Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1904-04-21
The PctrOpavlovsk.

| The destruction of the Russian battle
ship, Petropavlovsk, and the drowning
of her crew of several hundred men will
go down in history as one of the great
est calamities that ever happened.
The Russian fleet had left the harbor
to engage some japanese ships, in sight,
the Japs retreated. then the whole Jap
I fleet put in an appearance and the Rus-
slams retreated. and as the big battle
/ ship neared the entrance to the harbor
she was blown up by Torpedo or NINE
which tore out her right side, amidships
or near the middle; other explosions fol-
| lowed, (of the boilers or magazines)
which tore out the whole side, and be-
| ing top heavy, as are all battleshlps-
turtled or turned over so quickly
that practically the whole crew were
caught and drowned like sin a
trap Only few men on the@bridge
and upper deck and rigging were saved.
The admiral and nearly all the. Of
fcers in their cabins, at breakfast, went
down with the ship.
Admiral Togo's short account OF the
battle, sent to his government at TOXIC
was as follows:
1.-THE combined fleet as previously
planned. commenced on the 11th Of
| April, the eighth attack on Port Arthur
| The fourth and fifth destroyer hotillas
and the fourteenth torpedo flotilla and
the Keryo Maru reached the mouth OF
| Port ArthurSat midnight of the 18th,
and effected the laying of mines at sew
eral points outside of the port, defylng
| the enemy's searchlight.
| '"The second destroyer hotiila discoy-
cred at dawn of the 18th one Russian
destroyer trying to enter the harbor,
and after 10 minutes attack sunk her.
/ Another Russian destroyer was dis
covered coming from the direction OF
| Liaotishan and was attacked, but she
managed to flee into the harbor
| ..On our side there were no casualties,
except two seamen on the Ikezuchi
slightly wounded. There was no time
to rescue the enemy's drowning crews,
as the Bayan approached. The third
| fleet reached outside of Port Arthur at
8 a. m, when the Bayan came out and
opened fire. Immediately afterward
| the Novik, Askold, Diana, Petropav-
lovsk. Pobieda and Poltaya came out
and made an offensive attack. Our
third feet, hardly answering and grad
ually retiring, enticed the enemy 10
miles southeast of the port, when our
| first fleet informed through wireless
| telegraphy from the third fleet, sudden
| ly appeared before the enemy and at
tackled them While the enemy was
trying to regain the port battleship OF
| the Petropavlovsk type struck mines
laid by us the previous evening and
sunk at 1882 a. IN. Although another
ship was observed to have lost freedom
of movement, the confusion of the
enemy's ships prevented us from identi-
flying her They finally managed to
regain the port. Our third fleet suffer
ed no damage and the enemy's damage
besides the above mentioned is probably
slight also.
"Our first feet did not reach firin g
distance Our fleets retired at l p. m.
prepared for another attack. They re-
sailed April IA toward Port Arthur.
The second, the fourth and the fifth de-
stroyer fotilla and the ninth torpedo
fiotilla also joined at 3 a. IN. and a. m.
No enemy's ship was found outside OF
the port Our first fleet arrived at the
port at a. ID. and discovered three
mines laid by the enemy and destroyed
all. The Kasugo and Nishin were dis
patched to west of Lao tishan and made
Indirect bombardment for two hours, II
being their first action. The new forts
on Lao-tishan finally silenced Our
forces retired at | 80 p. m.