The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1905-07-09
THE MAIN FORCE.

The enemy's van having been press
ed hard by our battleship squadron,
changed it's course slightly to the
right, and at 2:0S p. m. the enemy
first opened fire. We bore the fire for
a while, and reaching the range of
5000 metres, we concentrated a fierce
fire on the two warships which were
at the head of the enemy's lines. The
enemy seemed to be gradually pressed
towards the southeast and both their
right and left lines gradually wended
their way to the east, the enemy's fleet
in consequence being formed into an
irregular single column, and proceeding
parallel with our fleet. The Oslabya,
which had been at the head of the left
column, was soon defeated, and fell
out from the line of battle, a fire oc-
curing on board her. At this time,
the whole of our armored cruiser
squadron joined the battleship SQUAD
ron towards the rear, and the concen-
trated fire of our entire fleet increased
its efficiency in proportion to the de-
crease of the distance The enemy's
flagship kniaz Souvaroff and the I'M
perator Alexander Ill, which was
second in the line, fell off from the
line. a severe fire having broken out on
board those battleships. The confusion
in the enemy's formation became more
and more evident, and fire occurred on
board several vessels which We're
bringing up the enemy's rear. The
smoke, carried by the westerly wind,
covered the whole surface of the sea,
and combining with the fog, complete
Ily enveloped the enemy's fleet, so that
our battleship squadron was compelled
to suspend gunfire for while Our
fleet also sustained more or less dam
age. The Asama was struck by three
shells near the aft water line She had
her steering gear damaged. and also be-
gan to leak badly. She had therefore
to leave the line of battle for a while
though shortly afterwards she, having
effected provisional repairs, was able to
join the line. Such being the features
or the hghtlng between the opposing
main forces at about 2: As p M. the issue
of the day was already decided at that
time. Our main force thus pressed the
enemy to the south, and sent an inter-
mlttent fire on the enemy's We sells
whenever we observed them through
the smoke and fog. At about 8 %, m.
our force was already ahead of the
enemy's fleet, and was proceeding in a
south-easterly direction when the
enemy's vessels suddenly changed
their course to north and appeared as
( If intent on turning our rear and es-
Gaping to the north. The vessels of our
battleship squadron therefore stimuli
taneously revolved Is points to the
left, and steamed in a north-westerly
direction. the Nisshin leading our CO..
umn. The armored cruiser squadron
changed its front, after doubling in its
own track, and followed the battleshir
squadron. The enemy was thus again
pressed to the south and subjected to
calling fire. At 3:07 p. m. the enemy's
vessel Zemtchug advanced to the rear
iof our armored cruiser squadron. but
severe damage was inflicted on her hy
our gunf1re. The Oslabya which had
already been put hors de comba:, WIS
sunk at $40 p. m. The Kniaz Souvar.
loft, which had been isolated. had LOST
one mast and two tunnels in additio~
to other severe damage. and was dis
abled, the entire ship being envelopad
in smoke. The rest of thu enemy's
vessels had fallen into great confusion
and We're vending their way east
wards. sustaining severe losses. The
vessels belonging to our battleshfr
squadron therefore simultaneously re-
VOWED Is points to the right. and. fol-
lowed by the armored cruiser SQUAD
ron, holly pursued the enemy. at times
attacking their vessels with torpedoes
Thus the bombardment by our main