Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1905-06-03
TERRIBLE SCENES.

don Daily Express sends a story of thu
recent naval battle told by an officer o.
the battleship BOrodino, who is now al
Sasebo. The officer says;
"Admiral Rojestvensky came on board
early in the battle and directed the fight
ing from the Bo.odino's bridge. At 8
o. clock the japanese battleships Sinks.
hima and Full opened every gun upon
US. A projectle struck the forward bar
bette, in which | had charge of ~
inch gun, and this stunned all of Us.
81 CROPPED out of the smoke-flled bar.
bette to the deck and found there rain
OF projectiles. Dozens of men were ly-
ing dead or wrun1ed at every turn.
returned to the barbette, but was only
able to fire two rounds when two pro-
ecties struck us simultaneously, wreck
ing the barbette, disabling both the r.
inch guns and killing IS officers and
men"
The officer proceeds to describe how
the Borodino nov became a veritabIe
shambles, successive shells destroying
the steering gear and ammunition hOists,
so that the shells had to be carried by
hand. Admiral Rojestvensky was wound
ed and transferred to a destroyer, and as
the destroyer left she was assailed by 4
hail Of small-arm ammunition.
at was now o'clock," the officer
continued "The Borodino had been re-
peatedly struck in the hull and was set
Ting, with no hope Of saving her.
"The Japanese had broken our battle
formation and were closing in, concern
trating their fire on our fighting tops, OF
whose crews hardly one escaped. Fire
had now broken out in several places, add
ing to the horror Of our situation, and it
was decided to withdraw from the firing
line for the purpose ofrepairing our steer
ing gear. But we wei surrounded by eight
japanese ships and bombarded on everT
side. We still fought desperately with
our after l2-nch guns and what was left
of our smaller guns and with about half
our complement Of men. But the Boro-
dino sank lower and lower. Toward
evening, after we had lost 40C men, we
noticed two japanese destroyers coming
toward us. We sank one with we'll
directed shell. The other launched
torpedo which missed US. All the
men in the engine rooms were driven on
deck by the flames. Finally japanese
torpedo hotilla bore down upon us and
an explosion caused the DorOdinO TO turn
turtle. |, with forty others, was rescued
from the sea by the japanese armored
cruiser Kasuga and was transferred to
the shore"
The Mojo Japan correspondent of
the London Daily Telegraph gives a
story told by Captain Rojinof, COM
mander of the Russian cruiser Admiral
Nakhimof, The Captain says:
1--WE chose the shortest route to
Yladiyostok, passing a certain strait.
We were unhappily enticed by the Jap
anese feet and were completely sur
rounded.
"Our position was hopeless from the
of the battle. We had, in
deed, fallen into bitter trap. 1t was
cruel, moreover, for the japanese Sc
lected the engine room of my ship as a
target. A torpedo went straight through
my vessel and we lost our fighting power
and were unable to move either way"
ave launched the boats and embark
I'd 600 of the crew, who were rescued by
Inc japanese. l,Iwith the navigating Of
icer, determined to share the fate of our
hip, which sank. We two were drawn
Underneath by the suction, whirled about |
Ind lost our breath.
1--WE forgot everything, but fortunate.
y were picked up by the japanese fisher
men. We had intended to die and float
ID about in the water, as it seemed, for
hours, watching the scene created by the
xplosion Of japanese shells"