The Black Hills union and western stock review. [volume] (Rapid City, S.D.) 1904-19??, 1905-06-02
FLAGSHIP Sinks QUICKLY
CAPTAIN OF CRUISER ALMAZ
DESCRIBES THE FIGHT.
TWO JAP BATTLEsAIPs SUNK
Story Told by Officers Of TWO Russian
Ships Upon Reaching V~ladlvostok.
Report Two Japanese Cruisers Dam"
aaed-Bears Scars of Battle.

Ships Upon Reaching v~ladivostok.
Report Two Japanese Cruisers Dam.
aged-Rears Scars of Battle.
Vladivostok, May 31.-Two ships
alone of Vice Admiral Rojestvensky's
powerful 1otilla, the swift cruiser
Almaz and the torpedo boat destroyer
Grozny, lie at anchor here in he curv-
ing harbor of Golden Horn, they hav-
ing separated from the fleet in the
early stage Of the battle, which began
in the Korean straits Saturday, and
headed, in obedience to orders, with
full speed to Vladivostok. No other
vessel of the Baltic fleet has yet ar
rived and the signal stations reported
none in sight. Officers Of the Almaz
and Grozny say that both fleets had
already sustained terrible losses when
h AlmaZ and Grozny broke through
h hostile line. OF the Japanese
fleet, two battleships had gone down
before their eyes and two cruisers,
their sterns high out of the water,
seemed ready to plunge foremost to
the bottom of the sea.
The Almaz bears scars of the bat.
tie. Her mizzen mast is shot away
and one of her smoke stacks Is
pierced by a cannon shot, but the
Grozny. though engaged for several
hours in a running fight at short
range with a large Japanese destroy
er, shows no signs of the fray. After
her commander, Captain Andriffski,
had been wounded and an officer and
three MEN had been killed, the Grozny
succeeded in sinking her opponent
with a lucky placed shot and reached
Vladivostok without further adven-
ture.
According to the officers of the AL
MAJ the fleet under Rojestvensky met
the japanese in the straits Of Korea,
near Tsu island, and the opposing
fleets Immediately closed in. Early
in the battle an officer of the Almaz,
while watching Rojestvensky's flag
ship, the battleship Kniaz ~Souvaroff,
for a signal, saw the flagship shudder
from stem to stern as if under a blow
from a gigantic hammer and hesitate
in her course, while the waves rose
high from her armored sides. Then
she commenced to list and sink.
The officers believe that the debut
of the submarine boat as an effective
agent in naval warfare, or perhaps q
large mine, caused the disaster to the
kniaz Souvarof. The damage, how
ever, was so extensive that the flag
ship soon went down, leaving the deck
officers and many of the crew strug-
Cling in the waves. One of the Rus
sian torpedo boats picked up a num-
Der of the swimmers. one Of whom
was recognized through a glass aa
Admiral R~ojestvensky.
Under a gruelling attack by the Jap
anesc warships, aided by torpedo
boats, mines and submarines, the
Borodino, Osslyabia and Orel were
placed out of action and followed the
flagship to the bottom. The fog, which
had raised and lowered Intermittent
~ during the morning, began to set
tie down again and the distance of
the Almaz, which had now succeeded
in disengaging herself from the strug-
Cling ships. made 1t difficult for her
to see clearly. but the officers are pos
tive that they saw two Japanese bat
tleships disappear beneath the sea
before their eyes and that two Japa-
nese cruisers appeared on the point
e;nEjnu