Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-01-04

OIUVC q ThInrHAs
804-806-808 F Street n. W.
| ja4-3t
! feet made in her side. The plates
seemed if pushed in to point of rup-
| ture The shock caused about fifty cart
| ridges in the twelve-pounder magazine To
| explode. Considerable water entered the
| ship. but the bulkheads held well and the
watertight doors We're in good condition.
| She listed about five degrees and anchored
| in the inner basin for three or four days
| until she could enter the dock Repairs
| We're completed about March o.
| The failure of the Japanese fleet to fot-
| low up their advantage and strike the Rus
| slams when they were in confusion was a
| subject of comment among the naval pro-
| fessonal circles throughout the world The
| only explanation ever offered unofficial,
| through the japanese newspapers. that Adj
riral Togo thought 1t unwise to take any
risks. because if his fleet had been disabled
the entire coast of Japan would have been
exposed to the enemy.
During the summer nearly all OF the
fighting was done by the torpedo boats with
very little damage to the enemy. On June
q: the Russian fleet came out of the ha"nor.
and Admiral Togo sent his torpedo fotiilas
against it. There were not less than ten
direct attacks, but all the damage was
suffered by the torpedo boats themselves.
At dawn July the Russians again
came out with numerous vessels at theIr
head to clear away the mines. The Japa-
nese destroyer notillas fought them until
about pm. when the Russians Withdrew
inside the port, without any damage on
either side. The main Japanese fleet took
no part in either of these engagements.
The Battle of August 10.
On August 10 occurred what ought 10
have been the final and finishing battle of
the campaign: but again the japanese. al
though considerably stronger in ships ald
guns. failed to take advantage of their op-
portunties An American naval expert
tells the story in this way:
AT dawn August 10 the Russian
squadron began leaving Port Arthur. but
was not entirely free of the port until y
q m. 1t consisted of six battle ships. fouf
cruisers and eight destroyers, including The
following:
Czarevtch battle ship. .1@1I0
Retvizan. battle ship. ........--.-.-.., -ia,0.i
Pobe,a. battle ship. l..n.t
Peresviet. battle ship ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS shif
Sevastopol. battle ship. ..............,....l "Ho
Politava. battle ship. .ln91o
Diana. cruiser. ho'r'
paada. cuDtser. 800
Noyik cruiser ......................... 5000
ION the day previous to this sortie the
RetviZan was hit five times by shells from
an eight-inch gun which the japanese had
brought into operation on shofe' one Sheh
going through the decks and bursting on
the protected deck at the lower edge of the
armor, opening seams in her side ana nil
ing two of the smaller compartments with
water On the same day the Peresviet WAS
struck three times. but was not severely
damaged.
"Outsde the harbor the Japanese torpedo
fiotilas steamed ahead of the Russian col
umn at a safe distance. floating mines
which greatly interfered with its maneuvor-
ing. About noon the engagement began in
the vicinity of Round Island, thirty miles
east of Port Arthur. 1t lasted forty min
utes At l p. m. the Russian fleet had fought
its way through the japanese line and
headed for the Shang-tung peninsula on its
way to the open sea The Japanese fleet
continued to be reinforced until it consisted
of first squadron of five battle ships.
second squadron of one armored and three
protected cruisers, a third squadron of one
armored cruiser and four protected cruisers
and an old battle ship. also a fiotilla of
thirty torpedo boat destroyers.
THE Japanese gradually overhauled the
Russians AT pm. second engagement
began, and continued until sunset, when the
Russian fleet scattered in disorder, pursued
by the japanese. but managed to escape
capture or serious damage. After dark the
japanese torpedo vessels attacked the
Russians without injuring them. Before
noon of August II there had returned sep
arately to Port Arthur the following battle
ships: RetviZan. Pobieda. Poltava, Peres-
Wet and Sevastopol, and the protected
cruiser Pallada.
''Of the other vessels, the Czarevitch and
three destroyers went into Kiao-chou bay;
the Askold and one destroyer to Shanghai.
The Novik went into Kiao-chou, but sailed
again for Vladivostok. She was finally
caught and destroyed by japanese cruisers
on August 21 off korsakoff. One DESTROYER
went to Chefoo and was seized by the Jap
aneSe; one went ashore near Wei-hai-wei,
and one was last near Jig-wei Island
on the Korean coast The Diana escaped
to Saigon. None of the Japanese vessels
appeared to have been so much injured as To
have been put out of the fighting line but
nothing is known of the damage sustained
by them.
Escape of the Czarevitch.
"The night after the battle the Care
witch, very much battered and bruised al
though far from hors de combat. was at
tackled five and probably eight times by
Japanese torpedo, boats. but repealed them
without suffering further damage At this
time she was steaming about four knots
an hour with her hand steering gear Her
admiral, the chief of staff, and the navi-
gator had all been killed. with many others,
hence her personnel must have been much
demoralzed. When she reached Tsing-tau
it was found that the only damage she had
suffered lay in her foremost and her steer
ing gear. The latter was quickly repaired.
None of her guns was disabled. and her
armor showed only five hits, none of them
serious. The Germans urged her officers
to put her in order and go out for a fight
the next day, but the Russians seemed
perfectly satisfied to tie up out of danger
in neutral port.
la Flotte. "a French newspaper. reports
that the Diana. which escaped to Saigon.
repealed a torpedo boat attack off Kaio-
chou. After nightfall, on the 10th, the
Japanese destroyer Umrakumo attacked
a vessel of the Pallada type, and discharged
a torpedo at distance of 400 yards, but
missed its target The Russian destroyer
BURN was chased ashore the next morning
in Yung-ching bay. and was abandoned and
blown up by her crew..
This Is a short story of the Japanese
operations before Port Arthur. from the
point of view of American experts, whose
almost unanimous verdict Is that the
strategy has been a series of mistakes
the craftsmanship poor and the tor
pedoes ineffective. The Russians. however.
have done practically nothing except sink
defenseless transports. The Russian gun
practice, both from the feet and the forti-
fications on shore. has been very bad.