The Cairo bulletin., 1905-06-13

WAS DEMORAL|zED
Officers Had No Signals, Men
No Practice
SADLYLACKED HARMONY
BATTLE LINE WAS so POOR THAT
ONLY LEADING SHIPS OF
COLUMNS COULD FIRE
ON ENEMY.

Nladlvostok, June l1.-A series of
interviews which the correspondent of
the Associated Press has had with ma
val officers who survived the batle
of the Sea of Japan has developed
sensational ory of the causes of the
Russian disaster first of all, and the
complete decentralization VIII ch follow
ed the sinking Of the flagship Kn az
Souyaroff and the wounding of Rojest-
yensky. 1t is explained that not
single officer of the fleet knew the
commander.in-chi plans. Admirals
in command of divisions knew no
more than the gublieu.enants and had
TO rely on gnals of flagships
Admiral Nebogatoff, upon whom
command deyolved had seen Rniest-
vensky only once after juncture Of
Their squadrons and then only for flf-
teen minutes.
Had No Practice.
All stories Of extensive target prac-
tice in Madagascar 1t seems were
false. During the entire voyage thelN
practically was no training in gunnery
worthy of the name and big gun prac-
| tice was confined to three shoi per
vessel. Ugly stories are told Of hap
| penings at Madagascar. Some of the
crews certa My were unframed in gun.
merry and exhausted by the eight
months voyage under trying moral
md physical conditions, were no
match for the veteran Japanese
whose craftsmanship was wonderful
/ The Japanese concentrated their fire
on one ship until she was placed our
of action and then on another, thus
successfully sinking tAe Oslabya
Alexander III and Kniaz Seuvaroff
j Some ships developed dopiorablr
/ structural defects. The Oslabya sanl;
without having a siDg' o hole below she
water line. Heavy seas entered the
vessel above the water ne and wa er
tight compartments which were chang
ed several times during the voyage did
not stand the strain they had been
calculated TO stand and burst, flooding
and keeling the vessel over until she
turned turtle.
Lack of Ability
Lack Of homogenuity among the
ships made II inposs BILE TO maneuver
n harmony. Finally ammunit' on was
exhausted after the first days fight
Even the very morning of the battle
while buzzing wireless instruments on
| Russian ships showed Japanese
scouts were communicating his dis
post on TO Togo, Roisstvensky contin
ued his careless maneuycring ant
when the Japanese actually appeared
the Russ ans were caught In an i'm
possible formation and were attacked
on three fronts While the japanese
were training projectiles even from
machine guns on Russian ships, thu
latter were huddcd together, blanket
ling each others fire. Only the lead
ers OF the columns could bring theij
guns to bear and even on those the un
trained gunncrs fired wildly To rend
i er matters worse mines ana ffoatinl
torpedoes sown In the paths of tht
Russian div sions added to the confu
SION The BOrodin0, Admiral Max
himoff and Navarin fell victims I,
these ohstructions.
1t Is a heart-rending narrative tina
| Russia and The world should know
| The sailors and officers were not alto
Isesher 70 blame The main fault lie
| elsewhere. There were many heroel
among the Rnss ans. Captain Berkh
+" the Oslabya, committed suicide oI
her bridge az the ship sank ratbe
| than save himself There were thou
sands Of other heroes whose names
the world will never know.