The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1905-06-13
Sailors Not Responsible
For Defeat.
WAS HEART RENDING
There Were Heroes Among The Rus
siOns. Not One Officer OF the Fleet
Knew the Plans OF the
Commander in
Chief.
Chief.
(By the Associated PICS. }

Vladivostock, June IA series of
interviews which the correspondent of
the Associated Press had had with
naval officers who survived the battle
of the sea of Japan, has developed a
most sensational story of the causes OF
the Russian disaster first of all, ana
the complete decentralization which
followed the sinking of the flagship
Kniaz Souvaroff and the wounding of
Admiral Rojestvensky. 1t is explained
that not a single officer of the fleet
knew the commander-in-chief plans
The admirals in command of divisions
knew no more than the Sub-lieuten-
ants and had to rely on the signals of
the flagship. Admiral Nebogatom, on
whom the command devolved. had
seen Rojestvensky only once after the
juncture of their squadrons, and then
only for fifteen minutes.
All the stories of extensive target
practice in Madagascar it seems We're
false. During the entire voyage there
practically was no training in gunnery
worthy of the name, and the big gun
practice was confined to three shots
per vessel. Ugly stories are told of the
happenings at Madagascar Some pf
the crews certainly were untraineM in
gunnery and exhausted by the eight
months voyage under trying moral
and physical conditions, were no
match for the veteran japanese whose
craftsmanship was wonderful The
Japanese concentrated their fire on
one ship until she was placed out of
action, and then on another, thus suo-
| cessiVely sinking the Oslabia, Aiexan-
J der and Kniaz Sonvaroff. Some ships
developed deplorable structural de-
| fects The Oslabia sank without hav-
| ing a single hole below the water line.
! Heavy seas entered the vessel above
the water line and the water-tght
compartments, which were changed
several times during the voyage, did
not stand the strain they had been
| calculated to stand, and burst, flooding
and heellng the vessel over until she
turned turtle.
Lack OF homogeinity among the
ships made 1t impossible to manoeuvre
| in harmony.
The Vladimir Monomach. Admiral
Oushakoff and Admiral Seniavin had
to lag behind on this account, beeom-
ing easy victims.
Finally the ammunition was eX-
hausted after the first days fight.
Even the very morning of the bat
tie, while the buzZing Of the wireless
instruments OF the Russian ships
showed that the Japanese scouts We're
coming, Admiral RoJestvensky con-
tinued his careless manoeuvering, and
when the Japanese actually appeared
the Russians were caught in an impos
sible formation and were attacked on
three fronts. RoJestvensky's position
was cramped, and his transports were
badly placed and caused confusion.
While the japanese were training pro-
jectiles. even from machine guns, on
the Russian ships the latter were hud-
Ged together blanketing each others
fire. only the leaders Of the columns
could bring their guns to bear, and
those the unframed gunners fired
wildly. To render matters worse the
mines and floating torpedoes sown i'm
the paths of the Russian divisions
added to the confusion. The Boro-
dino, Admiral Nakahimoff and Navarin
fell victims to these distractions.
Tt is a heart-rending narrative THAI
Russia and the world should know.
The sailors and officers were no5 alto
gether to blame. The main fault lies
elsewhere There were many heroes
among the Russians. Captain Berkh,
of the Oslabya, climbed on his bridge
and sank rather than save himself.
There were thousands OF other heroes
whose names the world will never
know.