ATTACK ON VLADIVOSTOK
The next incident of note was the attack on Vladivostok, which, again, was barren of results, as the Russians did not attempt to reply.
The official report of the attack on Vladivostok, from Admiral Kamimura, commanding the second squadron, is as follows:—
As prearranged, the squadron reached the eastern entrance of Vladivostok on the morning of March 6, after passing through the frozen sea. The enemy’s ships were not seen in the outside harbour, and the Japanese vessels approached the batteries on the north-east coast from a point beyond the range of the batteries of the Balzan Promontory and the Bosphorous Strait.
After bombarding the inner harbour for forty minutes from ten minutes to two, the Japanese squadron retired. It is believed that the bombardment effected considerable damage. Soldiers were seen on land, but the Russian batteries did not reply to the Japanese fire.
Black smoke was observed in the eastern entrance about five in the afternoon, and was thought to be from the enemy’s ships, but the smoke gradually disappeared. On the morning of the 7th inst. the Japanese squadron reconnoitred America Bay and Strelok Bay, but nothing unusual was seen. The warships again approached the eastern entrance of Vladivostok at noon, but the enemy’s ships were not visible, and the batteries did not fire.
The squadron then turned towards Possiet Bay, but seeing nothing of the enemy, retired.
The next operations were more exciting, being officially reported as follows:—
An attack on Port Arthur took place on March 10th, as previously planned.
Our destroyers were formed into two separate flotillas. Both of them reached the outside of the harbour at midnight on the 9th and reconnoitred, but no enemy was seen. At dawn the second flotilla laid special mechanical mines in many places, and succeeded in the task, notwithstanding the intermittent fires from the enemy’s forts.
At half-past four a.m. the first flotilla encountered six Russian destroyers at the south of Liaotishan, and a hot action took place for twenty minutes. In its course three of our destroyers—Asashio, Kasumi, and Akatsuki—fought very closely against the enemy’s destroyers, almost touching each other, and delivered a hot fire.
The enemy’s destroyers were severely injured, either being damaged in engines or suffering from the outbreak of fire, and fled away in great confusion. Our ships also sustained some damage. Casualties on our side are seven petty officers killed and nine men wounded.
The Akatsuki’s auxiliary steampipe was destroyed, but all the destroyers of the first flotilla have no difficulty for further fighting or navigation.
The second flotilla, when it was leaving the outside of the harbour at 7 a.m., found two Russian destroyers just coming back into the harbour, and attacked them, intercepting their return course. One of the two escaped, but the other—namely, the Steregutchy—was destroyed and captured by our destroyer Sazanami, which tried to tow it back. However, the leakage was great and the sea very rough, and the towing-rope was broken. Therefore, after the prisoners, four in all, were taken up, the captured ship was left, and she sank at ten minutes past ten a.m.
The damage in the second flotilla is insignificant. Casualties: Two men killed and one officer and three men wounded.
Although the Novik and Bayan came out from the harbour towards the second flotilla, they soon retired into the harbour upon seeing that our cruisers were approaching.
As to the movements of our main squadron and the cruiser squadron, they arrived off Port Arthur at eight a.m. The cruiser squadron at once proceeded towards the front of the mouth of the harbour and supported our destroyer flotilla, as above stated.
The main squadron also approached Liaotishan, from ten a.m. until twenty minutes to two p.m., and made an indirect bombardment against the harbour. The enemy’s forts intermittently returned the fire, but no damage was inflicted upon our ships. A detached squadron of cruisers went to Dalny, and destroyed the enemy’s buildings on the San Shan Islands.
The Takasago and Chihaya scouted the western coast of the entrance of Port Arthur, but no enemy was seen.
A Russian destroyer, which had been sunk in Pigeon Bay in the last battle, is found to be the Vnushitelni, of which now the upper parts of the masts and funnels are seen on the surface. All our ships discontinued the battle at two p.m., and retired.
Subsequently an attempt was made to block Port Arthur harbour with sunken ships. It was also hoped to destroy the Retvizan by exploding ships near her, but the attack was completely foiled by the defence.
There was a second bottling expedition of March 27th, which again failed. It led to the death of a valuable officer, Commander Hirose. The official report ran as follows:—
The united squadron again left for Port Arthur on Saturday.
On Sunday morning at half-past three it commenced blockading the harbour entrance. The four steamers to be sunk, escorted by a flotilla of destroyers, advanced to the entrance, facing the enemy’s searchlights.
At about two miles from the entrance they were discovered by the enemy, and exposed to fire from the fortress on either shore, and also from the enemy’s ships on guard.
Braving these dangers, the four steamers ran into the waterway at the mouth of the harbour. The Chiyo-maru anchored at about half a chain from the shore, to the west of Golden Hill, and blew up. The Fukui-maru, passing to the left of Chiyo-maru, advanced a short distance, and was about to anchor, when she was struck by a torpedo from the enemy’s destroyers, and sank. The Yahiko-maru went to the left of the Fukui-maru, and blew up herself.
The Yoneyama-maru reached the harbour entrance, and colliding against the stern of an enemy’s destroyer, managed to reach the middle passage by passing between the Chiyo-maru and Fukui-maru. Just at that moment an enemy’s torpedo struck and sunk her. The momentum brought her forward to the left shore, and with her bows towards the left side sank sideways.
To have accomplished the work so far under such great disadvantages and dangers must be considered a success and command admiration. It is regrettable, however, that, owing to some space being still left between the Yahiko-maru and Yoneyama-maru, a complete blocking has not been effected.
Those who were engaged in this work are those who had been engaged in the same work before. It was by their special request that only the petty officers and crews were supplanted by new men.
The casualties were as follows:—Commander Hirose and three petty officers killed; Lieut. Shimada mortally wounded; Lieut. Masuki, Engineer Kura, and six petty officers and men slightly wounded. All the rest of the crews were safely picked up by our destroyers.
Commander Hirose and Boatswain Sugino, who were killed, displayed admirable courage. Sugino was just going down to light the magazine on the Fukui-maru, when the ship was struck by the enemy’s torpedo, killing him. Commander Hirose, after causing his men to take to the boats, and not finding Sugino, searched through the ship three times. Finding his ship gradually going down, he was compelled to leave her and enter the boat. As the boat was rowing away under the enemy’s fire, a shell struck him on the head, and the greater part of his body was blown away, the only remaining part of this brave officer’s body being a piece of flesh in the boat.
Commander Hirose was always a model officer, and he leaves a meritorious example and memory which will be everlasting.
For the protection of the steamers and the rescue of their crews, all our flotilla of destroyers did their utmost, in the face of the enemy’s severe cannonade. Above all, the destroyers Kotaka and Tsubame penetrated to within a mile of the harbour entrance, where they encountered and engaged an enemy’s destroyer, to which they did considerable damage. The Russian destroyer seemed to have had her boiler hit, and sent up a volume of steam, and retreated.
As the officers and men were leaving the harbour after their work was done, they observed one of the enemy’s ships below Golden Hill. She seemed completely disabled.
In spite of the enemy’s very hot fire, to which our flotilla was exposed until dawn, no damage whatever was sustained.
The crews on board the Chiyo-maru and Yahi-maru were taken on board the destroyer Tsubame. The crew of the Yoneyama-maru escaped in three boats, and were rescued by the destroyers Misasagi and Karigane. The crew of the Fukui-maru was taken on board the Kasumi.
The following torpedo boats and destroyers took part in the engagement:—
Destroyers.—Shirakumo, Kasumi, Asashio, Akatsuki, Akebono, Oboro, Inazumi, Ikadzuchi, Usugumo, Sazanami, and Shimonome.
Torpedo boats.—Karigane, Kotaka, Misasagi, Tsubame, Managure, and Hato.
Togo.
The concluding operation of the first stage of the war was reported as follows by Admiral Togo:—
On the 11th our combined fleet commenced, as previously planned, the eighth attack upon Port Arthur. The fourth and the fifth destroyer flotillas, the fourteenth torpedo flotilla, and the Koryo-maru reached the mouth of Port Arthur at midnight of the 12th, and effected the laying of mines at several points outside the port, defying the enemy’s searchlight.
The second destroyer flotilla discovered, at dawn of the 13th, one Russian destroyer trying to enter the harbour, and, after ten minutes’ attack, sank her.
Another Russian destroyer was discovered coming from the direction of Liau-tie-shan. We attacked her, but she managed to flee into the harbour.
There were no casualties on our side, except two seamen in the Ikazuchi slightly wounded. There was no time to rescue the enemy’s drowning crew, as the Bayan approached.
The third fleet reached outside of Port Arthur at 8 a.m., when the Bayan came out and opened fire. Immediately the Novik, Askold, Diana, Petropavlovsk, Pobieda, and Poltava came out and made offensive attack upon us.
Our third fleet, tardily answering and gradually retiring, enticed the enemy fifteen miles south-east of the port, when our first fleet, being informed through wireless telegraphy from the third fleet, suddenly appeared before the enemy and attacked them.
While the enemy was trying to regain the port, a battleship of the Petropavlovsk type struck mines laid by us in the previous evening, and sank at 10.32 a.m.
Another ship was observed to have lost freedom of movement, but the confusion of enemy’s ships prevented us from identifying her. They finally managed to regain the port.
Our third fleet suffered no damage. The enemy’s damage was, besides the above-mentioned, probably slight also.
Our first fleet did not reach firing distance. Our fleets retired at 1 p.m., prepared for another attack
On the 14th our fleet resailed towards Port Arthur. The second, the fourth, and the fifth destroyer flotillas and the ninth torpedo flotilla joined at 3 a.m., and the third fleet at 7 a.m. No enemy’s ship was seen outside the port.
Our first fleet arrived there at 9 a.m., and, discovering three mines laid by the enemy, destroyed them all.
The Kasuga and the Nisshin were despatched to the west of Liau-tie-shan. They made an indirect bombardment for two hours, this being their first action. The new forts at Liau-tie-shan were finally silenced.
Our forces retired at 1.30 p.m.
Togo.
The Russian ship destroyed was Admiral Makaroff’s flagship, the Petropavlovsk; the second ship injured was the battleship Pobieda. In the action in which she engaged the third squadron, the Bayan also was damaged, and the effective Russian fleet for the moment reduced to the Peresviet, Sevastopol, Askold, Diana, Novik, and some five destroyers.
Another attempt to block the harbour followed, no less than ten ships being employed. In Japan this attempt was accepted as completely successful; but there are few grounds for believing that it was more than temporarily so.
Too little is yet known of the real facts of the war for many conclusions of value to be drawn; indeed, only one thing is as yet fully clear, and that is the importance of battleships. Russia’s failure lay here. Lacking a battleship superiority, she was unable to support her cruisers, and these consequently unable to support the destroyers. As a result, despite the extraordinary activity of the Russian cruiser Bayan, the naval war followed the exact course that any one cognizant of naval affairs could have predicted on February 10, 1904. Only the battleship can confer command of the sea.
Later events to the end of May included the loss of the battleship Hatsuse, by contact with a Russian mine, and the sinking of the cruiser Yoshino, after collision with the Kasuga in a fog.