The San Francisco call., 1905-04-09
oUTWTTs THE JAPANESE.
RojestvenslSy's Strategy Throws Ad-
miraI Togo OF the Track.

RojestvenslSy's Strategy Throws Ad-
miraI Togo on the Track.
ST. PETERSBURG, April 9, $3.50 a.
m.-There was great rejoicing last
night at the Admiralty and Yacht and
other naval clubs over Vice Admiral
Rojestvensky having successfully nav
| igated the gateway of the China Sea
without encountering the Japanese.
The danger of the fleet being beset by
the WarShips Of the deep in the narrow
waters which divide the breastworks
of islands of the Malay Archipelago
I and the possible damage to the big
ships before the encounter with Vice
Admiral Togo's fleet was so great that
some Of the naval experts actually IA
vored route around Australia.
The credit for the strategy by which
the feat was accomplished belongs
solely to Vice Admiral Rojestvensky,
who accurately judged that, as the Ma
lay Straits are the most practicable, as
well as the most direct route, the Jap
anese would calculate that he would
not dare to force a passage there.
Besides this, Rojestvensky planned a
strategem to deceive the Japanese, with
the secret Of which only two men in
st. Petersburg were intrusted, by di-
recting the Russian Admiralty to or
der the colliers which were to follow
him to rendezvous in Sunda Straits,
500 miles south of Singapore, feeling
sure that the Japanese Intelligence De-
partment would be equal, as it prob
ably was, to the task of ascertaining
the destination of Rojestvensky and
thereby not only threw the Japanese
off the scent, but officially deceived his
own Admiralty, where the news of the
fleet having passed Singapore created
! quite as much surprise as it did in the
Marine Department at Toxic. Several
colliers were actually dispatched for
the rendezvous and may have already
fallen into the hands of the japanese,
but RojeStvensky deliberately sacrificed
them as pawns in a bigger game.
The ruse worked, apparently, and Ro-
jestvensky did not meet a single Japa-
nese ship in the Straits of Malacca,
while dispatches from Batavia tell of
Sunda, Bali, Lonbok, Flores and other
straits to the southwark being crowded
with Japanese torpedo-boats guarding
the passages.
Although there is some talk Of a DOS
sibihty of Vice Admiral Rojestvensky
now putting in at Saigon, Cochin China,
it is now believed that no further ad-
vantage of French neutrality will be
taken unless he is forced to do so be-
| cause of the condition of some of his
ships.
1AC <AOAiIdilg pOluCS OUT the great
| Importance and the advantage to be
gained by pushing on with all possible
speed and meeting Vice Admiral Togo's
heavy ships before he can effect a COM
plete concentration of his scattered
cruisers, scouts and torpedo-boats. The
/ belief Of the Admiralty is that Togo is
waiting near the island of Formosa,
1900 miles northward of Singapore.
At the rate the Russian squadron
steamed from MAZDA gascar, which aver
aged eight knots an hour, the greatest
naval battle since Nelson's victory at
! Trafalgar should occur in about ten
/ days. The Admiralty realizes that
/ Rojestvensky faces great odds, owing
/ to the immense superiority of the JAP
! anese in cruisers and torpedo boats,
/ ard reliance in his success is based
upon the seven battleships with which
/ he can oppose Togo's four.
1t is thought unlikely that the vlad-
ivostok squadron will attempt a juno
ture with the Baltic feet, though 1t is
quite possible it may make a diversion,
undeterred by the fate of the Rossia
at the time of the egress of the Port
Arthur fleet last August.