Russo-Japanese Naval War 1905: Volume 2

By Piotr Olender

Book describes technical aspects of the Russo-Japanese Naval War. Contains descriptions of all involved ships, Russian and Japanese ones. Maps, photos.

• Language: English
• Publisher: MMPBooks
• Release date: Dec 28, 2010
• ISBN: 9788361421627

Book preview

Romanization used in the book.

BGN/PCGN romanization system for Russian is a method for romanization of Cyrillic Russian texts, that is, their transliteration into the Latin alphabet as used in the English language. It is used by the Oxford University Press. Romanization of the Russian ships’ names were published in vol. I.

Russian names used in the book.

Published in Poland in 2010

by STRATUS s.c.

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27-600 Sandomierz 1, Poland

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for

Mushroom Model Publications,

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© 2010 Mushroom Model Publications.

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All rights reserved. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Design and Patents Act, 1988, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, electrical, chemical, mechanical, optical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission. All enquiries should be addressed to the publisher.

ISBN

978-83-61421-02-3

eISBN: 9788361421627

Editor in chief

Roger Wallsgrove

Editorial Team

Bartłomiej Belcarz

Robert Pęczkowski

Artur Juszczak

Matthew Willis

Scale plans

Robert Panek

Maps concept

Piotr Olender

Maps drawing

Robert Panek

Cover

© Grzegorz Nawrocki

Japanese Battleship Mikasa in the battle of the Yellow Sea

Translation

Jacek Grochowski

Kazimierz Zygadło

Proofreading

Roger Wallsgrove

DTP

Artur Bukowski

Bartłomiej Belcarz

Printed by

Drukarnia Diecezjalna,

ul. Żeromskiego 4,

27-600 Sandomierz

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fax [phone]

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PRINTED IN POLAND

| Table of contents

| VLADIVOSTOK

30 | The first raids by Vladivostok cruisers

Cruiser Rossiya.

The main task of the Vladivostok-based first squadron of cruisers was to attack Japanese vessels, distracting the stronger Japanese forces from their operations at Port Arthur, thus maintaining a favourable proportion of strength in that area. As a result, immediately on receiving information about the outbreak of war, Commander Reytsenshteyn gave his warships the order to leave harbour, and on the morning of 9th February the cruisers Rossiya, Gromoboy, Ryurik, and Bogatyr’ set out for the coast of Honshu island. On reaching their destination on 11th February, the warships encountered and sank a Japanese ship, Naganoura Maru (1084 BRT), and then turned towards the northern coast of Korea. Stormy weather finally made the Russian commander abort the operation and on 14th February the Russians returned to Vladivostok¹.

Reytsenshteyn’s squadron spent only 10 days in harbour, the time necessary to restock coal and carry out essential repairs. On 24th February the cruisers Rossiya, Gromoboy, Ryurik and Bogatyr’ set out to sea again, this time bound for the Korean port of Gensan, controlled by the Japanese. The Russian cruisers reached their destination on the morning of 26th February, but despite cruising in the area until the evening of 28th February, encountered no enemy ships. Further searches were interrupted by a heavy storm on the night of 28th/29th February, which made the Russian cruisers turn back to Vladivostok, where they arrived on 1st March²

Cruiser Ryurik. The photo was taken at Port Arthur a couple of months before the beginning of the war.

31 | The bombardment of Vladivostok by Vice Admiral Kamimura’s squadron on 6th March, 1904

Cruiser Adzuma.

Both raids by the Vladivostok cruisers, though not entirely successful, disturbed the Japanese Command, particularly regarding the safety of the port of Gensan on the eastern coast of Korea³. After relocating the twelfth division to Korea, further transports of the second division and the guards’ division were awaiting the order to set out, and their escort constituted the most important task for the fleet now. Therefore, Vice-Admiral Togo received new orders, placing Vice Admiral Kataoka’s III Squadron under his direct command. In return, Vice Admiral Kamimura’s II Division was formed (Idzumo, Yakumo, Asama, Adzuma and Iwate, backed up by cruisers Kasagi and Yoshin, which were replaced in the III Division by the armoured cruiser Tokiwa) to carry out a direct assault on Vladivostok. This was to distract the Russians from the transport of troops on their way to Korea, which the Japanese were unable to cover fully⁴.

On 2nd March, Kamimura’s detachment left the roadstead of Mokpho and four days later reached the area of Askol’d Island. From here they set out to the entrance of Vladivostok port. After entering Ussurian Bay, Kamimura left the cruisers Kasagi and Yoshino at its entrance, whilst approaching the coast with the other five armoured cruisers. The ice layer on the bay (up to 45 cm thick) made it impossible for the Japanese warships to get any closer to the shore than 45-50 cables, so they began shelling from that distance between 13.53 and 14.20 (Japanese time), firing a total of 200 203152 mm shells. Given the great distance from which the shelling was carried out, not a single Japanese shell reached the western part of the port, where the Russians ships were anchored. Several buildings on the shore were damaged, one civilian killed, and five more wounded⁵.

After the shelling of Vladivostok, the armoured cruisers joined Kasagi and Yoshino, and together set out into the open sea. They returned to Vladivostok on 7th March, but this time Kamimura decided not to attack, and after performing several manoeuvres gave the order to sail to the coast of Korea. On 9th March, the Japanese force reached Gensan, and after a short stay there set out for Sasebo. On 16th March, they finally joined the main forces in Korean waters.

Cruiser Kasagi.

32| The third raid of Russian cruisers and the sinking of the transport Kinshu Maru

After taking over command of the First Pacific Fleet, Vice Admiral Makarov slightly modified the tasks of the Vladivostok squadron, placing a special emphasis on intercepting transports sailing from Japan to Gensan.

At the same time, the commander of the cruiser squadron, Reytsenshteyn, was called back to Port Arthur. He was replaced by Rear Admiral K.P. Iessen⁶, who was recommended by Makarov himself. The new commander needed some time to get acquainted with his squadron. Therefore, the cruisers of the Vladivostok squadron left port only on 23rd April. Their destination was Gensan.

Meanwhile, after Petropavlovsk’s sinking and Makarov’s death, along with the damage to the battleship Pobeda, the range of the Port Arthur fleet’s operations was seriously limited. Due to this, and taking into consideration the fact that transfer of the troops of the II Army to Manchuria was still in progress, Vice Admiral Togo decided to detach Vice Admiral Kamimura’s II Squadron and send it against the Vladivostok cruisers, to obstruct their potential attacks on Japanese units