At the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War in 1904, the Russian First Pacific Squadron was able to resist the Japanese attack during the Battle of the Yellow Sea. However, the squadron was destroyed during the Battle of Port Arthur, and the Baltic Fleet, sent for reinforcement, was completely defeated in the Battle of Tsushima. The Grand Duke had been a strong opponent of naval reform, and considered partly responsible for the disaster, in 1904 the windows of his St. Petersburg place were smashed by a crowd. That same year, the audience of that city's French theatre "hissed him from the building". In 1905 when Balletta appeared on the stage bedecked in diamonds, the audience cried: 'She has our fleet in her ears! On her every finger there is a cruiser!’.