New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1905-05-29
THE BATTLE.

The Tribune's Interpretation of the news OF
yesterday is confirmed by the news Of to-day.
All the direct information which the Japanese
government would permit correspondents to
send out was that the main Russian fleet had
appeared in the Straits OF COrea. The some
what DeIphic reference TO Historic events"
seemed, however, to hint at something far more
than mere navigation Of the straits, and that
coupled with the obvious and great improbable
ity that the japanese would let RoJestVensky
pass the straits unscathed, or at least unchal-
lenged, persuaded us that battle for the con-
! troll of the sea had occurred or was occurring
| That such was the case to-day's news, meagre
| though it is, gives convincing proof An en-
! gagement in which six vessels of one fleet. in
Guiding one or two great battleships, were sunk
! might not be entirely decisive, but 1t would
| certainly be regarded as q serious battle.
The Identity of the six Russian ships report
| ed sunk is not disclosed, save that one report
mentions the BorodiGo the batueship and
| another expresses the belief that the Orel was
also lost The Borodlno and the Orel were, or
| are two of four identical ships, the four first
| class battleships of the Russian feet, and wor-
| thy 10 rank among the best in the world. There
| are also in that feet one second class and three
| third class battleshps. These latter four, how
| ever are almost negligible factors, and we may
reckon that the loss of the BorodinO alone would
reduce the Russian strength in first class battle
| ships somewhat below that of the japanese
| feet the latter having three ships much larger
| and heavier than the three which would be left
to Russia, and a fourth almost their equal and
the superior of any other in the Russian feet.
Another Of the six, we are told, was a repair
ship, the loss Of which may prove embarrassing
to the remainder of the Russian fleet IL it Is In
need of repairs and can get access to no harbor.
What the others were not told They
may have been cruisers or monitors, as the
coast defence vessels were called in yesterdays
dispatch. That they were transports or men,
bers Of the volunteer fleet is improbable, for
the reasons that no such vessels were mentioned
as having appeared in the straits and that ear
lier dispatches indicated that vessels of those
classes had been left behind in the neighbor-
hood of Shanghai. The presumption IS there
FORE that these four were fighting ships Of some
kind, and that the Russian fleet has thus been
weakened by the loss Of five warships and its
floating workshop.
There IS at this writing no hint concerning the
| losses sustained by the Japanese, nor even con-
corning the number class of Japanese vessels
engaged, or the character Of the action. Seeing
that the Japanese have, or had scores Of tor
pedo vessels and destroyers, and a dozen or
more submarine boats, and that the narrow seas
at Tsu Island admirably adapted to the OPP
erations of such craft, it may be that the attack
upon the Russian feet was made and the losses
were inflicted entirely by those classes Of YES
sells In that case we should expect to hear
that many of the mosquito fleet had been de-
stroyed-a price of victory which the japanese
could pay with equanimity, since to exchange
dozen torpedo boats for a single battleship
would leave a large margin Of profit on their
| side II is difficult to draw any definite con-
cluson from the fact that the japanese are still
exercising q strict censorship over all news. It
is quite conceivable that they would do that for
! q time in almost any event. If they have in
| hicted crushing blow upon Rojestvensky's
| feet at the straits, they might want to conceal
| the completeness Of their victory until they
| could rush some of their ships down TO Shang-
! hal and destroy the detachment of his feet
which was left there, before it could scuttle into
neutral waters. Indeed we are told that heavy
| firing was heard north of Shanghai yesterday,
On the other hand, if the Japanese fleet suffered
heavier losses than 1t inflicted, and the advan-
| tage remained with Rojestvensky, the Japanese
! government might want 10 suppress the news
until II could get its scattered ships into port
! and prepare to make desperate stand against
the victorious Russians. The strong probability
seems to be that the patient and wary Japanese
! have won great if not conclusive victory.
| but full judgment upon the matter must await
| further information.