The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1904-04-18
ALEXIEFF BLOCKED
MAKAROFF'S PLAN.
Vice Admiral's Scheme for Small
Warships Defeated by
Viceroy.
Special Gable Di.patoh-copyrisht, 1904.

Special Gable Dispatch--Copyright 1904.
! ST. Petersburg, April 1S.-A retired
Russian officer says:
BY the manner Of his death Admiral
| Stephan Osipovich Makarof helped
to prove the truth of his pet profess
sional theory.
He was probably the only great
admiral of modern times irreconcil-
ably opposed to great battleships and
heavily armored cruisers.
He could regard them in hardly
any other light than as targets for
| torpedoes.
| The battleship was always his pet
aversion, and it was on battleship
| that he met his death by just such an
accident as he had constantly argued
was likely to happen.
What good are these swollen
worms? Their bodies are large, but
they cannot move, and a few ants will
destroy Them"
These words. according to a Rus
sian naval officer, were used by Ma
karoff in denunciation Of the scheme
to build the Gromoboi, the Retvisan,
the Borodino, and other huge vessels
at the time of Russia's great naval
expansion a few years ago. He want
ed the money to be spent instead for
light cruisers, destroyers, submarines
and such-like craft.
His chief opponent was Admiral
ship with a fervor that is almost ia
natical. Their great fight over this
question convulsed Russian naval cir
cles for years.
Cars Complete Confidence.
They were the most powerful and
influential of the Russian admirals,
and both had the cars complete
confidence.
They fought the battle step by step,
from the navy department thru the
committee Of ministers and the coun-
ell of state, right up to the car him
SELF
Evidently Alexieff won, for he was
supported by nearly all the admirals
and naval experts, while Makaroff's
views were regarded as revolutionary
by his own profession.
Almost his only disciple was Adj
miral Skhydloff, the present command
er Of the Black Sea fleet, who served
under him as a sub-lieutenant in his
brilliant torpedo campaign against the
Turks, and had thus learned the vul-
nerability Of ironclads.
Makaroff and Alexieff were always
at daggers drawn from the time they
both became prominent in Russian af-
fairs. They differed strongly in their
Ideas on imperial policy, as well as in
their naval theories. ~
Alexieff stands above all else, for
the outstanding Of Manchuria;
Makaroff always contended that the
conquest and retention Of Manchuria
were blunders of the first magnitude.
Opposed to Present War.
Like Russia's oldest and greatest
general, Dragomiroff, he was opposed,
from first to last, to the aggressive
policy which led to the war with ia
pan.
When his opinion was invited by the
car, he urged that Russia was not
ready to run the risk of war in the
far east, and he did not hesitate to ex-
press that opinion so freely and open
ly that it became common talk in st.
Petersburg.
When Makaroff heard that Alexieff
had been appointed viceroy of the far
east and given practically sovereign
power, he exclaimed angrily:
THAT ignoramus! That blunderer!
He Is sure to make a mess of it, He
Is sure to make some colossal mis-
take!"
No officer of the Russian navy, not
even the world-famous AleXieff him
self, enjoyed higher repute than Ad-
miral Makaroff, not only in his own
service, but also among his profess
sional brethren in all the fleets Of the
world.
Father of Torpedo Warfare.
He was generally regarded as the
father Of torpedo warfare, and it's
greatest exponent.
His international reputation was,
however, based mainly upon his nu-
merous inventions for warships. 1t is
said that no fewer than forty-two of
them, of greater or less Importance,
are now in use in the Russian navy.
They range from ice-breakers and big
guns to improved mess tins for the
tackles on the lower deck, in whose
welfare the great admiral always took
the keenest interest.
1t IS not generally known that Max
aroff was an old comrade and warm
friend of General Kuropatkin, the
commander of the Russian armies in
the far east.
| Always keen for active service, he
obtained leave of absence from the
navy department in 1881, went to
| central Asia, and joined Kuropatkin's
Turkestan troops as volunteer for
the campaign against the Merv Tekke
TurcOmans.
Took Part in Famous March.
He took part in the famous march
of Kuropatkin's army across a water
less desert for twenty-six days to join
| Skobeleff in the siege of the Turcoman
fortress of Cock Tepe.
He was in the thick of the fierce
| fighting at that place, day and night,
| for month. and was one of the first
| men to climb thru the breach when
the fortress was finally carried by
| storm.
His bravery was recognized by
special mention in dispatches on sew
eral occasions, and at the end of the
! campaign he was presented with a
gold sword Of honor by the car. He
would have been given the Cross of
st. George-the highest Russian re-
ward of valor--if he had not already
won it in the Russo-Turkish war. In
later years he became very intimate
with General Kuropatkin in st.
Petersburg, and they were regarded
as the David and Jonathan of jeal-