Port Arthur (Russo-Japanese War).
Fought February 8, 1904, between a Japanese fleet of 16 warships, under Vice-Admiral Togo, and the Russian fleet of 6 battleships and 10 cruisers, under Vice-Admiral Stark, lying at anchor off Port Arthur. The Japanese attacked with torpedo boats, and succeeded in seriously damaging 2 battleships and a cruiser, which were beached at the mouth of the harbour. They then opened a bombardment, in which they injured a third battleship and four more cruisers sustaining no damage to their own ships. The Russians lost 56 killed and wounded, the Japanese, 58, chiefly in the torpedo boats.
On April 13, the Japanese torpedo flotilla attacked the Russian squadron, under Makaroff. The battleship Petropavlovsk was torpedoed and sunk, Makaroff and 700 officers and men being drowned. The battleship Pobieda, and a destroyer were also torpedoed, but managed to reach the harbour. The Japanese suffered no material loss.
After numerous only partially successful attempts to block the fairway, the Japanese, on May 2, sent in a fleet of merchant steamers, accompanied by the torpedo flotilla. Of these, eight succeeded in reaching the outer harbour, and two of them broke the boom guarding the inner harbour, and were blown up by their commanders in the fairway. Several others were sunk near the harbour entrance. Of the 179 officers and men forming the crews of the merchant steamers, only 42 were rescued by the Japanese, though a few survivors fell into the hands of the Russians. This is one of the most daring exploits in the history of naval warfare.