The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1904-08-19
RUSSIAN ADMIRAL
DESCRIBES FIGHT
HEAVY LOSSES SUSTAINED
BY THE CRUISERS ROSSIA AND
GROMOBOI.

Admiral Jessen Tells How His Via
divOstOk Squadron Encountered
the Superior Force of Admiral
hamimura-In Seeking to Aid the
Rurik, Which Was Finally Sunk
the GrOmoboi and ROssia Were
Forced to Fight.
st. Petersburg, Aug. 1S.-Emperor
Nicholas has received a dispatch from
Viceroy Alexieff, dated at Vladivostok,
Aug. II, saying that the cruisers Rossia
and Gromoboi of the Vladivostok
squadron, returned to Vladivostok Aug.
16, and communicating the following
report made by Rear Admiral lessen,
commander of the squadron:
"At dawn on Aug. IA, the Rossia,
Gromoboi and Rurik arrived forty-tw
miles from and parallel with Fusan,
and thirty miles from the northern
lighthouse of Tsu island.
when to the westward 1 saw a Jap
anese squadron of armored cruisers, six
miles to the north, travelling parallel
with our course. This squadron con-
sisted of four vessels of the Iwate type,
and was putting on full speed.
"I took a course to the northward
with a view to attaining the open sea,
but the enemy, who was of superior
speed, turned Immediately and took the
same course.
Il was. therefore, obliged to engage
in battle, which commenced at 5 o'clock
in the morning, with a distance of six
ty cables between the two squadrons
CA cable length is 200 yards.)
I'm the strait to the south we saw a
second-class cruiser of the Naniwa
type coming to join the enemy.
"At a convenient opportunity we rap
idly turned to the right, intending to
approach the Korean coast, and by in
creasing our speed to seventeen knots,
we seemed to have an opportunity of
succeeding; but the enemy now OBJ
served our intention and directed his
course towards us for the purpose of
hindering our design.
RurilS in Distress.
Hardly five minutes passed before
the Rurik left the ranks and signalled
that her steering gear was disabled. 1
replied, Steer with the engines and
continued on my former course.
Seeing that all of the Japanese
cruisers were concentrating their fire
on the Rurik, all my subsequent ma
neuvering was exclusively with the OBJ
ject of enabling the Rurik to repair
her damaged rudder. l attracted to
myself the enemy's fire in order to
cover the Rurik. (Admiral Jessen was
on the flagship Rossia.)
"At this time 1 saw two warships,
one a second and the other a third
class cruiser, coming to join the enc
my.
1.-The Rurik hoisted the signal, Can
not steer Some maneuvering in the
front line gave the Rurik a chance of
going in the direction of the Korea
Gulf, and at s o'clock the signal was
hoisted, GO east The Rurik answered
the signal and took the requisite course
the waves from her bows.
Had Running Fight.
Eventually the Rossia and the
Gromoboi took northerly course at a
distance of forty-two cables. The
Rurik kept a course approximately
southeast at distance of three miles.
'The battle continued for two hours
in this manner.
I'VE suffered considerably. The
Rossia had three tunnels pierced,
which prevented her from keeping up
good steam, and three of her boilers
were rendered useless.
''At $3.50 o'clock the Rurik began to
lag behind considerably and again
turned her bows toward the shore, at
the same time fighting against the
two second class cruisers, which had
Joined the enemy's squadron. The
Rurik soon afterwards began to get
out of sight.
Vice Admiral Kamimura, with four
armored cruisers. kept steadfastly en-
gagng us in such manner as to keep
us from assisting the Rurik.
while the Rurik continued fighting.
we continued our efforts to attract the
enemy further north, in the hope that
the Rurik would manage to dispose of
her two comparatively weak opponents
and that after repairing the damage to
her rudden, she would be able to
reach Vladivostok independently.
AstOnished M withdrawal.
shortly before 10 O'Clock the enc
my's fire was the most terrific of the
battle. but to our general astonish-
ment. the whole Japanese squadron
left us after the most deadly fight.
which had lasted five hours.
"The Rossia had sustained eleven
holes at her water line and the Gro
moboi had six. Both cruisers lost
more than half their officers and the
losses among the men totalled 25 per
cent.
1T appeared impossible to renew the
battle or TO return to the Rurik, which
was now thirty miles to the south.
Taking advantage Of the calm, we
stopped our engines and quickly COM
menced to repair the breaches I'm our
vessels so as to enable us to proceed
10 Vladivostok.
The Casualties.
capt Berlinsky Of the Rossla was
e.