The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1905-07-11

a sian battleship Kniaz Souvaroff and the
repairing ship Kamtchatka lying dis.
abled. The cruiser squadron and Togo
detachment Immediately attacked them
and the Kamtchatka was sent to the
bottom at 7:10 p. IN. The Fujimotc
destroyer flotilla, attached to the
cruiser squadron, then attacked the
XMAS Souvaroff. The latter resisted tc
the last, firing a small gun at the
stern, but she was twice torpedoed and
eventually sank at 7:2O p. m. On the
accomplishment of this task, these de-
tachments and the cruiser squadron re-
ceived a wireless message ordering them
to assemble at Ullondo, and therefore
all the vessels steamed away in a
north-easterly direction.
TORPEDO FLoTILLA's WORK.
The night attack of the 9th was
fiercely and gallantly commenced by
all our destroyers and torpedo boat
flotilas Immediately on the conclusion
of the engagement in the daytime.
From the morning on this day. a
strong south-westerly gale prevailed,
causing heavy waves. Observing that
the management of small vessels was
rendered extremely difficult, all the
torpedo-boat flotillas under my direct
command were ordered to take refuge
in Miura Bay prior to the opening of
the engagement in the daytime. To-
ward evening, however, the wind con-
siderably abated. but the sea still ran
high, and our torpedoers operating in
the sea were placed at no small disad-
vantage. But all the destroyer and tor
pedo-boat flotillas, anxious not to al
low this rare opportunity to slip by
assembled before sunset in spite of the
wind and waves They WED with each
other in attacking the enemy. The
Fujimoto destroyer fiotilla pressed hard
on the enemy's van from northern
direction. the YAKIMA destroyer fotilla
and Kawase torpedo-boat flotilla from
a north-easterly direction, while the
Yoshijima destroyer flotilla attacked
the enemy's rear from an eastern d.
rection, and the Hirose (Juntaro)
destroyer fiotilla from a south-easter-
ly direction. The torpedo boat fotil-
las under Fukuda (Masateru), Otaki,
Kondo (Tsunematsu), Aoyama and
Kawada. pursued from a southern di-
rection the enemy's main squadron as
well as group of cruisers proceeding
payallel to the left rear of the main
squadron on the enemy's side. AT sun
set. we gradually disposed our squad
rons in order to envelope the enemy
from three sides. Apparently giving
way to the danger thus threatening
them the enemy. after sunset, fed in
confusion to the southwest and then
appeared to change their course to the
east On the delivery of the first at
tack by the YAKIMA destroyer fiotilla on
the enemy's head at S:15 p. M, all the
destroyer and torpedo boat fiotillas
rushed onward simultaneously and
swarmed around the enemy, whom they
fiercely attacked at close range until II
p. m. From sunset the enemy defended
themselves to the utmost by gunfire
and searchlights. but finally gave way
to our attack. The enemy's ships lost
sight of each other, and separately
sought to escape, but We're pursued by
our attackers. A terrible melee en-
sued, resulting at least in the complete
loss of the fighting and navigating ca
pacity of the enemy's battleship Sissoi
Veliky, armored cruisers Admiral Max
himoff and Monomach, all of which
were torpedoed. On our side. the tor
pedo boat No. SO Commanding boat of
the Fukuda torpedo-boat fiotilla, tor
pedo boat No. "a Commanding boaD of
the Aoyama torpedo-boat flotila, and
torpedo boat No. 80 of the Kawada tor
pedo- boat fiotilla, were sunk by the
enemy's gunfire while delivering the
night attack. The destroyers Haru-
same, Akatsuki Ikazuchi, and Yugiri,
and torpedo boats Sagi, No. 6S. and No.
33 sustained some damage due to the
enemy's gunfire or through collision,
and for while We're prevented from
participating in the operations. The
casualties were comparatively large, es-
pecially in the Fulkuda, Aoyama, and
Kawada torpedo-boat flotillas. But
the crews of the three sunlen torpedo
boats were saved by their fellow boats
Karigane, No. 81, and No. 81, and
others.
According to the statement since
made by the prisoners of war, the
severity OF the torpedo attack on that
night was almost beyond description.
Our destroyers and boats advanced in
such quick succession to the attack
that the enemy had no time to prepare
for defense. and the distance between
the attackers and defenders was so
short that our boats entered within the
dead angle of the enemy's guns, which
therefore could not be laid on our ves-
sells.
In addition to the above, the Suzuki
(Kantaro) destroyer fiotila and the tor
pedo-boat flotillas rot mentioned above,
searched for the enemy in other drec-
tions. On the 2Sth at a. m. the Suzu-
ki destroyer flotilla discovered two Of
the enemy's vessels steaming north
wards at a point "a nautical miles
northeast by east of Karasaki, and at
once torpedoed them, sinking one. Ac-
cording to the statement of the prison.
ers, this vessel was the battleship Nav
arin, which received two consecutive
hits from torpedoes on each side of the
hull. Other aotillas searched for the
enemy in every direction throughout
the night, but failed to discover any
of the enemy's vessels.
OPERATIONS ON 2sTH.