Attack of Japanese destroyers of the Russian squadron.
On the night of February 8 to 9 (January 26 to 27), 1904, 10 Japanese destroyers suddenly attacked the Russian squadron in the outer roadstead of Port Arthur. The squadron battleships Tsesarevich, Retvizan and the cruiser Pallada received heavy damage from the explosions of Japanese torpedoes and ran aground to avoid sinking. Japanese destroyers were damaged by return fire from the artillery of the Russian squadron IJN Akatsuki And IJN Shirakumo. Thus began the Russo-Japanese War.
On the same day, Japanese troops began landing troops in the area of the port of Chemulpo. While trying to leave the port and head to Port Arthur, the gunboat Koreets was attacked by Japanese destroyers, forcing it to return.
On February 9 (January 27), 1904, the battle of Chemulpo took place. As a result, due to the impossibility of a breakthrough, the cruiser “Varyag” was scuttled by their crews and the gunboat “Koreets” was blown up.
On the same day, February 9 (January 27), 1904, Admiral Jessen headed out to sea at the head of the Vladivostok detachment of cruisers to begin military operations to disrupt transport links between Japan and Korea.
On February 11 (January 29), 1904, near Port Arthur, near the San Shan-tao Islands, the Russian cruiser Boyarin was blown up by a Japanese mine.
On February 24 (February 11), 1904, the Japanese fleet tried to close the exit from Port Arthur by sinking 5 ships loaded with stone. The attempt was unsuccessful.
On February 25 (February 12), 1904, two Russian destroyers “Besstrashny” and “Impressive”, while going out for reconnaissance, came across 4 Japanese cruisers. The first managed to escape, but the second was driven into Blue Bay, where it was scuttled by order of Captain M. Podushkin.
On March 2 (February 18), 1904, by order of the Naval General Staff, the Mediterranean squadron of Admiral A. Virenius (battleship Oslyabya, cruisers Aurora and Dmitry Donskoy and 7 destroyers), heading to Port Arthur, was recalled to the Baltic Sea .
On March 6 (February 22), 1904, a Japanese squadron shelled Vladivostok. The damage was minor. The fortress was placed in a state of siege.
On March 8 (February 24), 1904, the new commander of the Russian Pacific squadron, Vice Admiral S. Makarov, arrived in Port Arthur, replacing Admiral O. Stark in this post.
On March 10 (February 26), 1904, in the Yellow Sea, while returning from reconnaissance in Port Arthur, he was sunk by four Japanese destroyers ( IJN Usugumo , IJN Shinonome , IJN Akebono , IJN Sazanami) Russian destroyer "Steregushchy", and "Resolute" managed to return to port.
Russian fleet in Port Arthur.
On March 27 (March 14), 1904, the second Japanese attempt to block the entrance to Port Arthur harbor by flooding fire ships was thwarted.
April 4 (March 22), 1904 Japanese battleships IJN Fuji And IJN Yashima Port Arthur was bombarded with fire from Golubina Bay. In total, they fired 200 shots and main caliber guns. But the effect was minimal.
On April 12 (March 30), 1904, the Russian destroyer Strashny was sunk by Japanese destroyers.
On April 13 (March 31), 1904, the battleship Petropavlovsk was blown up by a mine and sank with almost its entire crew while going to sea. Among the dead was Admiral S. O. Makarov. Also on this day, the battleship Pobeda was damaged by a mine explosion and was out of action for several weeks.
April 15 (April 2), 1904 Japanese cruisers IJN Kasuga And IJN Nisshin fired at the inner roadstead of Port Arthur with throwing fire.
On April 25 (April 12), 1904, the Vladivostok detachment of cruisers sank a Japanese steamer off the coast of Korea IJN Goyo-Maru, coaster IJN Haginura-Maru and Japanese military transport IJN Kinsu-Maru, after which he headed to Vladivostok.
May 2 (April 19), 1904 by the Japanese, with the support of gunboats IJN Akagi And IJN Chōkai, destroyers of the 9th, 14th and 16th destroyer flotillas, a third and final attempt was made to block the entrance to Port Arthur harbor, this time using 10 transports ( IJN Mikasha-Maru, IJN Sakura-Maru, IJN Totomi-Maru, IJN Otaru-Maru, IJN Sagami-Maru, IJN Aikoku-Maru, IJN Omi-Maru, IJN Asagao-Maru, IJN Iedo-Maru, IJN Kokura-Maru, IJN Fuzan-Maru) As a result, they managed to partially block the passage and temporarily make it impossible for large Russian ships to exit. This facilitated the unhindered landing of the Japanese 2nd Army in Manchuria.
On May 5 (April 22), 1904, the 2nd Japanese Army under the command of General Yasukata Oku, numbering about 38.5 thousand people, began landing on the Liaodong Peninsula, about 100 kilometers from Port Arthur.
On May 12 (April 29), 1904, four Japanese destroyers of the 2nd flotilla of Admiral I. Miyako began sweeping Russian mines in Kerr Bay. While performing its assigned task, destroyer No. 48 hit a mine and sank. On the same day, Japanese troops finally cut off Port Arthur from Manchuria. The siege of Port Arthur began.
Death IJN Hatsuse on Russian mines.
On May 15 (May 2), 1904, two Japanese battleships were blown up and sank at a minefield laid the day before by the minelayer Amur. IJN Yashima And IJN Hatsuse .
Also on this day, a collision of Japanese cruisers occurred near Elliot Island. IJN Kasuga And IJN Yoshino, in which the second sank from the damage received. And off the southeastern coast of Kanglu Island, the advice note ran aground IJN Tatsuta .
On May 16 (May 3), 1904, two Japanese gunboats collided during an amphibious operation southeast of the city of Yingkou. The boat sank as a result of the collision IJN Oshima .
On May 17 (May 4), 1904, a Japanese destroyer was hit by a mine and sank IJN Akatsuki .
On May 27 (May 14), 1904, not far from the city of Dalniy, the Russian destroyer Attentive hit rocks and was blown up by its crew. On the same day, Japanese advice note IJN Miyako hit a Russian mine and sank in Kerr Bay.
On June 12 (May 30), 1904, the Vladivostok detachment of cruisers entered the Korea Strait to disrupt Japan's sea communications.
On June 15 (June 2), 1904, the cruiser Gromoboy sank two Japanese transports: IJN Izuma-Maru And IJN Hitachi-Maru, and the cruiser "Rurik" sank a Japanese transport with two torpedoes IJN Sado-Maru. In total, the three transports carried 2,445 Japanese soldiers and officers, 320 horses and 18 heavy 11-inch howitzers.
On June 23 (June 10), 1904, the Pacific squadron of Rear Admiral V. Vitgoft made the first attempt to break through to Vladivostok. But when the Japanese fleet of Admiral H. Togo was discovered, she returned to Port Arthur without engaging in battle. At night of the same day, Japanese destroyers launched an unsuccessful attack on the Russian squadron.
On June 28 (June 15), 1904, the Vladivostok detachment of cruisers of Admiral Jessen again went to sea to disrupt the enemy’s sea communications.
On July 17 (July 4), 1904, near Skrypleva Island, the Russian destroyer No. 208 was blown up and sank in a Japanese minefield.
On July 18 (July 5), 1904, the Russian minelayer Yenisei hit a mine in Talienwan Bay and the Japanese cruiser sank IJN Kaimon .
On July 20 (July 7), 1904, the Vladivostok detachment of cruisers entered the Pacific Ocean through the Sangar Strait.
On July 22 (July 9), 1904, the detachment was detained with smuggled cargo and sent to Vladivostok with a prize crew of the English steamer Arabia.
On July 23 (July 10), 1904, the Vladivostok detachment of cruisers approached the entrance to Tokyo Bay. Here an English steamer with smuggled cargo was searched and sunk Night Commander. Also on this day, several Japanese schooners and a German steamer were sunk Tea, traveling with smuggled cargo to Japan. And the English steamer captured later Kalhas, after inspection, was sent to Vladivostok. The cruisers of the detachment also headed to their port.
On July 25 (July 12), 1904, a squadron of Japanese destroyers approached the mouth of the Liaohe River from the sea. The crew of the Russian gunboat "Sivuch", due to the impossibility of a breakthrough, after landing on the shore, blew up their ship.
On August 7 (July 25), 1904, Japanese troops fired at Port Arthur and its harbors for the first time from land. As a result of the shelling, the battleship Tsesarevich was damaged, and the squadron commander, Rear Admiral V. Vitgeft, was slightly wounded. The battleship Retvizan was also damaged.
On August 8 (July 26), 1904, a detachment of ships consisting of the cruiser Novik, the gunboat Beaver and 15 destroyers took part in Tahe Bay in shelling of the advancing Japanese troops, causing heavy losses.
Battle in the Yellow Sea.
On August 10 (July 28), 1904, during an attempt to break through the Russian squadron from Port Arthur to Vladivostok, a battle took place in the Yellow Sea. During the battle, Rear Admiral V. Vitgeft was killed, and the Russian squadron, having lost control, disintegrated. 5 Russian battleships, the cruiser Bayan and 2 destroyers began to retreat to Port Arthur in disarray. Only the battleship Tsesarevich, the cruisers Novik, Askold, Diana and 6 destroyers broke through the Japanese blockade. The battleship "Tsarevich", the cruiser "Novik" and 3 destroyers headed to Qingdao, the cruiser "Askold" and the destroyer "Grozovoy" - to Shanghai, the cruiser "Diana" - to Saigon.
On August 11 (July 29), 1904, the Vladivostok detachment set out to meet the Russian squadron, which was supposed to break out from Port Arthur. The battleship "Tsesarevich", the cruiser "Novik", the destroyers "Besshumny", "Besposhchadny" and "Besstrashny" arrived in Qingdao. The cruiser Novik, having loaded 250 tons of coal into bunkers, set out to sea with the goal of breaking through to Vladivostok. On the same day, the Russian destroyer Resolute was interned by the Chinese authorities in Chifoo. Also on August 11, the team scuttled the damaged destroyer Burny.
On August 12 (July 30), 1904, the previously interned destroyer Resolute was captured in Chifoo by two Japanese destroyers.
On August 13 (July 31), 1904, the damaged Russian cruiser Askold was interned and disarmed in Shanghai.
August 14 (August 1), 1904, four Japanese cruisers ( IJN Izumo , IJN Tokiwa , IJN Azuma And IJN Iwate) intercepted three Russian cruisers (Russia, Rurik and Gromoboy) heading towards the First Pacific Squadron. A battle took place between them, which went down in history as the Battle of the Korea Strait. As a result of the battle, the Rurik was sunk, and the other two Russian cruisers returned to Vladivostok with damage.
On August 15 (August 2), 1904, in Qingdao, German authorities interned the Russian battleship Tsarevich.
On August 16 (August 3), 1904, the damaged cruisers Gromoboy and Rossiya returned to Vladivostok. In Port Arthur, the proposal of the Japanese general M. Nogi to surrender the fortress was rejected. On the same day Pacific Ocean The Russian cruiser Novik stopped and inspected the English steamer Celtic.
On August 20 (August 7), 1904, a battle took place near Sakhalin Island between the Russian cruiser Novik and Japanese IJN Tsushima And IJN Chitose. As a result of the battle "Novik" and IJN Tsushima received serious damage. Due to the impossibility of repairs and the danger of the ship being captured by the enemy, the commander of the Novik, M. Schultz, decided to scuttle the ship.
On August 24 (August 11), 1904, the Russian cruiser Diana was interned by the French authorities in Saigon.
On September 7 (August 25), 1904, the submarine Forel was sent from St. Petersburg to Vladivostok by rail.
On October 1 (September 18), 1904, a Japanese gunboat was blown up by a Russian mine and sank near Iron Island. IJN Heiyen.
On October 15 (October 2), 1904, it left Libau for Far East 2nd Pacific Squadron of Admiral Z. Rozhdestvensky.
On November 3 (October 21), a Japanese destroyer was blown up by a mine placed by the Russian destroyer Skory and sank near Cape Lun-Wan-Tan IJN Hayatori .
On November 5 (October 23), 1904, in the inner roadstead of Port Arthur, after being hit by a Japanese shell, the ammunition of the Russian battleship Poltava detonated. As a result of this, the ship sank.
On November 6 (October 24), 1904, a Japanese gunboat hit a rock in the fog and sank near Port Arthur IJN Atago .
On November 28 (November 15), 1904, the submarine Dolphin was sent from St. Petersburg to Vladivostok by rail.
On December 6 (November 23), 1904, Japanese artillery, installed on the previously captured height No. 206, began a massive shelling of Russian ships stationed in the internal roadstead of Port Arthur. By the end of the day, they sunk the battleship Retvizan and suffered heavy damage to the battleship Peresvet. To remain intact, the battleship Sevastopol, the gunboat Brave and destroyers were taken out from under Japanese fire to the outer roadstead.
On December 7 (November 24), 1904, due to the impossibility of repairs after damage received from Japanese shelling, the battleship Peresvet was sunk by its crew in the western basin of Port Arthur harbor.
On December 8 (November 25), 1904, Japanese artillery sunk Russian ships in the internal roadstead of Port Arthur - the battleship Pobeda and the cruiser Pallada.
On December 9 (November 26), 1904, Japanese heavy artillery sank the cruiser Bayan, the minelayer Amur and the gunboat Gilyak.
December 25 (December 12), 1904 IJN Takasago During a patrol, she hit a mine laid by the Russian destroyer "Angry" and sank in the Yellow Sea between Port Arthur and Chieffo.
On December 26 (December 13), 1904, in the Port Arthur roadstead, the gunboat Beaver was sunk by Japanese artillery fire.
Submarines of the Siberian flotilla in Vladivostok.
On December 31 (December 18), 1904, the first four Kasatka-class submarines arrived in Vladivostok from St. Petersburg by rail.
On January 1, 1905 (December 19, 1904), in Port Arthur, by order of the crew command, the battleships Poltava and Peresvet, half-sunk in the internal roadstead, were blown up, and the battleship Sevastopol was sunk in the outer roadstead.
On January 2, 1905 (December 20, 1904), the commander of the defense of Port Arthur, General A. Stessel, gave the order to surrender the fortress. The siege of Port Arthur is over.
On the same day, before the surrender of the fortress, the clippers “Dzhigit” and “Robber” were sunk. The 1st Pacific Squadron was completely destroyed.
On January 5, 1905 (December 23, 1904), the submarine "Dolphin" arrived from St. Petersburg to Vladivostok by rail.
January 14 (January 1), 1905, by order of the commander of the Vladivostok port from the Forel submarines.
On March 20 (March 7), 1905, the 2nd Pacific Squadron of Admiral Z. Rozhdestvensky passed the Strait of Malacca and entered the Pacific Ocean.
On March 26 (March 13), 1905, the submarine “Dolphin” left Vladivostok for a combat position on Askold Island.
On March 29 (March 16), 1905, the submarine "Dolphin" returned to Vladivostok from combat duty near Askold Island.
On April 11 (March 29), 1905, torpedoes were delivered to Russian submarines in Vladivostok.
On April 13 (March 31), 1905, the 2nd Pacific Squadron of Admiral Z. Rozhestvensky arrived at Cam Ranh Bay in Indochina.
On April 22 (April 9), 1905, the submarine “Kasatka” set out on a combat mission from Vladivostok to the shores of Korea.
On May 7 (April 24), 1905, the cruisers Rossiya and Gromoboy left Vladivostok to disrupt the enemy’s sea communications.
On May 9 (April 26), 1905, the 1st detachment of the 3rd Pacific squadron of Rear Admiral N. Nebogatov and the 2nd Pacific squadron of Vice Admiral Z. Rozhestvensky united in Cam Ranh Bay.
On May 11 (April 28), 1905, the cruisers Rossiya and Gromoboy returned to Vladivostok. During the raid they sank four Japanese transport ships.
On May 12 (April 29), 1905, three submarines - "Dolphin", "Kasatka" and "Som" - were sent to Preobrazheniya Bay to intercept the Japanese detachment. At 10 o'clock in the morning, near Vladivostok, near Cape Povorotny, the first battle involving a submarine took place. "Som" attacked the Japanese destroyers, but the attack ended in vain.
On May 14 (May 1), 1905, the Russian 2nd Pacific Squadron under Admiral Z. Rozhestvensky left for Vladivostok from Indochina.
On May 18 (May 5), 1905, the submarine Dolphin sank near the quay wall in Vladivostok due to an explosion of gasoline vapors.
On May 29 (May 16), 1905, the battleship Dmitry Donskoy was scuttled by his crew in the Sea of Japan near the island of Dazhelet.
On May 30 (May 17), 1905, the Russian cruiser Izumrud landed on rocks near Cape Orekhov in St. Vladimir Bay and was blown up by its crew.
On June 3 (May 21), 1905, in the Philippines in Manila, American authorities interned the Russian cruiser Zhemchug.
On June 9 (May 27), 1905, the Russian cruiser Aurora was interned by the American authorities in the Philippines in Manila.
On June 29 (June 16), 1905, in Port Arthur, Japanese rescuers raised the Russian battleship Peresvet from the bottom.
On July 7 (June 24), 1905, Japanese troops began the Sakhalin landing operation to land troops of 14 thousand people. While Russian troops numbered only 7.2 thousand people on the island.
On July 8 (July 25), 1905, in Port Arthur, Japanese rescuers raised the sunken Russian battleship Poltava.
On July 29 (July 16), 1905, the Japanese Sakhalin War ended landing operation surrender of Russian troops.
On August 14 (August 1), 1905, in the Tatar Strait, the Keta submarine launched an unsuccessful attack on two Japanese destroyers.
On August 22 (August 9), 1905, negotiations began in Portsmouth between Japan and Russia through the mediation of the United States.
September 5 (August 23) in the USA in Portsmouth between Empire of Japan and the Russian Empire signed a peace treaty. According to the agreement, Japan received the Liaodong Peninsula, part of the Chinese Eastern Railway from Port Arthur to the city of Changchun and South Sakhalin, Russia recognized the predominant interests of Japan in Korea and agreed to the conclusion of a Russian-Japanese fishing convention. Russia and Japan pledged to withdraw their troops from Manchuria. Japan's demand for reparations was rejected.
At the beginning of the 20th century. military shipbuilding developed at a rapid pace. At this time, squadron battleships replaced battery battleships. The most important innovation on ships of this type was the installation of main-caliber turret artillery, although, due to inertia, medium- and small-caliber artillery placed on board was retained. It was believed that it would be effective in repelling attacks from destroyers and in damaging weakly armored parts of an enemy battleship. Main caliber artillery tower on Russian-era battleships Japanese war was a complex technical structure. The structure of such a tower is shown in Fig. 1.
Fig.1. Construction of the main caliber artillery turret of the Russian battleship "Retvizan" during the Russo-Japanese War.
Twin 305 mm Gun Turret - a turret with two 305 mm guns; The 12 inch/ 40 caliber M1892 gun was effective out to approximately 10,000 yards - the M1892 gun with a 12 inch caliber and a 40 caliber barrel had an effective firing range of about 9000 m; 1. Armored door - armored door; 2. Armored commander’s cupola - armored cap of the tower commander; 3. Breech - gun bolt; 4. Gun layer’s cupola - gunner’s armored cap; 5. Muzzle sight - front sight; 6. Pinion for cannons - trunnions; 7. Electrical controls for gun laying - electric drives for gun guidance systems; 8. Turret gear rotation - roller of the turret rotation system; 9. Handwheel for turret rotation - steering wheel for manual rotation of the turret; 10. Battery charger - charger in down position; 11. Electrical controls for ammunition feed - electric drive of the ammunition supply system; 12. Armored barbettes - armored barbettes.
Main caliber turret control
The turret commander received the calculated range to the target from the gunnery officer on the bridge through a system of electrical dials installed in the turret. If an artillery officer set his dial to 5,000 yards, then this data was instantly transmitted to the turret commanders, and their dials were also set to that distance. The bearing and azimuth of the main artillery battery were then set manually or using electrical devices. Powder charges and the projectile were lifted from the hold by an electric trolley, placed on a special tray and then fed into the gun barrel. The loading procedure for the main caliber guns of Russian battleships took 30-60 seconds. slower than Japanese ships. But given the limited ammunition for the main caliber guns, this was unlikely to have a significant effect during the long-term battle. The guns were then fired using an electric switch on Japanese ships and using a cord on Russian ships.
Fig.2. The pride of the Japanese fleet is the battleship Mikasa in an English dry dock in 1902. Ordered in 1896, the Majestic class battleship Mikasa served as Admiral Togo's flagship during the Russo-Japanese War.
Navies in the period 1888-1905. underwent re-equipment, as the first squadron battleships appeared, which later formed a class of battleships and replaced ships of previous generations. New technical solutions in the field of naval artillery, armor protection, explosives, communications and battle control have made truly revolutionary changes.
Now both Japan and Russia based their naval power on ships of the line with twelve-inch main guns, mostly of British and French construction. Both sides were preparing their navies for war, and in a period of rapid technological change, it was easy to make mistakes that would prove costly on the battlefield. During the war for supremacy at sea in 1904-1905. this was the first and last clash of approximately equal battleships before the advent of submarines and combat aircraft.
Rice. 3. Russian battleships "Sisoi the Great" (in the foreground) and "Navarin" (in the background), participants in the Battle of Tsushima, which decided the outcome of the Russo-Japanese War.
When developing the concept of a battleship between 1873 and 1895. Three main problems were solved, without which the concept could not be implemented.
1. The design of tower artillery on rotating barbettes was developed, and it was necessary to solve related issues in each specific case - what caliber guns should be placed in the towers, and what should be the volume of ammunition.
2. It was necessary to determine what the layout of artillery on board the battleship should be and the layout of the optimal placement of armor protection on the ship’s hull.
3. It was necessary to resolve the issue of choice maximum speed the course of the battleship and the range of autonomous navigation.
The first battleships had a limited amount of artillery and slow-loading main caliber guns, which meant a low rate of fire. On early-built battleships, the towers were too heavy weight, and the designers had to recess the turrets into the hull of the battleship to increase stability.
The invention of rotating barbettes reduced the weight of the tower and made it possible to place them higher without losing the seaworthiness and stability of the ship. At the early stage of development of battleships, shells from smoothbore guns could not penetrate even single-layer armor.
But in 1863, a version of an armor-piercing projectile was developed in Great Britain, designated "Palliser", which penetrated armor up to 10 inches thick. Although the appearance in the 1870s. multilayer armor reduced the vulnerability of battleships to enemy armor-piercing shells, which in turn led to the emergence of larger caliber artillery and greater firepower.
French scientists developed a new explosive known as melinite and smokeless powder. Britain acquired patents for both inventions and improved them in 1889.
The only problem that engineers of all naval powers tried to solve was increasing the rate of fire of main-caliber artillery. This was the state of the fleets that used, to one degree or another, these achievements of engineering before the war of 1904-1905.
Rice. 4. French-built Russian battleship "Tsesarevich" during sea trials in Toulon in 1903. For its time, it was one of the most modern battleships with hull lines tapering upward, a belt of armor plates, armored decks and auxiliary artillery in the form of towers with twin guns.
Battleship "Borodino" - characteristics
Displacement - 14181 t
Total length - 121 m
Width - 23.2 m
Draft - 8.24-8.9 m
Power plant: 20 Belleville boilers, two 4-cylinder main double-acting triple expansion steam engines with a total capacity of 16,300 hp. With.
Battle in the Yellow Sea(Japanese: 黄海海戦 Kōkai kaisen) - the first major naval battle of the Russo-Japanese War. It occurred during the attempt of the 1st Pacific Squadron to break out from besieged Port Arthur to Vladivostok. Despite the fact that both sides did not suffer any losses in ships, the Russian squadron was unable to complete its task and was forced to return. After this battle, the 1st Pacific Squadron was virtually inactive, allowing the Japanese Combined Fleet to provide unhindered supplies to the troops besieging Port Arthur. Ultimately, this led to the capture of the fortress by Japanese troops.
Total information
In 1898, Russia concluded a convention with China, according to which Port Arthur was transferred to Russia for a period of 25 years. The Russian naval forces received at their disposal an ice-free base on the coast of the Yellow Sea. Port Arthur becomes the main naval base of the Russian military fleet in the Pacific Ocean. At the beginning of the Russo-Japanese War, the Japanese command sets the priority task of destroying the Russian naval forces based in Port Arthur. The operation to capture the fortress was necessary for the Japanese fleet.
| Official work of the German General Staff The siege of Port Arthur was necessary; the Japanese could complete their operations on land only by having supremacy at sea. It is for this reason that the Russian fleet in East Asia had to be destroyed, and since most of it had taken refuge from the Japanese attack... in the harbor of Port Arthur, the fortress had to be attacked from land. The Japanese fleet had to wait for the arrival of the Baltic squadron, and for Japan it was a vital issue to create for itself ... favorable conditions for the future sea battle with the Russian 2nd Pacific Squadron, that is, take Port Arthur first. |
On April 22 (May 5), 1904, the Japanese 2nd Army of General Oku landed in Bidzywo, and Port Arthur was soon cut off from land communications with the Manchurian Army. On May 13 (26), Japanese troops broke through the Russian defenses on the Jinzhou Isthmus (the narrowest point of the Liaodong Peninsula) and by May 19 (June 1) occupied the port of Dalniy, in which the 3rd Army of General Nogi, intended for operations against Port Arthur, was concentrated. . On July 13-15 (26-28), the 3rd Army, after heavy fighting, broke through the last fortified Russian positions on the Green Mountains and reached the closest approaches to the fortress.
On July 17 (30), Japanese troops found themselves within range of the main caliber guns of Russian battleships. The ships of the 1st Pacific Squadron opened fire on the enemy directly from the harbor. The actual siege of Port Arthur began. On July 25 (August 7), a Japanese battery of 120-mm naval guns mounted on wheeled siege gun carriages opened fire on the city and harbor for the first time. The battery fired in short bursts of 7-8 rounds. The first shells landed on the main street of the Old Town. Soon the Japanese artillerymen shifted their fire to the harbor, and several shells exploded not far from the flagship Tsarevich. But there was only one hit: the shell destroyed the radio room. The telegraph operator who was in it died, and the squadron commander, Rear Admiral Vitgeft, was easily wounded in the leg by shrapnel. Over the next two days, shelling of Russian ships in the harbor was repeated, and many of them received numerous, although minor, damage. The most dangerous of them was an underwater hole caused by a 120-mm shell hitting the bow of the battleship Retvizan on July 27 (August 9) at about 12.10. The damage was quickly repaired, and soon the battleship was ready for battle. The next day, the Russian squadron under the command of Rear Admiral Wilhelm Karlovich Vitgeft left Port Arthur to try to break through to Vladivostok.
The commander of the Japanese combined fleet, Admiral Togo Heihachiro, was confident that the siege of Port Arthur and the shelling of the harbor that had begun would force the Russian squadron to go to sea, and in advance he strengthened surveillance of the raid. In addition, he relocated his main forces from the Elliot Islands closer to Port Arthur - to Rowan Island.
Characteristics of the parties involved
Ships of the 1st squadron of the Pacific Fleet, making a breakthrough to Vladivostok
The goal of the 1st Pacific Squadron is to redeploy ships from Port Arthur to Vladivostok, maintain forces to link up with the 2nd Pacific Squadron for the subsequent destruction of the Japanese fleet and interrupt the enemy’s sea communications from Japan to Korea and Manchuria. When preparing the squadron to break through the Japanese blockade of Port Arthur, the ships were equipped with personnel and ammunition. A certain amount of medium artillery (10 - 152 mm and 12 - 75 mm guns) was removed and installed on the fortress for its defense.
Compound:
Vitgeft V.G.
Japanese Combined Fleet
At 8.50 the signal was raised on the flagship "Tsesarevich": "Prepare for battle", and at 9.00: "The fleet is informed that the Emperor has ordered to go to Vladivostok."
At 10.30 the minesweeper convoy was released to Port Arthur under the protection of gunboats and a second detachment of destroyers.
The squadron marched in the following order: ahead was the cruiser Novik, followed in the wake column by the battleships Tsesarevich (flag of Rear Admiral Vitgeft), Retvizan, Pobeda, Peresvet (flag of the junior flagship of Prince P.P. Ukhtomsky ), "Sevastopol" and "Poltava", followed by the cruisers "Askold" (the flag of the head of the cruiser detachment, Rear Admiral N.K. Reitzenstein), "Pallada" and "Diana". The first detachment of destroyers was abeam the flagship battleship. At first, the squadron moved at 8 knots. Soon, problems with the steering gear arose on the Tsarevich, and the battleship was out of commission for some time. After a few minutes, the problems were corrected, and the squadron continued to move.
At 10.00 the order was given to increase speed to 10 knots. The stroke was increased gradually in order to determine the strength of sealing the hole in the bow of the battleship Retvizan.
At about 11.30, the main forces of the Japanese fleet appeared on the horizon to the east of the squadron. The cruiser Novik took its place in the squad of cruisers.
Japanese fleet before the battle
Armadillo IJN Mikasa
As of the morning of July 28 (August 10), the deployment of the Japanese fleet was as follows. There were armadillos in the Round Island area IJN Mikasa , IJN Asahi , Fuji And IJN Shikishima, as well as an armored cruiser IJN Asama. Armored cruiser IJN Yakumo and cruisers IJN Kasagi , IJN Takasago And IJN Chitose were located 15 miles south of Liaoteshan. Cruisers IJN Akashi , IJN Suma And IJN Akitsushima were near the islet of Encounter Rock. Old cruisers IJN Hashidate And IJN Matsushima stood in Sikau Bay near Port Arthur. The 1st, 2nd and 3rd detachments of destroyers carried out a blockade of the Port Arthur raid. Armadillo IJN Chen Yuan, armored cruisers IJN Kasuga And IJN Nisshin were near Port Arthur. Cruisers IJN Itsukushima And IJN Izumi- near the Elliot Islands. 4th destroyer detachment and cruiser IJN Chiyoda stood in Dalny.
A detachment of armored cruisers under the command of Vice Admiral Kamimura was in the Korea Strait with orders to prevent Vladivostok cruisers from entering the Yellow Sea.
Progress of the battle
First phase of the battle
By 12.00 the situation was as follows. The Russian squadron was sailing in a wake column heading southeast 25 o. The main forces of the Japanese fleet (1st combat detachment) consisting of battleships IJN Mikasa , IJN Asahi , Fuji And IJN Shikishima and armored cruisers IJN Kasuga And IJN Nisshin were heading southwest to cross the course of the Russian squadron. The 3rd combat detachment of Admiral Dev walked to the right of the Russian squadron on a course almost parallel to it. The 5th and 6th combat detachments were located to the left of the Russian squadron at a very great distance.
At 12.20, to prevent head coverage, the Russian squadron changed course 4 points to the left, that is, almost on a counter course with the enemy. Just at this moment the armored cruiser IJN Nisshin opened fire from a distance of about 80 cables. Soon he was joined by the rest of the ships of the 1st combat detachment.
The commander of the 3rd combat detachment, Admiral Deva, seeing that the battle had begun, turned his ships successively 16 points to bypass and attack the Russian squadron from the rear.
Soon after turning from the flagship battleship Tsarevich, objects resembling appearance mines that could have been laid by Japanese destroyers that had previously been on the course of the Russian ships. The battleship immediately warned the squadron about this with whistles and semaphore. As a result of maneuvering to avoid these mines, the ships had to change courses several times in one direction or another, which made it very difficult to open and return fire. At about 12.45, for a second attempt to enter the head of the Russian squadron, Admiral Togo turned the ships of the 1st combat detachment “all of a sudden” 8 points to the left. After walking like this for some time, perhaps in order to increase the distance, the Japanese ships made another similar turn and set off on the opposite course.
Other ships of the squadron were also damaged. "Retvizan" received 12 hits. One of the shells pierced the starboard side of the bow in the area of the conductor's wardroom. Since the hole was located just above the waterline, it was heavily overwhelmed by water while moving. The rest of the damage was not so significant.
The battleship Poltava, slightly behind the squadron, opened fire first. Behind him, the rest of the squadron's ships entered the battle, concentrating their fire on the flagship of the Japanese fleet. IJN Mikasa immediately received several direct hits (mainly from the battleship Poltava) and was forced to turn aside. But, having recovered from the blow, he soon returned to his previous course.
The Japanese ships also concentrated fire on the flagship Tsesarevich, trying to disable it and disrupt control of the squadron. Trying to get out from under enemy fire, and also in order to improve conditions for firing his ships and prevent the enemy from engulfing the head of the squadron, Vitgeft turned two points to the left and increased the speed to 15 knots. However, the battleships Sevastopol and Poltava could not move at such speed and began to lag behind. As a result, the speed had to be reduced again. Around 17.05 a 12-inch shell from one of the Japanese battleships hit the middle of the Tsarevich's foremast. As a result of the explosion, all the officers of Vitgeft's headquarters who were on the open lower bridge were killed or seriously injured. Vitgeft himself was torn to pieces. In order not to cause confusion on the ships of the squadron in the midst of the battle, the commander of the Tsarevich, Captain 1st Rank Ivanov, took command of the squadron.
Second phase of the battle in the Yellow Sea
At 17.45 another large-caliber shell exploded near the conning tower of the Tsesarevich. The shell fragments flew into the very wide viewing slots of the conning tower, killing and wounding everyone in it. The ship's commander was seriously wounded. The fire control devices and steering gear were damaged.
The Tsarevich lost control and began to describe the circulation, but there was no one to raise the signal that the ship was out of order. The commanders of the ships following the Tsarevich first began to repeat the flagship’s maneuver, believing that it was maneuvering to lie on new course. But after the Tsesarevich, having described the circulation, cut through the squadron's formation, it became clear that it had lost control. But by that time the formation of the Russian squadron had broken down, and the Japanese ships had increased their fire.
At this moment, the commander of the battleship "Retvizan", captain 1st rank E.N. Shchensnovich ordered to turn towards the enemy in order to ram one of his ships. Seeing the battleship approaching them at full speed, the Japanese ships concentrated their fire on it. The high speed of the Retvizan helped it avoid many hits - the Japanese gunners simply did not have time to rearrange the sights, and the shells fell behind the stern of the battleship.
Commander of the battleship "Retvizan" E.N. Shchensnovich
This is how the editor of the Portarthur newspaper “New Region”, who was on board the hospital ship “Mongolia”, following the squadron, describes this moment.
But when there were no more than 17 cables left to the enemy (about 3.1 km), a stray fragment of an exploding shell flew into the Retvizan’s conning tower, wounding the commander. E.N. Shchensnovich on a short time lost control of the ship. Having come to his senses and seeing that the Japanese ships had left the danger zone, and none of the Russian ships followed his example, Shchensnovich ordered to turn back.
The desperate maneuver of the Retvizan allowed the commanders of other Russian ships to level the formation. On the Tsesarevich, the senior officer of the ship, Captain 2nd Rank Shumov, took command. Having difficulty restoring control of the ship, he raised the signal that the admiral was transferring command to the junior flagship, Rear Admiral P.P. Ukhtomsky. Ukhtomsky, who was on the Peresvet, raised the signal for the squadron to “follow me.” But since both topmasts were knocked down on the Peresvet, the signal had to be hung on the wings of the bridge.
After some time, having difficulty making out the signal, the remaining battleships entered the wake of the Peresvet, and P.P. Ukhtomsky led the squadron back to Port Arthur. "Retvizan", not noticing Ukhtomsky's signal to slow down, soon overtook the squadron.
Admiral Togo turned his squadron to the north, blocking the path to the open sea, but, since his ships were also heavily damaged, he did not pursue the Russian squadron.
Breakthrough of "Askold" and "Novik"
After the battleships turned back towards Port Arthur, the cruisers followed suit. By this time, the 5th and 6th detachments of the Japanese fleet came closer. The head of the cruiser detachment, Rear Admiral Reizenstein, decides to make a breakthrough. This decision was supported by the Askold commander and other officers who were nearby in the conning tower.
Having raised the signal “Cruisers follow me,” the cruiser “Askold” increased its speed. The rest of the squadron's cruisers followed his example. At 18.50 "Askold" headed straight for the armored cruiser IJN Asama, opening fire on him. According to the logbook, soon IJN Asama a fire broke out and he turned away.
Having assessed the situation, Reitzenstein decides to break through in a southwestern direction past the cruisers of the 3rd combat detachment of the Japanese fleet. Having overtaken their battleships on the starboard side, the detachment of cruisers turned left, to cross their course. But only the cruiser Novik was able to follow Askold. "Diana" and "Pallada" immediately fell behind, unable to develop the required speed.
After some hesitation, the Japanese ships rushed to intercept the Russian cruisers. Separated from the 1st combat detachment IJN Yakumo, firing at "Askold", which became the final IJN Nisshin also transferred the fire to him. To the left and behind, the cruisers of the 3rd combat detachment fired at the breaking through ships and set off in pursuit.
Breakthrough of the cruisers "Askold" and "Novik"
Firing on both sides, showered with shells, the cruisers developed the maximum possible speed. The Japanese ships concentrated their fire on the lead Askold. Columns of water from exploding shells rose around the cruiser, showering the ship with a hail of fragments. But high speed and maneuvering allowed the Askold to survive the crossfire. But the hits could not be avoided. Soon it was reported to the conning tower that water was flowing into the left aft engine room, and then into the right coal pit of the second stoker. While below they were fighting against the influx of water, above they were extinguishing fires arising from hits here and there. The number of killed and wounded increased every minute, and the sailors of the fire division had to stand up to the guns, replacing those who were out of action. But still, the cruiser managed to maintain the maximum rate of fire and speed. At a critical moment in the battle, when an armored cruiser rushed to cut off the Russian cruisers IJN Yakumo, the Askold cars developed 132 revolutions - more than in tests.
Cruiser "Askold"
"Novik", following "Askold", at that time fired at the cruisers of the 3rd and 5th combat detachments. Four Japanese destroyers came out to attack the cruisers, but all the torpedoes they fired missed, and the destroyers themselves were driven away by fire. By 19.40, the Russian cruisers managed to break through, and by 20.20 they ceased fire on the Askold, as the Japanese ships became invisible in the growing darkness. The damage to the cruiser turned out to be quite significant. Only 4 152 mm guns remained in serviceable condition. At night we managed to restore another one. Gun No. 10, although in good working order, could not fire, since the shell that exploded under it destroyed the reinforcements and the deck. 75-mm cartridges, which were lying in gazebos on the elevator rails of the battery deck in the officer's compartment, exploded when they were hit by shrapnel. Both rangefinder stations were out of order due to electrical wires broken in many places, and 10 combat dials were broken.
Cruiser "Novik"
A large shell hit the upper part of the fifth chimney, which caused a flame to blaze from the ashpits in the fifth stoker during the battle, and the compartment was filled with smoke. However, traction was quickly restored due to excess pressure. The fragments flying through the armor grille pierced the casing and several water-heating tubes of boiler No. 8. Minor steaming occurred, but the boiler was left in operation for the duration of the battle. The three middle pipes of the cruiser, which escaped hits, were heavily damaged by shrapnel.
Head of the cruiser detachment, Rear Admiral N.K. Reitzenstein
The Askold had four small underwater holes on the starboard side and two on the left. In addition, there were several surface holes. Crew losses were 11 killed and 48 wounded.
Since the main attention was attracted by the lead Askold, the Novik received only three surface holes, apparently inflicted by the cruisers of the 3rd combat detachment. Crew losses were 2 killed and one wounded. In the evening after the battle on Novik, interruptions in the operation of refrigerators began. At about 23.00, the salinity of the boiler water on the cruiser increased, and Novik was forced to slow down to inspect the refrigerators. The signal was sent to ask the Askold to slow down, but the flagship apparently did not understand it, and soon the Novik fell behind. During the night, the damage in the refrigerators was repaired, but the pipes in the boilers began to burst.
The next morning, the cruiser Askold could also reach a speed of no more than 15 knots, therefore, considering that the ship in this condition could not take the fight, Reitzenstein decided to call at Shanghai to repair the damage, and then go to Vladivostok.
On July 30, "Askold" dropped anchor at the mouth of the Vuzung River. A few days later an order was received from St. Petersburg to disarm the ship.
The day after the battle, the cruiser Novik entered the port of Qingdao to replenish coal supplies. After this, the commander of the cruiser M.F. von Schultz decided to lead the cruiser to Vladivostok around Japan. On August 7, the cruiser entered the roadstead of the village of Korsakovsky post on the island. Sakhalin to replenish coal reserves, at the exit from which it was intercepted by the IJN cruiser Tsushima. During the ensuing battle, the Novik received serious damage, forcing it to return to the Korsakov post, where it was scuttled by the crew.
Diana's departure
Despite the fact that “Diana”, due to its slow speed, lagged behind “Askold” and “Novik”, its commander, Captain 2nd Rank Prince A.A. Lieven still decided to follow the order of his commander and go for a breakthrough. He considered that this could only be done at night, since the low speed of the ship would not allow him to break away from the enemy.
With the onset of darkness at about 20.00, "Diana" crossed the course of the squadron and the floor to the east, to where the main forces of the Japanese fleet had just been. The cruiser was followed by the destroyer Grozovoy. 10 minutes after the turn, four Japanese destroyers came out from the bow corners towards the Russian ships. They dodged the fired torpedoes with a sharp turn, exposing the stern.
Cruiser "Diana"
Since the commander of the Diana was a miner by profession, he knew that it was very difficult to detect and attack a ship sailing without lights at night. Therefore, they avoided attacks by maneuvering, trying not to open fire. When destroyers appeared from the bow corners, they turned towards them, threatening them with a ram; when they appeared from the stern corners, they were transferred behind the stern. During one of the attacks, at about 22.15, the cruiser almost rammed one of the Japanese destroyers. The attacks stopped soon after.
All night the cruiser was moving at full speed, fearing persecution. In the morning, a meeting took place with the cruiser Novik, to which Grozovoy was sent for negotiations. Having found out Novik's intention to go to Qingdao, but fearing that Japanese ships would block it there, Lieven headed south. "Grozovoy", whose boilers and refrigerators were leaking, left with "Novik" for Qingdao.
Captain "Diana" A.A. Liven
A.A. Lieven was going to cross the Yellow Sea, and at night pass the Korean Strait at full speed, and then go to Vladivostok by economic speed. But the increased consumption of coal due to its low quality, as well as the unsuccessful design of the coal pits (from the reserve pits located above the engine room, coal could not be supplied directly to the fireboxes - it was required to be reloaded manually through the upper deck) did not allow this intention to be realized.
Having refueled at the French bases of Kwan Chau Van and Haifang, “Diana” reached French Saigon on August 8 (21), where A.A. Lieven intended to repair the damage. The cruiser received two direct hits and a lot of damage from shrapnel. Crew losses were 5 killed and 20 wounded. On August 21 (September 3) “Diana” was interned.
"Tsesarevich"
After the battle, “Tsesarevich” was the last one in the squadron, but soon, due to a drop in thrust in the boilers due to a badly damaged stern pipe, it began to lag behind. Having finally left the squadron in the dark, having taken command, Shumov turned south, deciding to go to Vladivostok. At about 23.00, the commander of the battleship, Captain 1st Rank Ivanov, who had come to his senses, took command. At night, the battleship was attacked by several destroyers, which were successfully repulsed.
In the morning, having assessed the damage to the ship, Ivanov decided to call at the port of Qingdao to repair the damage. But on August 2 (15), the battleship was interned at the request of the German authorities.
In the second phase of the battle, the Tsarevich received more hits from enemy shells than in the first. The biggest troubles were caused by two successive hits of 12-inch shells on the foremast and conning tower, which first disabled the squadron headquarters and then the ship’s command. In addition, the steering gear, engine telegraph and all speaking pipes were disabled, and telephone communication remained with only one of the engine rooms.
In addition, a large shell hit the bow turret (without damage); another shell pierced the bunk nets and damaged the hull structures and the steam launch; another one - he smashed a bakery. Two shells hit the stern tube, and medium-caliber shells also hit the deck in the bow and the porthole located in front of the left bow turret of the 152 mm guns. After the Tsarevich was out of action, two more shells hit the poop deck.
Losses on the Tsesarevich during the battle amounted to 12 killed and 42 wounded.
Russian squadron after the battle
At night after the battle, the Russian squadron, returning to Port Arthur, was attacked by Japanese destroyers. However, none of the torpedoes they fired hit the target. In the morning, the battleships Retvizan, Peresvet, Pobeda, Sevastopol, Poltava, the cruiser Pallada, three destroyers and the hospital ship Mongolia returned to Port Arthur.
In 1868, the Meiji Ishin coup took place in Japan, as a result of which the power of the emperor was restored. The country emerged from the rule of feudal clans, the navy also became united. The Ministry of War (whose jurisdiction also initially included the Navy) received a strange set of ships that, with great stretch, could be called combat ships and which clearly did not represent the navy. It included ships of the bakufu - the feudal government, and ships inherited from its defeated opponents, primarily the powerful Satsuma clan. Among them was the only battleship purchased from the rebellious American Confederacy of the southern states, a wooden corvette and a gunboat, as well as several armed steamships and sailing ships. Japan was faced with a dilemma: either restore old ships or renew the fleet. The Japanese took the second path. In 1870, the most powerful fleet in the world, the British, was chosen as a landmark.
Several English instructors arrived in a country that was completely closed from the rest of the world and began training sailors and transferring modern technologies. However, the Japanese were very cautious, and the British operated within many restrictions. But in the years allotted to them, the British managed to do a lot of useful things. In addition to organizing the fleet and training personnel, they established the purchase of warships.
corvette Tsukuba
True, for him the beginning did not look inspiring; among his first acquisitions was, for example, the corvette “Tsukuba” with a displacement of about 1900 tons, built almost 20 years ago in the British colony of Burma and then modernized in the metropolis “Old Man” (which one cannot dare to call a cruiser ) developed in pairs no more than 10 knots. However, the Japanese treated this antiquity, as they did all their warships, with great care and love. The artillery on it was changed twice and, according to some information, in 1892 the Tsukuba even received four 152-mm rapid-fire guns. The veteran finally retired after the Russo-Japanese War. The 1,400-ton corvette Asama, purchased in France, did not shine with its merits either.
corvette "Asama"
However, British specialists did not limit themselves to these obsolete ships. At the shipyards of England, completely modern armored units were created - the frigate "Fuso" (essentially a small battleship) and the corvettes "Hiei" and "Kongo". The design of the latter was developed by Edward Reed himself - chief designer Admiralty. With a displacement of 2200 tons, they could develop 14 knots and had an iron belt up to 114 mm thick. The Hiei still managed to actively participate in the Sino-Japanese War and received its share of enemy shells in the battle at the mouth of the Yalu River.
frigate "Fuso"
Deciding quite sensibly “not to put all your eggs in one basket,” the War Department abruptly changed the main supplier of ideas and ships. The choice fell on Britain’s main rival. By the early 1880s, French metallurgists and engineers began to arrive in the Far East. They managed to complete the work of their predecessors and organize the construction of cruisers in Japanese shipyards. It is quite natural that at first everything did not go very smoothly. The wooden corvettes “Kaimon” and “Tenryu” with a displacement of only about 1500 tons took a painfully long time to build, about seven years each, entering service only in 1885 - 1886. However, they turned out to be quite successful and served until the Russo-Japanese War, during which in July 1904, the Kaimon hit a mine in Talienwan Bay and died, and the Tenryu, which successfully survived it, was removed from the lists soon after the end of hostilities.
corvette "Kasuga"
The successful project was modernized, and the following corvettes, Musashi and Katsuragi, were laid down on the vacated stocks in Yokosuka. Another corvette of the same type, Yamato, was built at the second state shipyard in Kobe. The ships had a composite frame with steel frames and wooden plating and carried a full sail rig, removed at the turn of the century, in 1900. Construction also accelerated, although the five-year deadline for fairly simple units still remained insurmountable.
Practical “pieces of wood” were quite suitable for study, but for a serious war larger ships with powerful weapons were required. The Japanese wanted to get the most powerful and at the same time cheap modern cruiser, and the French engineers, who were usually very vigilant about such a characteristic as stability, gave up the slack. Built in Le Havre, "Wenby" had all the external features of typical "French" ships, such as "Sfax", "Cecile" or "Tage", had a rather thick armored deck and good speed. However, in an effort to satisfy the customer as much as possible, the designers went too far with the artillery, which consisted of four heavy 240-mm Krupp guns, not counting 150-mm guns and other “trifles.” As a result, the overloaded cruiser, under full sail, heeled dangerously and did not want to return to an even keel. In this state he left Le Havre on a long journey to the Far East. But he never arrived there, disappearing without a trace somewhere between Singapore and Taiwan in October 1887.
The first loud “puncture” was followed by further ones, albeit not so serious and of a completely different nature. The reorientation towards France brought to Japan the ideas of the “young school”, which turned out to be quite consistent with the fighting spirit of the samurai. Small ships attacking armored giants, in addition to being a good opportunity to show the valor of warriors, were also inexpensive, just within the means of a rapidly developing power that had too many wants and needs.
Corvette "Matsushima"
To implement new ideas, “heavy artillery” arrived from Europe; the famous French shipbuilder Emile Bertin signed a three-year contract to stay in Japan. He proposed a super-original project for a trio of cruisers, armed with the heaviest guns and designed as a response to fight even large battleships - ordered for the most powerful Northern squadron of the Chinese fleet, the Matsushima, Hashidate and Itsukushima received the designation "san-keikan" ” - “landscape ships”, since each unit bore the name of one of the three most famous species in Japan - Matsushima Bay in Miyagi Prefecture, Amano Hashidate Sandbank in Miyazu Bay in Kyoto Prefecture, and Ikutsushima Island in Hiroshima Bay.
They were conceived to operate as a single detachment, forming, as it were, one “composite battleship”, in which “Hashidate” and “Itsukushima” were the “bow towers”, and “Matsushima” was the “stern”. Accordingly, the main gun, one of the most powerful 320-mm Kane guns in the world at that time, was located on the first pair in the bow, and on the “last” one in the stern. In addition to the monster gun located in a lightly armored barbette, each of the cruisers carried a substantial battery of 120-mm rapid-fire guns, which had just been “introduced into use.” The rapid fire guns were located in a large battery in the center of the hull, firing through ports on both sides in the manner of ancient frigates. They were, in fact, the main weapons of the “sankeikan” But small size the ship did not allow them to be protected, and therefore they were very vulnerable.
Therefore, neither Bertin’s strange idea nor its implementation can be called successful. The Matsushima failed to develop the already non-sprinting 16.5-knot design speed; their boilers constantly leaked and failed. However, the main drawback was their monstrous 320mm frames, for the installation of which they had to sacrifice too much. The huge guns themselves on such small ships turned out to be practically useless; the 65-ton long barrel, when aimed directly at the side, noticeably tilted the hull, creating additional difficulties for firing, not only its own, but also much more effective rapid fire guns. As a result, even in calm sea conditions, no more than four shots per hour could be fired from the “monster.”
All the shortcomings of the project were fully revealed in battle. Serious troubles awaited the Sankeikan type in the battle with the Chinese at the mouth of the Yalu River. There, in four hours of battle, 320-millimeter fired 14 rounds for the entire trio, but unlike later battles, when the Matsushimas wisely stayed outside the range of effective return fire, they had to experience the effects of enemy shells. And then all the shortcomings of the cramped and unprotected 120-mm battery appeared. One of the few shells that hit from the Chinese battleships exploded among the ammunition on the Matsushima, causing a strong fire in which almost 100 people were injured - about a third of the crew, and half of them died .
Without a doubt, this hit was the most successful in the entire war and showed the extreme vulnerability of the “pseudo-battleship”. During the Russo-Japanese War, the “landscape trinity” participated in both main battles, but neither in the Yellow Sea nor at Tsushima achieved a single hit, firing less than two dozen shells at all. In general, the main benefit from the “landscapes”, perhaps, was the process of “assembling” the “Hashidate” at the shipyard in Yokosuka (the other two units were built in France). Namely “assemblies”, since almost all the mechanisms, equipment, materials and drawings came to Japan from Europe, and the work was supervised by French engineers. Equipment and skills were still clearly insufficient, and the construction of the Hashidate took twice as long. It entered service three years later than its “sisters.” Nevertheless, the experience in creating a modern combat vessel turned out to be very useful.
"Hashidate"
The failure to implement Bertin's extravagant ideas did not go unnoticed by attentive Japanese three years before the Matsushima disaster. In 1892, it was decided not to use the services of the French anymore. The Mikado ministers quickly turned their attention back to their main competitors, the British. And very fortunately, just in the 1890s, the rapid ascent of Armstrong’s company and its designers began along the pyramid of fame. In fact, it was they who largely created the modern Japanese fleet. We have already talked about the Elsvik "Esino", armed exclusively with rapid fire and developing 23 knots, which did so much to defeat the Chinese at Yalu. Under the flag of Admiral Tsuboi, he led a “flying squadron”, consisting of the fastest cruisers, which attacked the enemy from the flank and completely destroyed his formation.
"Akitsushima"
The “flying squadron” included the fastest and most modern cruisers, in addition to the Yoshino, the Elsvik Naniwa and Takachiho, as well as the first modern Japanese-built product, the Akitsushima. It strongly resembled a smaller version of the American "Elswick" - "Baltimore" (which is not surprising, since both projects were compiled by Armstrong's chief designer William White) and was built from materials brought from Britain.
The first fully Japanese-built cruisers were the Suma and Akashi pair.
Finally, almost everything was domestic, from the design to the materials, mechanisms and equipment. The exception was artillery, so as not to produce unnecessary types of guns and shells, they were left English, produced by the same Armstrong.
British influence, albeit indirect, remained very strong. Both ships were in many ways similar to the Akitsushima in layout and characteristics. Some step forward was the introduction steam engines triple expansion with a vertical arrangement of cylinders, however, the boilers clearly “pulled back”; the locomotive type had by that time almost completely disappeared from all more or less large combat ships. They became a real headache for the mechanics and did not allow them to develop the contract speed, which was already quite modest compared to the high-speed Elswicks. Not everything was immediately successful with such qualities as seaworthiness. The Suma, which was the first to enter service, turned out to be insufficiently stable and was heavily flooded by waves, so the completion of the Akashi was delayed, changing the design of the hull, which became smooth-deck. Subsequently, archaic locomotive boilers were replaced on both cruisers with modern water-tube boilers, but during the Russo-Japanese War these ships had to suffer a lot on campaigns, trying to maintain something resembling full speed.
"Takasago"
The construction of domestic cruisers is still too long, from four to five years. At this rate, with only two shipyards capable of producing relatively large ships, the Japanese fleet would be hopelessly behind its ambitious plans. Therefore, the search abroad continued. And not without success, in 1898 Armstrong delivered another beautiful cruiser. With a displacement of just under 4,200 tons, the Takasago had very powerful armament, including a pair of 203 mm, ten 120 mm and twelve 76 mm rapid-fire guns. At the same time, the ship had excellent protection, which, according to its creators, could withstand even 8-inch shells. Thus, the thickness of the deck bevel in the central part reached 114 mm. In addition, the body had a large number of waterproof compartments, the number of which exceeded a hundred. A couple more almost completely similar units were ordered in the United States of America from Crump and Union Iron Works.
Since at that time overseas technology still lagged behind the capabilities of the Elsvik “magicians”, “Kasagi” and “Chitose” had several big sizes and displacement with the same armament and protection. It should be noted that the “English” turned out to be faster, reaching the design 23.5 knots, while the “Americans” had to limit themselves to 22.5. The main disadvantage of these very powerful combat units for their size was caused by their strength. Two and a half dozen guns, protected only by small shields, were placed so closely on the deck that any shell exploding there could cause complete devastation among the crews. There were understandable problems with eight-inch cameras.
It would be difficult for even a hefty grenadier to hold a heavy 113-kilogram projectile on a not-at-all wide swinging deck, and even more so for Japanese sailors who were not at all of a heroic build. Therefore, the designers tried to help the servants as much as possible by equipping the installation and feeding with electric motors. The shells delivered by the elevator from the ammunition magazines were laid out on a special cart, which ran on rails laid on the deck behind the gun. It was, of course, much easier to push a projectile from such a cart into the breech of the gun, but all this “railway equipment” remained highly vulnerable to enemy hits, including fragmentation.
It is clear that such heavily loaded ships had very moderate seaworthiness.
Nevertheless, this trio, together with the proven and equally fast Yoshino, formed the 3rd detachment of cruisers during the Russo-Japanese War, which was very actively used for reconnaissance and targeting its main forces at the enemy. They caused a lot of unpleasant moments for our sailors, who nicknamed them “dogs” for their persistence. However, one of the “mongrels” did not live to see Tsushima, “Takasago” was blown up by a mine in December 1904.
It should be noted that these powerful ships were built surprisingly quickly. Takasago entered service exactly two years after its keel, and its American “cousins” were even faster.
But the Japanese did not stand still Next couple domestic cruisers, Tsushima and Niitaka, became much more successful than the long-suffering Suma and Akashi. By increasing the displacement by approximately 700 tons, they received a single armament of six 6-inch guns, supplemented by a dozen 76-mm guns. The ships turned out to be quite seaworthy and had enviable stability. Of course, their 20-knot speed was somewhat lost against the background of foreign records, but it was possible to develop it without special problems. The construction time of the country's main shipyard in Ekosuka also decreased, and the Niitaka was put into operation two years and 20 days after its laying, almost catching up with the leading firms of the main maritime powers. It is interesting that both had capricious boilers of the notorious Niklos type, usually much reviled by our specialists and historians (mainly using the example of the Varyag), but throughout their careers, Japanese sailors did not experience any special problems with them.
But the next domestically built cruiser, Otova, became the first to also have boilers of a domestic brand. Unsurprisingly called “Kanpon” (that is, “naval” or “naval”), they had higher steam parameters than the vast majority of Western models (including the same Niklos products) and turned out to be very unpretentious and reliable in operation. The somewhat smaller size of the ships compared to their predecessors forced a return to a mixed armament of 6- and 4.7-inch Akashi-type guns, but the speed was increased to 21 knots.
All Japanese armored cruisers, both high-speed “dogs” and slower units that came off the slipways in Kure and Yokosuka, were actively used in the Russo-Japanese War. They turned out to be literally servants of all trades, carrying out patrols at Port Arthur and carrying out tactical reconnaissance and search in battles. It must be said that the command was afraid of the larger and superior in armament (all but the “dogs”) Russian “6-thousanders” and preferred to keep their light cruisers at a considerable distance from them, and even more so from our battleships. However, the “trifle” took a very active part in searching for and finishing off the defeated 2nd Pacific Squadron, taking advantage of its numerical superiority.
Thus, “Otova” and “Niitaka” easily caught up with the damaged “Svetlana” and sank her after an hour and a half battle. But this immediate military success was rather an exception. The same pair plus Admiral Uriu’s detachment (“Naniwa”, “Takachiho”, “Akashi” and “Tsushima”), six of them, could not cope with the old armored cruiser “Dmitry Donskoy”, although they seriously damaged it. Speed was not always enough, since the active service thoroughly “hooked up” the machines and boilers of almost all units, few of which were Battle of Tsushima could develop more than 18 knots. Thus, Chitose and Akitsushima were unable to catch up with the Emerald, which broke through the enemy ring when the remnants of the squadron surrendered. Nevertheless, the activities of Japanese small cruisers should be recognized as both useful and successful.
Evidence of this is the fact that only four Russian light ships reached Vladivostok.
After the end of the war with Russia, the already very diverse Japanese cruiser fleet was enriched with trophies. As a result, by 1907 a unique situation had arisen. The Mikado fleet now had cruisers produced by literally all the major maritime countries of England, France, the USA, Germany, Russia and Italy. An unimaginable mixture of systems of mechanisms and weapons, various shipbuilding principles and techniques. However, it was the experience of their operation that opened up for Japanese designers the opportunity, inaccessible to engineers of other powers, to choose the best. And this experience was soon embodied in original and powerful ships.
Separate detachment of cruisers of the Pacific Fleet
A detachment of cruisers on the roadstead in Vladivostok
Total information
Number of members
Military conflicts
Story
The decision to create
The formation of a detachment of cruisers based in Vladivostok as an independently operating formation was envisaged back in March 1901. The detachment, in addition to the cruisers "Russia", "Gromoboy" and "Rurik" in different time included other cruisers (“Admiral Nakhimov”, “Varyag”, “Askold”).
The decision in 1901-1903 to create a detachment of cruisers into an independent detachment was motivated by the following:
- Armored cruisers are not battleships and are built specifically for cruising warfare. The effect of their action on a wide theater should be much greater than as part of a squadron.
- By distracting 6 Japanese armored cruisers, the detachment will weaken the superiority of the main forces of the Japanese fleet over the Russian one.
- Raiding along the enemy's coast, thereby disrupting the supply of enemy troops in the continental theater of operations.
This was also the task that was assigned to the detachment.
The correctness of this allocation of the best cruisers into a separate detachment was confirmed by the experience of the Russian-Japanese War.
Formation
Squadron battleship "Tsesarevich"
The final composition of the Pacific squadron was announced at a meeting in Port Arthur on April 17, 1903. As a result of this meeting, naval forces in the Far East were distributed as follows:
1. “Combat squadron” based in Port Arthur (I and II squads of battleships, detachments of long-range and short-range reconnaissance ships (cruisers), 1st squadron of destroyers) and a defensive detachment.
2. A separate cruising detachment and a defensive detachment based in Vladivostok.
In addition, groups of auxiliary vessels (transports) were formed based in Port Arthur and Vladivostok.
The separate cruising detachment in Vladivostok was to include the armored cruisers "Russia" (flag of the 1st junior flagship of the squadron), "Gromoboy" and "Rurik", the armored cruiser "Bogatyr" and the steamships of the Voluntary Fleet "Moscow" and "Kherson". In addition to the designated ships, the Vladivostok detachment included: gunboats “Koreets”, “Mandzhur”, “Beaver” and “Sivuch”, mine transport “Aleut”, military transports “Kamchadal” and “Yakut”, destroyers No. 201, 202 and 209 , as well as six destroyers.
In July-August, 6 more numbered destroyers transferred by the cruisers Boyarin and Rurik arrived in Vladivostok, but the gunboats and the 20-knot steamship Moskva never reached Vladivostok. At the same time, “Kherson” (renamed “Lena”), due to defects in the boilers, was unable to develop a full 19.5 knot speed, which was reflected in the failure better side on the initial plans for the use of the detachment.
Armored cruiser "Russia"
Laid down at the Baltic Shipyard in St. Petersburg on May 20, 1895. Launched April 30, 1896. Entered service on September 13, 1897. Transferred from the Baltic Sea to the Far East to the 1st Pacific Squadron. The flagship of the Vladivostok cruiser detachment.
Displacement 12580 tons. Armament - 4 - 203/45, 22 - 152/45, 24 - 75/50, 12 - 47/43, 18 - 37 mm, 2 - 64 mm des., 5 NTA. Speed - 19.74 knots, cruising range 7740 miles. Crew of 28 officers and 811 sailors.
Armored cruiser "Gromoboy"
Laid down on July 14, 1897 at the Baltic Shipyard in St. Petersburg. Launched April 26, 1889. Entered service in October 1900. During the Russo-Japanese War he was part of the Vladivostok cruiser detachment.
Displacement 12455 tons. Dimensions: 146.6/144.2/140.6x20.9x7.9 m. Initial armament - 4 - 203/45, 16 - 152/45, 24 - 75/50, 12 - 47 mm, 18 - 37 mm, 2 - 64 mm des., 4 PTA. Speed 20.1 knots; cruising range 8100 miles. Crew of 28 officers and 846 sailors.
Armored cruiser "Rurik"
Unofficial construction began at the Baltic Shipyard in St. Petersburg in September 1889. Officially laid down on May 19, 1890. Launched October 22, 1892. Entered service on October 16, 1895. Transferred from the Baltic Sea to the Far East to the 1st Pacific Squadron. He was part of the Vladivostok cruiser detachment.
Displacement 11930 t. Dimensions: 132.6x20.4x8.3 m. Armament - 4 - 203/35, 16 - 152/35, 6 - 120/45, 6 - 47/43, 10 - 37 mm, 2 - 64 mm des ., 6 NTA. Speed 18.84 knots; cruising range 7790 miles. Crew of 27 officers and 692 sailors
Armored cruiser "Bogatyr"
Laid down in December 1898 in Stettin (Germany) on the shipyard of the Vulcan company. Launched on January 17, 1901. During the Russo-Japanese War he was part of the Vladivostok cruiser detachment. On May 2, 1904, in the fog, he jumped onto the coastal rocks at Cape Bruce in the Amur Bay and, having received a hole in the hull, lay down on the ground. On June 18, 1904, she was refloated and docked for repairs, where she remained until the end of the war.
Displacement 6650 t. Dimensions: 134.1x16.6x6.3 m. Armament 12 - 152/45, 12 - 75/50, 8 - 47 mm, 2 - 37 mm, 2 - 64 mm (des), 2 NTA, 2 PTA. Test speed up to 23.55 knots; cruising range 4900 miles. Crew: 23 officers and 550 sailors.
During design and construction, all of these cruisers were designed for raider operations on the enemy’s ocean lines of communication. Because of this, in order to increase their cruising range, they had relatively weak side armor and imperfect protection for deck artillery.
Squad names
The order to form the detachment was signed on June 7, 1903. In which it was given its first name: “Detachment of Cruisers of the Pacific Ocean Squadron.”
After the start of the Russo-Japanese War, the commander of the squadron was given the rights of fleet commander. As a result, on February 25, 1904, the detachment was transformed into a “Separate detachment of cruisers of the Pacific Fleet.”
On May 12, 1904, the structure of the fleet was changed and the detachment received a new name: “Separate detachment of cruisers of the 1st squadron of the Pacific Fleet.”
On December 20, 1904, after the death of the remnants of the squadron in Port Arthur, the detachment of Vladivostok cruisers was given a new name “Cruiser Detachment in the Pacific Ocean”.
Fighting
First campaign (January 27 - February 1, 1904)
On the night of January 26-27, 1904, an order was received from the command, which read: “The detachment should begin military operations and inflict the most sensitive blow and damage to Japan’s communications with Korea.” The ships were prepared for combat operations in advance and went to sea on the same day. But the campaign was not particularly successful, despite the absence of serious enemy forces. During the voyage, only one steamer IJN Nakanoura-Maru (1084 tons) was sunk and another one was shelled. A storm at sea forced us to return to our home port.
Second campaign (February 11 - 14, 1904)
The next trip to sea took place on February 11, 1904. The area of the second campaign was the coast from the border with Korea to the port of Genzan. But this campaign was even less effective - apart from small coastal vessels, the cruisers did not meet anyone.
Third campaign (February 24 - March 1, 1904)
Having gone to sea on February 24, the detachment again headed to the shores of Korea, to the ports and bays located in the Korean Gulf and to the north of it, as well as to the approaches to them from the coast of Japan, in particular, from the ports of Wakasa Bay.
Based on the results of a very superficial inspection of a number of bays on the Korean coast, the commander of the detachment, Reizenstein, reported the following information to the governor: “Two-time cruising gave the right to assume that the presence of our detachment here will not prevent the Japanese from conducting operations in the Sea of Japan; they are not conducting them here. Troops to Genzan they do not transport, there is no trade or transportation of goods along the Korean coast; having walked along the entire coast of Korea, seeing all the bays clearly, not a single signal station was seen, which also confirms the absence of operations."
Bombardment of Vladivostok by Japanese cruisers (March 6, 1904)
But even such small successes of the detachment were enough to alarm the main headquarters of the Japanese, which decided to take retaliatory actions against the detachment. Admiral Kamimura with a squadron of five armored and two armored cruisers entered the Ussuri Gulf on March 6, 1904 and shelled Vladivostok. Immediately after the shelling of the city began, a detachment of Vladivostok cruisers began to weigh anchor, but leaving the bay was complicated by ice conditions and minefields. Upon entering the Ussuri Gulf, the ships saw only the smoke of the Japanese squadron on the horizon, so they did not pursue it and returned to the roadstead. The shelling resulted in the death of one woman and the injury of five sailors.
Inactivity (March 1 – April 9, 1904)
Among the first measures taken by S.O. Makarov to increase the combat effectiveness and intensify the actions of the fleet, the order of February 24 was the appointment of Rear Admiral K.P. as head of the Vladivostok cruiser detachment. Jessena. And Jessen was given a new task for the detachment: to actively prevent the transfer of enemy troops from Japan to Korea.
But Jessen, for a number of reasons, could not begin to carry out orders:
- It took time to master units that were new to him and to train them appropriately for combat.
- It was necessary to choose the direction in which the cruiser detachment should strike. This required reliable information about the intentions and actions of the Japanese fleet.
However, the information about the enemy that the Russian command had during this period was very contradictory.
Fourth campaign (April 10 - 14, 1904)
But due to ice conditions, the detachment was able to go to sea only on April 10, after the death of Makarov. The detachment headed to the Korean coast to attack the port of Genzan. But Jessen did not know that on April 9, Admiral Kamimura sent his squadron to Vladivostok, after entering the same Genzan to replenish water and coal supplies. The reports note that there was thick fog at sea. On the morning of April 12, the detachment, entering Genzana Bay, sank the steamer IJN Goyo-Maru, which was stationed in the roadstead, and then in the afternoon they sank the coaster IJN Haginura-Maru. Then the detachment went to the Sangar Strait. At 22:20, the IJN Kinsu-Maru transport appeared on the way of the Vladivostok detachment. He was also sunk. After this, the detachment commander, having numerous prisoners from sunken ships on board the cruisers, decided to return to Vladivostok.
Second approach of Kamimura's squadron to Vladivostok (April 16, 1904)
Admiral H. Kamimura
On April 15, 1904, the Japanese squadron approached Shkota Island, where it remained for some time, producing signals, then went south. On April 16, the destroyers IJN Sirakumo, IJN Asasivo, IJN Akatsuki and IJN Asagiri laid three mine banks at the entrance to Ussuri Bay. Russian cruisers did not go to sea for fear of running into mines. Eight Russian destroyers were sent to monitor the Japanese ships. The trawling of Japanese mines was very poorly organized. Because of this, on July 4, destroyer No. 208 hit a mine in the Ussuri Gulf and sank.
Accident of the cruiser "Bogatyr" (May 2, 1904)
On May 2, 1904, the cruiser Bogatyr hit rocks at Cape Bruce in Slavyanka Bay. Soon the cruiser was removed from the rocks and docked for repairs. But due to a poorly equipped port and a lack of materials for repairs, the cruiser remained in dock until the end of the war.
Fifth campaign (May 30 - June 7, 1904)
The next time the cruisers went to sea and headed for the eastern passage of the Korean Strait only on May 30. On June 1, the detachment went to about. Tsushima, where Japan's main communications routes were located and where Admiral Kamimura's base was located in Ozaki Bay. On the same day, the steamships IJN Idzuma-Maru and IJN Hitachi-Maru were sunk by the Thunderbolt. IJN Hitachi-Maru carried 1,095 Japanese Army soldiers and officers, 320 horses and 18 heavy 11-inch howitzers, which were intended to bombard Port Arthur. Another IJN transport, Sado-Maru (with 1,350 soldiers and officers, was stopped by warning shots from the Rurik. The Japanese officers refused to surrender and the Russians had no choice but to sink the transport, which was done. A detachment of cruisers went into the Sea of Japan. Kamimura, who was at the base, received a report about the Russian detachment and went out to search for it. But to no avail. On June 3, Russian cruisers inspected the English steamer Allanton, which was sailing with smuggled cargo to Japan.
On June 6, Russian cruisers returned from a successful raid in Vladivostok. Kamimura also returned to his base.
Sixth campaign (June 15 - 20, 1904)
On June 15, the detachment again went to Genzan. In order to achieve great success in the campaign, the auxiliary cruiser Lena and eight numbered destroyers joined the detachment. On June 17, the detachment entered Genzan and sank the schooner IJN Seiho-Maru and the coastal steamer IJN Koun-Maru in the roadstead, losing one destroyer due to the accident. After this, the Lena and the destroyers went to Vladivostok, and the cruisers to the Korean Strait. But having met Kamimura’s squadron in the Tsushima area, the detachment did not accept the battle and retreated. On June 19, on the way to their native shores, the English steamer Cheltenham, which was transporting timber for the construction project, was detained and delivered to Vladivostok. railway Fuzan - Seoul - Chemulpo. On June 20, the detachment entered the port of Vladivostok.
Seventh campaign (July 4-19, 1904)
The active actions of the Vladivostok detachment of cruisers under the command of Jessen forced the Japanese government to send the bulk of transports with troops and military cargo to Korea and Manchuria through the Yellow Sea. Because of this, an order was received from Alekseev to proceed to the east coast of Japan for active operations on the routes of communication with America.
On July 7, 1904, a detachment of cruisers entered the Pacific Ocean through the Sangar Strait and turned south. On July 9, the cruiser was inspected by the English steamer Arabiya; it was carrying contraband cargo; the ship was sent to Vladivostok. On July 10, the cruisers approached the entrance to Tokyo Bay. Here the English steamer Night Commender was inspected, carrying smuggled cargo, and sunk due to the lack of opportunity to reach Vladivostok. On the same day, several schooners were sunk, the German steamer Tea, which was traveling with smuggling, and the English steamer Kalhas was also captured, which, after inspection, was sent to Vladivostok. After this, the cruisers headed back to Vladivostok. On July 19, the cruisers arrived in Vladivostok.
The actions of Russian ships in the Pacific Ocean, off the coast of Japan, excited the whole world. The world stock exchange reacted very actively to the actions of our cruisers; the price of freight increased greatly, but even the high cost could not stop some companies from refusing to operate voyages to the shores of Japan.
Eighth campaign (July 30 - August 4). Battle in the Korean Strait (August 1, 1904)
On July 29, a telegram came from Admiral Alekseev to Vladivostok (which did not yet know about the results of the tragic battle on July 28), stating the order for the cruisers to immediately proceed to the Korean Strait. The purpose of this campaign for the detachment was to meet with Vitgeft’s squadron and provide assistance to him. But the telegram did not indicate which will go the way Vitgeft's detachment, as well as the exact time of his departure to sea is also unknown. Therefore, it was reported that the meeting was expected to take place north of the Korea Strait. Cruisers were prohibited from entering south of the Fuzan parallel. According to the instructions, when meeting with Kamimura, the cruisers should retreat to Vladivostok, taking the Japanese with them. The cruiser should not be distracted by any other tasks during the cruise.
Early in the morning of July 30, "Russia", "Gromoboy" and "Rurik" left Vladivostok. On the morning of August 1, in the southern part of the Korea Strait, as was written in the order, a detachment of cruisers stopped to wait for Vitgeft's squadron.
Cruiser IJN Iwate
When it began to get light, at 4:50 a.m., signalmen from the Rossiya spotted four ships that were sailing parallel to the detachment. The cruisers IJN Izumo, IJN Tokiwa, IJN Azuma and IJN Iwate were soon identified. Enemy ships cut off the detachment's path to retreat to Vladivostok. The fight was inevitable.
The battle began at 5:20 am. The Japanese cruisers were the first to open fire. Soon retaliatory salvos followed from "Russia" and "Gromoboya". Immediately there were strong explosions at IJN Iwate and at IJN Azuma. The beginning of the battle was left to the Russian cruisers. As it became known later, a heavy shell hit IJN Iwate, destroying three 152 mm and one 75 mm guns.
But soon the Japanese artillerymen took aim and began hitting Russian ships, killing and wounded appeared. Around the fourteenth minute of the battle, a fire started on the Rurik. The fire disabled the cruiser, but not for long. The fire was soon put out. About 40 minutes after the start of the battle, the light cruiser IJN Naniwa approached the Japanese to help. The Russian cruisers changed course and headed northwest; Japanese ships, in turn, took a parallel course.
About an hour after the start of the battle, “Rurik” suffered the fate that experts predicted immediately upon entering service: a Japanese shell, hitting the unprotected tiller compartment, disabled the steering. And the cruiser raised a signal: “The steering wheel does not work.” The cruisers "Russia" and "Gromoboy" turned around to help the damaged "Rurik". But they could not fix the damage on the Rurik.
Seeing that there was no way to help the damaged cruiser, but on the contrary, it was possible to lose two other cruisers, the commander of the cruiser detachment decided to break through to Vladivostok. Kamimura, with his detachment, pursued the Russian cruisers, but the light cruisers IJN Naniwa and IJN Takachiho remained to fight the immobilized Rurik.
The battle ended at approximately 10 o'clock in the morning, the enemy ships ceased fire and turned back.
Kamimura’s decision was influenced by the following factors: casualties among personnel; shortage of shells and damage to ships. In addition, he did not know about the results of the battle in the Yellow Sea and had to be ready at any moment to rush to the aid of Togo or start a battle with the Russian squadron that had broken through from Port Arthur.
Cruiser "Rurik"
"Rurik" continued to fight the Japanese cruisers IJN Naniwa and IJN Takachiho, but soon all its guns were knocked out, almost the entire command staff was killed or wounded. The cruiser commander, Captain 1st Rank Trusov, and senior officer Captain 2nd Rank Khlodovsky died from their wounds. Of the 22 officers, seven remained unharmed; almost half of the entire crew was out of action.
When Kamimura's cruisers, who had returned from the chase, began to approach the Rurik, Lieutenant Ivanov, who took command, in order to prevent the ship from being captured, decided to scuttle it by opening the seams.
According to data from Japanese cruisers, at half past ten o'clock the cruiser "Rurik" completely disappeared under water. Outdated and poorly armored, it fought for five hours against superior enemy ships. The behavior of his team was heroic.
According to Japanese official figures, there were 44 killed and 71 wounded on Kamimura's ships. But according to other sources, on IJN Iwate alone, one shell killed 40 people and wounded 37. The flagship IJN Izuma had up to 20 holes; the cruiser IJN Azuma received 10 shells, IJN Tokiwa - several shells.
Last actions (August 1904 - November 1905)
The battle in the Korea Strait was actually the detachment's last active combat action. Due to the weak capacity of the repair base of the Vladivostok port, the repair of serious damage on the Rossiya and Gromoboe took a long time.
On October 13, 1904, the cruiser Gromoboy, immediately after repairs, ran into rocks while moving to Posyet Bay and spent the entire winter in the dock undergoing repairs.
In the spring of 1905, the detachment made a small raid on Hokkaido and sank the schooners IJN Yaya-Maru, IJN Senrio-Maru, IJN Koyo-Maru and IJN Hokuzey-Maru.
In the summer of 1905, in view of the real threat of the war spreading to the Russian mainland (Sakhalin was captured by the Japanese in July 1905) and the creation of a unified regional defense command headed by the commandant of the Vladivostok fortress, General G.N. Kazbek subordinated the detachment of cruisers to the head of the Separate detachment of ships assigned to protect the waters of the Ussuri region (led by the commander of the Vladivostok port, Rear Admiral N.R. Greve).
On November 11, 1905, in accordance with the instructions of the General Naval Staff (dated October 11), a detachment of cruisers set out for the European part of Russia. On March 30, 1906, upon arrival in Libau, the detachment's headquarters ended the campaign, and the detachment itself was disbanded.
Conclusion
The Vladivostok detachment of cruisers did not fully live up to the hopes that the Admiralty had placed on it. But still, during the entire raid, the detachment sunk 3 Japanese transports, 5 Japanese steamers, 1 English steamer, 1 German steamer and 14 sailing schooners. In addition, 4 foreign ships were captured (2 of which were later released) and 1 Japanese schooner.
But the experience of raiding enemy communications during the Russo-Japanese War was the basis for the German action plan for their raiders (auxiliary cruisers) at the very beginning of the First World War.