The Tsar's Last Armada
It took the Russians nine months to sail their navy 18,000 miles from  the Baltic Sea around the horn of Africa and to the Sea of Japan in 1905, where  their Japanese enemies wiped them out in just a few hours at the Battle of  Tsushima. The Japanese triumph and Russian disaster, "largely forgotten in the  West," according to Constantine Pleshakov, marked a vital turning point in world  history. Not only did it inaugurate a new era of naval technology, but it also  announced Japan's ascent as a global force (which would culminate during the  Second World War) and Russia's collapse into "the dark tsardom of Bolshevism."  Pleshakov ranks the battle alongside other classic naval engagements, such as  Lepanto, Trafalgar, Jutland, and Midway. Yet the bulk ofThe Tsar's Last  Armadafocuses on the Russians' long journey to doom, led by the  "frightfully imposing" and "savage" admiral Zinovy Petrovich Rozhestvensky.  Pleshakov has a good eye for little details. As the fleet approached the  tropics, he reports, the humidity became so bad that the crew's "towels and  underwear would not dry." The Battle of Tsushima receives full coverage at the  end of the book, but Pleshakov's engaging account of what preceded it is what  readers will find most memorable.--John Miller--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.