Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-08-23
The Port Arthur Squadron.

mantled at TSingchou.
Pobieda. damaged at Port Arthur.
Retvizan. damaged at Port Arthur.
Sebastopol; damaged at Port Arthur.
Poltava, damaged at Port Arthur.
PereSviet, damaged at Port Arthur.
Cruisers:
Novik. sunk by Japanese.
Bayan, damaged at Port Arthur.
Askold in refuge at Shanghai
PaIlada. unda mayed at Port Arthur.
Diana, unchanged at Saigon.
Torpedo Boat Destroyers.
Burnt, blown up off Wei Hal Wei
Scorri, blown up off Wei Hal Wei.
Ryeshitelni, seized by Japs at Chefoo.
Beshumi, in refuge at Tsingchou dis
armed).
Beposhtchadni, in refuge at Tsingchou
(disarmed).
Grozovoi. in. refuge at Shanghai
One, name unknown, reported off Ko-
rean coast.
V1adivostok Squadron.
Rurik, sunk by Japanese
Gromoboi, damaged, at Vladivostok.
Rossia, damaged, at VIadivostok.
Bogatyr, damaged, at Vladivostok.
From this showing it would appear
from the damaged meted out to the Rus
sian fleets of Port Arthur and Vladivos-
tol1 that but little is left of the Russian
naval force on the Asiatic side today.
The japanese Fleet
To offset this showing of Russias naval
ability near the seat of war, according to
the same authorities from whom The Star
reporter secured the above accurate infor-
nation, the Japanese have a fleet in good
shape under Admiral Togo. composed of
the battle ships Asahi, Mikasa, Full, Wya-
shima, Shitishima and heavily armored
cruisers Nisshin and Kasuga, which take
the place of an additional battle ship. In
addition to these there are the protected
cruisers Yakumo. kasagi, Chitose, Taxa
sogO, AkitsuShima, Adsumo, Natushima,
Hashidate and thirty torpedo boat destroy
ers. And in addition the cruiser Chin Yen,
which was captured from China some years
ago
The fleet under Admiral Togo, Just men
toned, is at all times within help from the
squadron under command of Admiral Ka-
mimura, which Is composed of the armored
cruisers 1dsumo, Adsuma, Tokfwa and
Iwate the protected cruisers Naniwa and
Tahachiho, together with number of
small coast defense vessels.
From this showing 1t can be readily seen
that on the open sea the warships of Japan
are in numbers, at any rate, far superior to
those of Russia.
Should Port Arthur Fall.
In view of this fact speculation is ripe
as to the ultimate purpose of the Japanese
should, as Is their confirmed belief Port
Arthur fall into their hands. in so far as
the port at vladivostok is concerned
Should Port Arthur fall 1t Is felt by naval
officers here that the next move of the
japanese fleet will be toward Vladivostok
In view Of this fact the situation involves
itself into question Of time.
If the fall of Port Arthur should occur
within short time and the fleet of the
Japanese should succeed in wiping out those
of the Russian vessels remaining In Port
Arthur 1t is natural to suppose that the
ships of the Japanese navy would sustain
damage that would take several weeks to
repair. In view of this fact it would GER
tainly be fye or six weeks before the Jap
anese feet could go after the Vladiyostok
squadron. Just what would happen in this
event Is, as matter OF course speculative
but anything that Is done would have to be
done in a comparatively short time, as the
harbor of iViadivOstok commences to freeze
up early in December. and this. of course,
would prevent any naval operations at that
point The mean date of freezing beyond
all possibility Of navigation at Vladfvostok
is December "a. and this means that no
operations Of any kind could be conducted
while this condition prevails until the 1st
In the meantime. however. should the
Japanese be engaged outside of Port Ar
thur until such time as 1t Is known that
ii would be impossible to engage the yladL
vostok squadron. II would prove Of a GER
tain advantage to- the japanese because.
realizing that tneS would have nothing
fear from the Russian ships at Vladtyostok.
the Japanese admiralty could order the
fleets under Togo and Kamimura to 60 info
port where the ships could be dry locked. !,
cleaned and repaired preparatory to any
effort that should be made by Russia to
send the Baltic squadron around to get INTO
the nlix-up that now prevails.
Japan Master of the Sea.
With the actual showing of the conditions
as they exist at this hour In both the jap
anese and Russian navles it Is felt that no
matter what action may be taken In re-
gard to drawing on the Baltic SQUADRON,
on the sea at least Japan at this writ
ing has entirely the better Of the argument
The sea fighting in the struggle between
Russic and japan has been Of more than
ordinary interest to American naval off,
GERS The continued losses of the Russians
In their naval engagements and the sue
cess of the japanese have been a source OF
wonder to them. OF course, nobody VIII
ms ke an official expression of the results
Of the war as told in the press and ofFIciai
dispatches from day to day; nevertheless,