, as opposed to multiple shots on multiple stopwatches. He would report it to an officer on the bridge, who was just steps away from the ship commander so he could alter courses to help. This new fire control system was introduced to the entire fleet and they trained upon it for months before the Russians showed up. This would make the Japanese gunners incredibly more accurate than their foe. 

 

The Japanese also had created their own radios based on the Royal Navy’s “Marconi wireless system”. The Russians on the other hand were using Telefunken German radios. Thus the Japanese had their own equipment and were specialized in its use, but the Russians had a foreign produced technology they did not fully understand. The Japanese were also using a high explosive shell filled with “Shimose Powder”. Shimose powder was pure picric acid that Engineer Shimos Masachika had created for the IJN,. The powder had a stronger power in terms of detonation velocity and temperature than other high explosives at the time. The Japanese shells were also using Ijuin fuses that caused them to explode on contact and wreck upper structures of ships better.

 

Because of the rather insane journey across the globe, the Russian battleships were not maintained very well, and her crews were unable to train adequately. 

 

To geek out a bit I’d like to run some numbers. The Russians had an overwhelming advantage in the number of battleships and large caliber guns. They had 41 guns of 10 and 12 inch caliber while Togo would have 17. However the IJN would have a lot more guns of medium caliber, 8 and 6 inchs for example, and a ton more torpedoes. The Japanese fleet overall was faster, going at least 15 knots vs the Russian 11.

 

The Russians had 8 battleships, 9 cruisers, 8 destroyers and 9 torpedo boats. The Japanese had 5 battleships, 8 armored cruisers and 16 cruisers of various degrees, 16 destroyers and 69 torpedo boats. By the way you will find dramatically differing numbers when you try to look up the battle order, its because of arguments for ship types for those geeks out there. 

 

The total of Russian armoured ships of modern type was eleven against the Japanese fourteen .  The total broadside of the two armoured fleets, if concentrated, was: Russians, twenty 12-inch; eight 10-inch; ten 8-inch, sixty-five 6-inch; and Japanese, twenty-four 12-inch, one 10-inch, thirty 8-inch, ninety-two 6-inch.  The Japanese had thus an advantage in the number of armoured ships and a marked advantage in weight of broadside (with common shell about 37,600 pounds for the Japanese against 26,500 pounds for the Russians).

 

Rozhdestvenskis now had to choose whether he would go east or west of the Japanese home islands to get to Vladivostok. In the east he could go through either Tsugaru or La Perouse strait. Russian intelligence believed the Tsugaru strait was heavily mined and was prone to fog, favoring torpedo and destroyers who could hide and launch torpedoes. La Perouse was similar, but more difficult to navigate and further requiring more coal. In the west there were two channels through the Korean straits, the western one was full of Japanese bases, the eastern one was the Tsushima strait. Admiral Togo knew the Russians would not risk going east, it was simply too far and would be too risky. Both commanders came to the conclusion the most logical route was through Tsushima. It was going to be a game of cat and mouse. Rozhdestvenski would play the rose of mouse, trying to slip through to Vladivostok, Togo would play the role of cat. Togo took his entire fleet to Masan Bay on the southeast coast of Korea and awaited his prey.

 

Rozhdestvenski deployed his fleet in two columns. In the starboard column were 7 battleships with their flagship being Knyaz Suvorov. The port column consisted of the rest of the fleet led by Nebogatov aboard Nicholas I. On the night of May 26th, the Russians slipped into the Tsushima strait under radio silence. There was a thick fog blanketing the area, but the moon shone heavily through the overcast. The fog lifted momentarily around 2:45am and the armed merchant cruiser Shinano Maru saw the hospital ship Orel whose lights were on. The Japanese ship crept closer to investigate and relayed a message to Masan Bay ‘The enemy sighted in number 203 section. He seems to be steering for the eastern channel.’ Togo was jolted with excitement at 5am the IJN combined fleet set sail to intercept the enemy. The Orel mistook the Shinano Maru for a Russian ship and made no signal of its presence. Meanwhile the Shinano Maru sighted the shapes of 10 other Russian ships.

 

The Japanese officers had a tot of rum and cigars, gifted from Emperor Meiji. They were passed out and Togo recalled when men found out they had figured out the Russians were in the Tsushima strait ‘the news was received with enthusiastic joy by the whole fleet’ At 6:34am, Admiral Togo sent a signal to the naval minister in Tokyo “In response to the warning that enemy ships have been sighted, the Combined Fleet will immediately commence action and attempt to attack and destroy them. Weather today fine but high waves”.

 

The Japanese closed in on their enemy as men, Togo recalled “Though a heavy fog covered the sea, making it impossible to observe anything at a distance of over five miles, [through wireless messaging] all the conditions of the enemy were as clear to us, who were 30 or 40 miles distant, as though they had been under our very eyes”. At 1:40pm both fleets sighted each other and prepared themselves for battle. At 1:55pm Togo ordered the hoisting of the Z flag, and issued his predetermined announcement to the entire fleet “The Empire's fate depends on the result of this battle, let every man do his utmost duty”. As admiral Nelson had once signaled "England expects that every man will do his duty" at the Battle of Trafalgar, Togo was inspired to make this as legendary as that battle.

The Russians were sailing southwest to northeast, while the Japanese steamed from northeast to southwest. Togo ordered his fleet to turn in sequence with the Russians. Both fleets were 7 miles from another. The Japanese were coming in line-ahead formation at 14 knots, 3 knots faster than the Russians. Flagship Mikasa led her sisters, Shikishima, Fuji and Asahi as Togo seized the initiative. Togo had his faster fleet outpace the Russians and crossed them starboard to port, northwest then west, thus effectively crossing the Russian T. It was a tremendously risky maneuver as the Russian gunnery teams went to work firing upon the Japanese. Mikasa took 15 hits within just 5 minutes, Shikishima likewise took hits. Togo’s 12 large ships were performing in essence a giant U turn taking 20 minutes under heavy Russian fire. Each one of Togo’s ships had to run the gauntlet suffering hits. The Russian 3rd division concentrated upon the Japanese cruisers at the extremity of their range with some success. The Yagumo, Asama and Nisshin were all hit, Asama was forced out of line. Then the battle passed out of range for Nebogatov’s division who were hitting 11 knots, limiting the speed of the entire Russian fleet.

 

Once Fuji and Asahi completed their turn, Togo ordered his fleet to open fire targeting Suvarov and Osylabya who were leading the two Russian lines. The danger for the Japanese had passed, now Rozhestvsenki was in trouble. Rozhestvenski had only two options a charge direct, in line abreast, or to commence a formal pitched battle; he chose the latter. The Japanese unleashed their 500 guns upon the flagship of Rozhdestvenski. Aboard the Suvarov, the crews were shocked by the overwhelming and accurate fire laid upon them. Captain Vladimir Semenov recalled “‘I had not only never witnessed such a fire before, but I had never imagined anything like it. Shells seemed to be pouring upon us incessantly, one after another.It seemed impossible even to count the number of projectiles striking us.. The steel plates and superstructure on the upper decks were torn to pieces, and the splinters caused many casualties. Iron ladders were crumpled up into rings, guns were literally hurled from their mountings. In addition to this, there was the unusually high temperature and liquid flame of the explosion, which seemed to spread over everything. I actually watched a steel plate catch fire from a burst.” Meanwhile the Russians near misses outnumbered their hits and one third of their shells failed to explode. The Russian command center was in the armored conning tower above the ailing Suvarov, now alight from stem to stern from 12, 8 and 6 inch shells. Two shell struck the conning tower killing countless men. Rozhdestvenski struggled to lead his fleet closer to the enemy to achieve effective striking power, then at 2:35pm he was wounded for the first time. 

 

The Japanese gunnery had a devastating effect on the Russian crews, so much so the returning fire became relatively indifferent and ineffective. The sailors were mesmerized by the sheer slaughter before them. Main armaments were shaken and snuffed out. Semenov recalled running past sailors seeing them in shell shock, trying to scream at the men to help put out fires. By 2:30 a funnel had gone, the main mast was destroyed. Signaling was made impossible, a shell hit the flagships steering mechanism and now she was veering off to starboard, completely ablaze. Aboard the Asahi, Captain Pakenham was in a deckchair taking notes of the spectacle. Togo had taken Pakenham as an attache from the Royal Navy. Pakenham was watching through binoculars while a nearby a officer was picking up the debris of mutilated feet, hands and bowels from crew members. Pakenham kept writing notes until a 6 inch shell killed the crew of a 12 inch gun nearby him. The crew were blown to pieces and a man’s lower jaw hit Pakenham drenching him with blood. Pakenham wrote down . ‘In spite of the quantity scattered, the amount of blood left on deck looked sufficient to fill a big cask,’ before putting down his notebook and going down below. He would return 5 minutes later and resume his notetaking.

 

Osylabya was fatally damaged with her medical surgeons busy with dying men. Water rushed through the ship on the lower decks and into the magazine. She was gradually listing as the medical teams continued their work. 6 IJN cruisers pulled up for the coup de grace, as told to us by Admiral Kamimura “The whole of the starboard side as far as the keel was laid bare, her bright plating looked like the wet scales of some sea monster; and suddenly, as if by command, all the men who had crowded to the starboard side jumped down upon those scales … Most of them were dashed against the bilge keel and fell crippled, into the sea. In the water they formed an imaginable mass … and the enemy’s shell never ceased the whole time from bursting over them. A few more seconds and the Osylabya disappeared beneath the water”. Sailors abandoned the ship, some in such a hurry they failed to grab a life vest. The captain screamed to his men to swim away from the ship which was keel high by 2:45pm. She went bow first to the boot with nearly 2/3rds her crew. Osylabya was the first armored battleship to be sunk entirely by gunfire.

 

The speed difference between the two fleets had been a decisive factor. As one Japanese observer wrote: ‘After the first twenty minutes the Russians seemed suddenly to go all to pieces, and their

shooting became wild and harmless.’ At this point the situation in the conning tower of Suvarov was catastrophic. Rozhdestvenski was wounded again, took a shell fragment to the head and was knocked out. A fragment had also entered his left leg cutting the main nerve and paralyzed his limb. Rozhdestvenski was dragged into a gun turret where he groggily was coming to. His chief of staff asked ‘Sir, we must shorten the distance, they’re all being killed, they’re on fire.’ Rozhdestvenski replied ‘Wait a bit aren’t we all being killed also?” The flagship drifted east out of control, leaving the Alexander III to take the head of the line. Captain Bukhvostov aboard Alexander III took Togo by surprise and charged down the middle of his squadron. This action gained the Russians much needed respite. Yet before long the Alexander III was being absolutely battered and began to list from a hole in her bows. The lead then passed on to Borodino who soon became a ablaze joined by Orel. At this point Nebogatov should have assumed command of the fleet, but he was unaware of the status of Rozhdestvenski, or even Felkerzam who was dead for days, but Rozhdestvenski kept this a secret to thwart Nebogatov from becoming 2nd in command. Thus for 3 hours no one was in command of the Russian Fleet. Togo’s attention was stolen by the now stationary and devastated Suvarov, as Pakenham wrote “‘Her condition seemed infinitely deplorable. Smoke curling round the stern was rolling horizontally away on the wind. If the absence of funnels contributed much to her air of distress, the now extensive conflagration raging amidships showed its reality,’ Togo began firing into Suvarov from 1000 yards before sailing off to intercept the other battleships. This allowed Kamimura’s cruisers and two divisions of destroyers to close in like sharks. Togo had been so transfixed on the enemy flagship he lost sight of the battle as a whole. According to him ‘The enemy apparently altered course and disappeared in the fog.’ Togo toon a northward pursuit of the Russian fleet who were trying to escape the carnage. Mikasa had been hit over 29 times, showcasing the brutality of the fight.

 

The Russian destroyer Buiny raced through the Japanese armada coming beside Suvarov’s side. Rozhdestvenski was carried by his chief of staff who said in distress ‘Come on, sir, we haven’t

much time. There are some cruisers coming up.’ The barely conscious Rozhdestvenski, with his skull pierced by a shell splinter, protested and then said  ‘Command to Nebogatov – Vladivostok – course N.23°E.’ The wounded Admiral was tossed aboard the destroyer as Kamimura cruisers charged from the east. Destroyer Buiny carried the Admiral and 200 of Osylabya’s survivors, there was not much room for men of the Suvarov, only a dozen managed to jump aboard. Those remaining on Suvarov manned their workable guns and fought like lions against their executioners. Admiral Kataoka recalled the scene “She scarcely looked like a man-of-war at all. Her interior was ablaze, and the holes in her side and gunports shot out tongues of flame. Thick volumes of black smoke rolled low on her deck, and her whole appearance was indescribably pathetic. She turned to starboard and port, as if seeking to escape, while the two or three stern guns, which were all that remained to her, kept up an heroic ‘defence’. To finally put Suvarov out of her misery, Kataoka had his 11th torpedo division come up at 20 knots and fire a salvo of torpedoes. 3 out of 7 torpedo hits exploded, one finding her magazine that caused a tremendous blast turning her over. Kataoka recalled  ‘For a short time she floated upwards, and then at 7.30 lifted her bow high in the air and slid rapidly out of sight.’ Suvarov took 40 officers and 888 men with her. Meanwhile Alexander III was sinking, taking 30 officers and 806 men with her. 

 

Fuji was one of the last to fire her 12 inch guns at Borodino as the sun was setting. Her shells tore through the ship, detonating the magazines causing tremendous explosions and smoke going everywhere. Of her crew 30 officers and 823 men went down with the ship, she would have a single survivor. Admiral Enquist commanding the Russian cruisers used the cover of darkness to try and break contact and flee. The Aurora, Zhemchug and Oleg fled in the direction of Manila. The slower Dmitri Donskoi was left behind and would become a easy target for the IJN light cruisers and torpedo boats. Dmitri Donskoi was smashed with both shell and torpedo and would sink with every man killed or wounded aboard. To make matters worse, Dmitri Donskoi had taken on 270 survivors from Osylabya and Buiny before she was attacked. She put up a valiant fight managing to sink two IJN destroyers and damaging a third. 

 

The Russians had lost battleships Suvarov, Oslyabya, Alexander III and Borodino, but the night was still young. At 8pm 21 destroyers and 45 torpedo boats ran circles around the Russian vessels who had not escaped in time. The IJN small warships hit them from the east and south for 3 hours without pause. During the night numerous collisions occurred between both sides. The Japanese shepherded the Russians into small pockets who kept trying to escape northwards. By 11pm, it seemed like the Russians had all escaped, then searchlights came on. The old battleship Navarin ran into a chained float mine and was hit consecutively by 4 torpedoes until she sank taking down her crew of 622 men, there would be only 3 survivors. Sissoi Veliky was hit by a torpedo in her stern, but remained afloat. Two older armored cruisers, Vladimir Monomakh and Admiral Nakhimov were badly damaged by shellfire and torpedoes. 

 

The night had been a war of attrition. The morning showcased the remnants of Nebogatov’s squadron, NICHOLAS I, OREL, APRAXIN and SENIAVIN and the cruiser IZUMRUD hightailing it for Vladivostok. Many of them were pulling 9 knots and if allowed to flee would have made a 32 hour journey to the cold water port. However they would not be allowed to leave, when the morning light shone brightly enough, the Japanese recommended their hunt. Nebogatov would find himself surrounded by nearly 27 IJN warships. Togo made sure to keep his larger warships out of the gun range of the Russians and allow his destroyers and torpedo boats to finish off the ailing enemy. The Japanese had surrounded Nebogatov’s remaining warships at 5:23am just a bit south of Takeshima island. Nebogatov knew they were doomed, he address his fellow officers ‘Gentlemen, I propose to surrender as the only means of saving our crews from destruction. Please give orders to run up the white flag.’ 

 

Nebogatov had the XGE signal raised, this was an international signal of surrender, unfortunately the Japanese did not have this signal in their code books, or at least that’s how they played it. The Japanese continued to fire upon the Russian ships as the Izumrud suddenly bolted northwards escaping at 24 knots. Nebogatov quickly got his men to find white table clothes and they were quickly hoisted up the mastheads. Unfortunately Togo had once been duped by a Qing warship who hoisted a white flag before fleeing in 1894, so he continued firing. Again this is as the Japanese alleged things. Japanese officers looked to Togo aboard Mikasa to order a ceasefire and kept reporting the sighting of white flags. But Togo replied ‘I will not cease fire until they stop their engines,’ The Russians seemed to understand frantic hand gestures and cut their engines and in desperation Nebogatov had the rising sun flag hoisted up the mastheads. To this Togo ordered a cease of fire. Nebogatov looked at his men and said “You are young, and it is you who will one day retrieve the honour and glory of the Russian Navy. The lives of the two thousand four hundred men in these ships are more important than mine” Thus the battle of Tsushima was over.

 

The wounded Admiral Rozhdestvenski was taken to Saseo for medical treatment. Admiral Togo visited Rozhdestvenski while in hospital and consoled the man saying  ‘We fighting men suffer either way, win or lose. The only question is whether or not we do our duty. You performed your great task heroically until you were incapacitated. I pay you my highest respects.’

 

The Russian Navy suffered 216 officers and 4614 men killed, 278 officers and 5629 taken prisoner. 62 officers, 1165 men managed to escape to Vladivstok and Diago-Suarez and another 79 officers and 1783 men were interned at neutral ports. The IJN suffered 117 officers and men killed with 583 wounded, including one young Japanese officer aboard the armored cruiser Nisshin who lost his index and middle fingers on his left hand, his name was Isoroku Yamamoto. The Russians lost 11 battleships sunk, scuttled or captured, 5 out of 9 cruisers, 6 out of 9 destroyers and a bunch of auxiliary ships. The Japanese lost a whopping 3 torpedo boats, 34, 35 and 69. It was an insane victory. 

 

News of the terrible defeat reached St Petersburg, absolutely stunning the Russian government. The Russian government quickly sought a scapegoat and targeted Admiral Rozhdestvenski, accusing him of defeatism and failing to properly employ his fleet. Rozhdestvenski was put on trial and said to the judges ‘We were just not strong enough and God gave us no luck.’ Rozhdestvenski told everyone the blame was his and his alone to bear, but they sought further blood and came for Nebogatov and two other members of the commander-in-chief's staff. Death sentences were tossed, in response Nebogatov addressed the court “According to the judges who have sentenced me to a shameful punishment, I should have blown the ships up on the high seas and caused the death of two thousand men in a few seconds. For what reason? Perhaps in the name of Saint Andrew’s flag, symbol of Holy Russia? A great country must preserve her dignity and life of her sons and not send them to death on ancient vessels in order to hide her errors, intellectual blindness and ignorance of the most elementary principals of naval matters”. The Tsar would commute the death sentences, but the damage done to the empire was fatal. 

 

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The baltic fleet of Rozhdestvenski made an incredible around the globe journey to bring the full might of the Russian navy to Japan’s doorstep. Admiral Togo predicted where his foe would be and gave him one of the if not greatest naval battles in human history. Now the Russians remained defeated on land and sea, only peace could ensue.