In July the battleship Probleda arrived.
In November the battleship Tzarevitch and the cruiser Bayan further added to Russia’s strength.
In December the battleship Oslyabya, the armoured cruiser Dimitri Donskoi, the protected cruisers Aurora and Almaz, and eleven torpedo-boat destroyers.
In January 1904 the battleship Imperator Alexander III. leaves the Baltic for the Far East.
Russia has laboured under great disadvantages to secure her position in this region. In consequence of restricted shipbuilding resources and owing to an unfortunate geographical position, Russia has not enjoyed those opportunities of adding to her Pacific fleet which have presented themselves to Japan. In effect, if not in fact, Russia is compelled to maintain four navies. Unhappily, each is isolated from the other, many hundreds of miles separating them. Naval squadrons are concentrated in the Baltic, in the Black Sea, in the Caspian Sea and in the Pacific. The Pacific squadron is of recent establishment and of most modern construction. It dates back to 1898, from which time her policy of naval expansion began. Orders were placed with France, Germany and America for cruisers and battleships, coal was bought at Cardiff, and in a short space the nucleus of a powerful fleet had sprung into existence. At the present time these new ships are deficient in the various ratings, and hundreds of mechanics, gunners and engineers have been withdrawn from the Black Sea Squadron to do service with the Pacific Fleet, moving to the Pacific Ocean from the Black Sea by means of the Trans-Siberian Railway. Just now, and until the acute phase of the crisis has disappeared or war has been declared, the disposition of the Russian Pacific Squadron is as follows.
At Port Arthur, the battleships Petropavlovsk, Poltava, Sevastopol, Peresviet, Retvizan, Probleda, and Tzarevitch; the first-class cruisers Bayan, Askold, Pallada, Diana, and Varyag; the gunboats Bobr, Gremyashtchi, and Koreetz; the transports Amur, Yenissei, and Angara; the torpedo-cruisers Vsadnik, and Gaidamak; and the destroyers Bezshumni, Bezposhadni, Bditelni, Bezstrashni, Boevoi, Vnimatelni, Vnushitelni, Viposlivi, Vlastni, Burni, and Boiki.
At Vladivostock, the first-class cruisers Rossia, Gromoboi, Rurik, and Bogatyr, the gunboat Mandchur, and the transport Lena.
At Chemulpo, the second-class cruiser Boyarin, and the destroyer Grossovoi.
At Ma-san-po, the second-class cruiser Rasboinik.
In Nimrod Bay, the second-class cruiser Djijdjit.