The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1904-09-09
JAPANESE STORY OF THE
FIGHT IN KOREA STRAIT

Press letpatoha. from sasebo and
Tikeshlki give fuIi description pf the
recent exciting battle IN the Sea Of
Japan as follows
The kamimurn squadron received in
the afternoon Of the 10th inst the re-
port of the battle iu the YELLOW Sea Of
the same date, and Of the subsequent
dispersal of the Russian ships, some OF
which it was feared might appear I'm
the Tsushlma straits with a view to
joining the Nladivostok squadron. At
that time the Japanese squadron was
steaming In certain sea. but imme-
diately on receipt of the report, It
changed it's course and took up a posi-
tion which would enable 1t to intercept
the meeting of the Vladivostok squad
ron and the Russian fugtives from
Port Arthur
Fortunately the foggy weather which
had prevailed so perslstently i'm the
neighborhood of Tsushima suddenly
cleared up on the morning of Sunday,
the 18th. The four armored cruisers
which constituted Vice-Admiral Kami-
mura's squadron al that time, We're
proceeding southwark at a. m. the
same udN, when our squadron SlSHltu
on its port side the three armored cruis-
ers of the Vladivostok squadron, also
steaming southwark, at distance of
10000 metres. More than once on pre-
vious occasions, the Russian squadron
had been enabled to escape owing to
their superior speed, but on this occa-
sion the enemy had gone too far south
to successfully eXtricate himself from
our squadron. Moreover. it appeared
as If he had sighted us much later than
we sighted him. The spirits of our men
ran high, their Notifying experiences
in the past having made them almost
impatient. orders to prepare for action
We're signalled by our flagship, which,
shortly afterwards, displayed the fight
ing colors our warships then emerged
from the offing and pressed on the rear
of the enemy, in order TO cut off his re-
treat I'm case he should make for Nladi-
vostok. AS was expected, no sooner
did he observe us than he began TO
turn north. The flagship ROssia led the
way, the Gromoboi followed and the
Rurik formed the rear. 1t was at 500
a. m. and the distance separating the
two forces was 5000 metres. Immedi-
ately afterwards, we opened fire and
the enemy replied, the battle Increasing
in severity every moment. our squad
ron then formed the horizontal line of
the letter "T'' against the vertical line
of the Russian warships, which were
in single column formation. Our war
ships repeatedly thwarted the enemy's
advance and poured a longitudinal fire
on the enemy's vessels, almost every
shell telling on the enemy. The forma-
tion of the letter "T'' by the hostile
fleets was decidedly Improbable to the
enemy, for while in this position only
the Rossa, which led the way, could
fire, the other two being screened from
our ships by the Rossia, while all of our
vessels were able to concentrate their
fire on the ship nearest to them The
Russian squadron, therefore, changed
it's course in order to eXtricate itself
from this unfortunate position. This
time it was the Rurik which came near
est to our feet the distance now being
from 1000 to 5000 metres, and she be-
came the focus of our fire. She was
slower than the other two ships In speed
and had fallen behind. The shells that
struck her We're so numerous that she
was for a while concealed in black
smoke. Shouts of banZais echoed and
re-echoed from our warships, where the
gunners were maneuVering as if they
We're at target practice. The RoSSia
and Gromoboi, taking a circular route,
returned to succour the Rurik. BY this
operation the Russian warships again
fell into the luckless position of the "T'
formation, and We're fiercely fired on