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{{Infobox Military Conflict|conflict=Battle of Tsushima|partof=the
Russo-Japanese War on the bridge of [Japanese battleship Mikasa, at the beginning of the Battle of Tsushima in 1905. The signal flag being hoisted is the letter "Z", which was a special instruction to the Fleet.|date=May 27–28, 1905|place=
Straits of Tsushima|combatant2= [Russian Empire|commander2=[Zinovy RozhestvenskyNikolai Nebogatov: 対馬海戦,
tsushima-kaisen, ,
Tsusimskoye srazheniye), commonly known as the
“Sea of Japan Naval Battle” (Japanese: 日本海海戦,
nihonkai-kaisen) in [Japan and the
“Battle of Tsushima Strait” elsewhere, was the last and most decisive sea battle of the
Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905. It was fought on May 27–28, 1905 (May 14–15 in the
Julian calendar then in use in Russia) in the Tsushima Strait. In this battle the Japanese fleet under Admiral
Heihachiro Togo destroyed two-thirds of the
Russian fleet under Admiral Zinovy Rozhestvensky. Historian
Edmund Morris (writer) calls it the greatest battle since
Battle of Trafalgar. It was the biggest naval battle of the
pre-dreadnought battleship era.
The Battle of Tsushima was the only sea battle in history in which steel battleships fought a decisive fleet action. In addition, much to the Russian Navy's credit, Admiral Rozhestvensky's battleship fleet conducted a voyage of over 18,000 nautical miles (33 000 km) to reach their Far Eastern station.
Prior to the Russo-Japanese War, countries constructed their battleships with mixed batteries of mainly 150 mm (6-inch), 203 mm (8-inch), 254 mm (10-inch) and 305 mm (12-inch) guns, with the intent that these battleships fight on the battle line in a close-quarter, decisive fleet action. The battle demonstrated that the big guns with longer ranges were more advantageous and favourable during naval battles, not mixed batteries of different sizes. As early as 1904, the
Imperial Japanese Navy developed the Japanese battleship Satsuma (laid down a few days before the Battle of Tsushima, on May 15th, 1905), the first ship to be developed and laid down as an all-big-gun battleship. Great Britain would soon follow suit, laying down the keel of
HMS Dreadnought (1906) in October 1905, and becoming the first to complete an "all big gunned" battleship (305 mm cannons). HMS
Dreadnought was launched in 1906, and created the separating date between "Pre-Dreadnoughts" prior to 1906 and "Dreadnoughts" from 1906 afterward.
Prologue and overview
Conflict in the Far East
On
February 8,
1904 destroyers of the Imperial Japanese Navy launched a surprise attack on the Russian Far East Fleet anchored in Port Arthur, 3 ships including 2 battleships and a cruiser were damaged in the attack. The Russo-Japanese war had begun. Japan's first objective was to secure its sea lines of communication and supply to the Asian mainland thereby enabling it to conduct a ground war in Manchuria. To achieve this, it needed to neutralise Russian naval power in the East. At first, the Russian naval forces lay dormant and did not engage the Japanese, resulting in unopposed Japanese troop landings in Korea, but the Russians were revitalised by the arrival of Admiral Stepan Makarov and they were able to achieve some degree of success against the Japanese. However, Admiral Makarov's flagship battleship
Petropavlovsk struck a mine, which resulted in the death of the admiral, and Makarov's successors failed to challenge the Japanese Navy; as a consequence, the Russians were effectively bottled up in Port Arthur. By May, the Japanese had landed forces on the
Liaodong Peninsula and in August began the siege of Port Arthur. In August, the Russian leadership finally decided to sortie the First Pacific Squadron and link up with the Vladivostok Squadron and then challenge the Japanese. However, both squadrons of the
Russian Pacific Fleet were dispersed at the battles of the
Battle of the Yellow Sea and Battle off Ulsan on 10 August and
14 August 1904 respectively. What remained of Russian naval power would eventually be sunk in Lüshunkou.
The Second Pacific Squadron
With the inactivity of the First Pacific Squadron after the death of Makarov and the Japanese tightening the noose around Port Arthur, the Russians were considering sending part of their Baltic Fleet to the Far East. The Russian plan was to relieve Port Arthur by sea, link up with the First Pacific Squadron, overwhelm the Imperial Japanese Navy and then delay the Japanese advance into Manchuria until Russian reinforcements arrived via the Trans-Siberian railroad, thereby overwhelming Japanese land forces in Manchuria. With the situation in the Far East deteriorating, the Tsar finally agreed to the formation of the
Second Pacific Squadron which would consist of five divisions of the Baltic Fleet, including 11 of its 13 battleships. The squadron departed on
15 October,
1904 under the command of
Zinovy Rozhestvensky.
The Second Pacific Squadron sailed through the North Sea. With rumours of Japanese torpedo boats in the North Sea, several Russian ships fired upon British fishing trawlers off Dogger Bank, this later caused a diplomatic Dogger Bank incident. The Russian then proceeded around Africa and by April/May, 1905 had anchored in
Indochina. The voyage was long and arduous, and the
morale of the crew began to plummet. The Russians were ordered to break the blockade of Port Arthur, but the settlement had already fallen on
2 January, 1905 so the Russian port of Vladivostok would have to be the objective.
Tsushima Strait
The Russians could have sailed through one of three possible straits to reach Vladivostok:
La Perouse Strait, Tsugaru Strait, and Tsushima. Admiral Rozhestvensky chose Tsushima in an effort to simplify his route. Admiral Togo, based at
Pusan, Korea also believed Tsushima would be the preferred Russian course. The Tsushima Strait is the body of water eastwards of the Tsushima Island group located midway between the Japanese island of Kyushu and the Korean Peninsula, the shortest and most direct route from Indochina. The other two routes would have required the fleet to sail to the east of Japan. The Japanese Combined Fleet and the Russian Second and Third Pacific Squadrons, sent over from Europe, fought in the straits between Korea and Japan near the Tsushima Islands.
Opposing fleets
The Japanese fleets had practiced gunnery continually since the beginning of the war, using sub-caliber round adapters for their cannon. The Japanese had superior gunners, and hit their targets more often. Furthermore, the Japanese used mostly high explosive shells with
shimose (melinite), which was designed to explode on contact and wreck the upper works of ships. The Russians used armor-piercing rounds with small guncotton bursting charge and unreliable fuses. Japanese hits caused more damage to Russian ships in proportion to Russian hits on Japanese ships, setting the superstructures, the paintwork and the large quantities of coal stored on the decks on fire. (The Russian fleet had had to obtain coal from merchant vessels on most of their long voyage due to the lack of friendly fueling ports and countries on the journey). Japanese fire was also more accurate because they had more rangefinders that were more modern on their ships than most of the Russian vessels.
The Russian fleet was in poor shape for a naval battle. Apart from the four newest
Borodino class battleships, the ships were older designs and ill-maintained. The long voyage and the lack of opportunity for maintenance meant their bottoms were heavily fouled, significantly reducing their speed. The Japanese ships could reach 16 knot (nautical) (30 km/h), but the Russian fleet could reach only 9 knots (17 km/h). Togo was able to use the better maneuverability of his fleet to advantage, "
crossing the T" twice.
Battle
First contact
Because the Russians desired to slip undetected into
Vladivostok, as they approached Japanese waters they steered outside regular shipping channels to reduce the chance of detection. On the night of 26/27 May, the Russian fleet approached Tsushima Strait.
It was a dark, misty night, a thick fog blanketed the straits, giving the Russians an advantage. At 2:45am, however, the Japanese
auxiliary cruiser HIJMS Shinano Maru (1904) observed three lights on what appeared to be a vessel in the distant horizon and closed in to investigate. These were navigation lights onboard the hospital ship
Orel. At 4:30am,
Shinano Maru approached the vessel, noting that the vessel contained no guns and appeared to be an auxiliary. The
Orel mistook the
Shinano Maru for another Russian vessel and did not attempt to notify the fleet — instead, it signaled to inform to the Japanese ship that there were other Russian vessels nearby. The
Shinano Maru then sighted the shapes of ten other vessels in the mist. The Russian fleet had been discovered, and any chance of reaching Vladivostok undetected had gone.
At 4:55am, Captain Narukawa of the
Shinano Maru radioed to Admiral Togo in Masampo that "Enemy is in square 203". By 5am, intercepted radio signals told the Russians that they had been discovered and that Japanese scouting cruisers were closing in. Admiral Togo received the message at 5:05am, and immediately he began to prepare his battle fleet for a sortie.
Battle commences
At 6.34am, before departing with the
Combined Fleet, Admiral Togo wired a message to the navy minister in
Tokyo:At the same time the entire Japanese fleet was put to sea, with Admiral Togo from his flagship Japanese battleship Mikasa leading over forty vessels to meet the Russians. Meanwhile, the shadowing Japanese scouting vessels sent in reports every few minutes as to the formation and course of the Russian fleet. There was still mist which reduced visibility and the weather was poor. At around 1:40pm, both fleets sighted each other and prepared to engage each other. Also at 1:55pm, Admiral Togo ordered the hoisting of the
Z flag:
Daylight battle
The Russians sailed from south-southwest to north-northeast; the Japanese fleet from west to northeast. Admiral Togo ordered the fleet to turn in sequence, which enabled his ships to take the same course as the Russians, though risking each battleship in turn. This U-turn was successful. The two lines of battleships stabilized their distance at 6200 metres and exchanged gunfire. As naval engagements traditionally began at a considerably closer range, Togo immediately gained the advantage of surprise.
Admiral Rozhestvensky was knocked out of action by a shell fragment in his skull. The Russian fleet lost the
battleships
Russian battleship Knyaz Suvorov,
Russian battleship Oslyabya,
Russian battleship Imperator Aleksander III (1901) and Russian battleship Borodino on May 27. Japanese ships only suffered light damage, mostly to
Mikasa. In the evening,
Nikolai Nebogatov took the command on the Russian side.
Night attacks
At night, around 8pm, 37 Japanese
torpedo boats and 21 destroyers were thrown against the Russians. The destroyers attacked from the vanguard while the torpedo boats from the east and south of the Russian fleet. The Japanese were aggressive, continuing their attacks for three hours without intermission, and as a result during the night there were a number of collisions between the small craft and Russian warships. The Russians were now dispersed in small groups trying to break northwards. By 11pm, it appeared that the Russians had vanished, but they revealed their positions to their pursuers by turning on their searchlights — ironically, the searchlights had been turned on to spot the attackers. The old battleship
Russian battleship Navarin (1891) struck a mine and was compelled to stop, and consequently it was torpedoed four times and sunk. Of a crew of 622, only three survived, to be rescued by the Japanese.
The battleship
Russian battleship Sissoi Veliky (1894) was heavily damaged by a torpedo in the stern, and it was scuttled the next day. Two old armoured cruisers —
Russian armoured cruiser Admiral Nakhimov and Russian armoured cruiser Vladimir Monomakh — were heavily damaged: the former by a torpedo hit to the bow, and the latter by colliding with a Japanese destroyer. They were both scuttling by their crews the next morning, the
Admiral Nakhimoff off
Tsushima Island where she headed while taking on water. The night attacks had put great strain on the Russians, as they had lost two battleships and two armoured cruisers, while the Japanese only lost three torpedo boats.
XGE
During the night action Admiral Togo was able to rest his main fleet of armoured ships. At 9.30am, what remained of the Russian fleet was sighted heading northwards. At 10.34, realising that his situation was hopeless, Admiral Negobatov ordered six ships remaining under his command to surrender.
XGE, an international signal of surrender, was hoisted up, it was only at 10.53 that the Japanese agreed to the surrender.
Until the evening of May 28, single Russian ships were pursued by the Japanese until they were destroyed or captured. Three Russian ships reached Vladivostok, the cruiser
Izumrud, which escaped from the Japanese despite Nebogatov's surrender, was scuttled by Russians themselves after running aground near the Siberian coast, some ships returned to Russia or were interned.
Time line
May 27, 1905 (JST)
- 04:45 Shinanomaru (Japan) finds The Russian Baltic Fleet, and sends a telegram.
- 05:05 The Japanese Combined Fleet leaves port, and sends a telegram to Imperial Headquarters: "Today's weather is fine but waves are high. (Japanese: 本日天気晴朗なれども波高し)".
- 13:39 The Japanese Combined Fleet finds The Russian Baltic Fleet by the eye, and puts up the battle flag.
- 13:55 Distance: 12,000 meters. The Mikasa puts up Z flag.
- 14:05 Distance: 8,000 meters. The Japanese Combined Fleet starts to helm aport (i.e. start U-turn).
- 14:07 Distance: 7,000 meters. The Mikasa completes its turn. The Russian Baltic Fleet begins firing their guns.
- 14:10 Distance: 6,400 meters. All Japanese ships finish their turns.
- 14:12 Distance: 5,500 meters. The Mikasa is hit first.
- 14:16 Distance: 4,600 meters. The Japanese Combined Fleet begins focus firing their guns at the Russian battleship Knyaz Suvorov
- 14:43 The Russian battleship Oslyabya and Russian battleship Knyaz Suvorov are set ablaze and break off the battle line.
- 14:50 The Russian battleship Imperator Aleksander III (1901) starts turning to the north and attempts to leave the battle line.
- 15:10 The Russian battleship Oslyabya is sunk, and the Russian battleship Knyaz Suvorov attempts to flee.
- 18:00 The two fleets re-approach (distance: 6,300 m), and begin exchanging fire again.
- 19:03 The Russian battleship Imperator Aleksander III (1901) is sunk.
- 19:20 The Russian battleship Knyaz Suvorov, Russian battleship Borodino, and Sissoi Veliky (1894) are sunk.
May 28, 1905 (JST)
- 09:30 The Japanese Combined Fleet locates the Russian Baltic Fleet again.
- 10:34 The Russian commander signals "XGE", which is "I surrender" in the International Code of Signals used at the time.
- 10:53 The Japanese side agrees to a surrender.
Aftermath
Russian losses
The Russians suffered 4,380 killed and 5,917 captured, including two admirals.
BattleshipsThe Russian battleship Knyaz Suvorov, Russian battleship Imperator Aleksander III (1901),
Russian battleship Borodino and the Russian battleship Oslyabya were lost during the daylight battle on 27 May. The Russian battleship Navarin (1891) was lost during the night action, on 27-28 May, while the Russian battleship Sissoi Veliky (1894),
Russian armoured cruiser Admiral Nakhimov and Russian battleship Admiral Ushakov were either scuttled or sunk the next day. Four other battleships under Rear Admiral Nebogatov were forced to surrender and would end up as
prize of war. This group consisted of only one modern battleship,
Russian battleship Orel, along with the old battleship
Japanese battleship Iki and the two small coastal battleships
Japanese battleship Okinoshima and Japanese battleship Mishima. The small coastal battleship Russian battleship Admiral Ushakov refused to surrender and was sunk by Japanese armoured cruisers.
CruisersThe Russian armoured cruiser Vladimir Monomakh,
Russian cruiser Svyetlana and Russian cruiser Dmitri Donskoy were sunk the next day, after the daylight battle. The cruiser
Dmitri Donskoy fought against six Japanese cruisers and survived, however due to heavy damage she was scuttled. The
Russian cruiser Izumrud ran aground near the Siberian coast. Three Russian
protected cruisers,
Russian cruiser Aurora,
Russian cruiser Zhemchug, and
Russian cruiser Oleg escaped to the US naval base at Manila and were interned. The armed yacht classified as a cruiser,
Almaz was able to reach Vladivostok.
Destroyers and AuxiliariesFive destroyers the
Buiny,
Buistry,
Bezupreshchny,
Gromky and
Bleshyashchy were sunk on 28 May, the
Byedovy also surrendered that day.
Bodry was interned in
Shanghai. Two destroyers the
Grosny and
Bravy reached Vladivostok.
Of the auxiliaries, the
Kamchatka,
Ural and
Rus were sunk on
27 May,
Irtuish ran aground on
28 May,
Koreya and
Svir were interned in Shanghai and the
Anadyr escaped to Madagascar. The
Orel and
Kostromo,
Hospital ships were captured with the
Kostromo released afterwards.
Japanese losses
The Japanese lost only three torpedo boats (Nos.
34,
35 and
69), 117 killed and 500 wounded.
Political consequences
The prestige of Russia in the eyes of the world was badly damaged and it was a severe blow to the Romanov dynasty. Nearly the entire Russian fleet was lost in the battle in the Tsushima Straits, the fast armed yacht
Almaz (classified as a cruiser of the 2nd rank) and two destroyers(
Grosny and
Bravy) were the only Russian ships to make it through to Vladivostok. One could argue that the political humiliation of the loss of this war was a direct contribution to the 1905 Revolution in Russia.
Naval tactics
Battleships, cruisers, and other vessels were arranged into divisions, each division being commanded by a Flag officer (i.e. Admiral). At the battle of Tsushima Admiral Togo was the officer commanding in
Japanese battleship Mikasa (the other divisions being commanded by Vice Admirals, Rear Admirals, Commodores and Captains and Commanders for the destroyer divisions). Next in line after
Mikasa came the battleships
Japanese battleship Shikishima,
Japanese battleship Fuji and
Japanese battleship Asahi. Following them were two armored cruisers. , Admiral
Heihachiro Togo's flagship at the battle of Tsushima, preserved as a memorial in Yokosuka, Japan.
When Admiral Togo decided to execute a turn to port "in sequence" he did so in order to preserve the sequence of his battleline, i.e. with the flagship
Mikasa still in the lead (obviously Togo wanted his more powerful units to enter action first). Turning in sequence meant that each ship would turn one after the other whilst still following the ship in front, effectively each ship would turn over the same piece of sea (this being the danger in the manoeuvre as it gives the enemy fleet the opportunity to target that area). Togo could have ordered his ships to turn "together" i.e. each ship would have made the turn at the same time and reversed course, this manoeuvre, the same which was effected by the French-Spanish fleet in Battle_of_Trafalgar, would be quicker but would have disrupted the sequence of the battleline and caused confusion by altering the battle plans, placing the cruisers in the lead, and this was something Togo wanted to avoid.
See also
- Naval history of Japan
- Nicholas II
Notes
References
| last = Koenig
| first = William
| authorlink =
| year = 1977, 2004 revised edition
| title = Epic Sea Battles
| publisher = Octopus Publishing Group Ltd. 2004
| location = London
| id = ISBN 0-7537-1062-5
-->
| last = Wilson
| first = H. W.
| authorlink =
| year = 1969, 1999 revised edition
| title = Battleships in Action
| publisher = Scholarly Press
| location =
| id = ISBN 0-8517-7642-6
-->
External links
- Russojapanesewar.com—Contains a complete order of battle of both fleets. It also contains Admiral Togo's post-battle report and the account of Russian ensign Sememov.
- Battlefleet 1900—Free naval wargame rules covering the pre-dreadnought era, including the Russo-Japanese War.
- 1969 Film Battle of the Japan Sea—directed by Seiji Maruyama
- Part 1—Film Battle of the Japan Sea
- Part 2—Film Battle of the Japan Sea
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