Famous Sea Fights, from Salamis to Tsu-Shima

by A. Hilliard Atteridge

The annexed tables (pp. [315], [316]) give some details of Russian and Japanese armoured ships.

With regard to the armour it must be kept in mind for purposes of comparison that the armoured belts of the newer ships, nine inches at the thickest part, were of Harveyized or Krupp steel, and could resist penetration better than the thicker belts of the older ships. It will be noticed that the Japanese carried fewer of the heavier types of guns, but had more 6-inch quick-firers than the Russians. This is a point to bear in mind in following the story of the battle. It was the steady rain of 100-pounder shells from the quick-firers that paralysed the fighting power of the Russian ships.

Far more important than the mere number of guns was the fact that the Japanese shot straighter and had a more effective projectile. There was such a marked difference between the effect of the Japanese shells at Tsu-shima and in the naval battle of 10 August, 1904, that Captain Semenoff, who was present at both battles, thought that in the interval the Japanese must have adopted a more powerful kind of high explosive for their bursting charges. This was not the case. Throughout the war the Japanese used for their bursting charges the famous Chimose powder. But perhaps between 10 August, 1904, and the following May they had improved their fuses, so as to detonate the charge more certainly and thoroughly.

The first five battleships on the Russian list were up-to-date modern vessels. The "Navarin" was fairly fit to lie in line with them. The rest were, to use a familiar expression, "a scratch lot," coast-defence ships of small speed and old craft quite out of date. The decks of the larger ships were encumbered with an extra supply of coal, and this must have seriously diminished their margin of stability, with, as we shall see, disastrous results.

Admiral Togo could oppose to them only four modern battleships. But his two heavy cruisers, the "Nisshin" and "Kasuga" (the ships bought from Argentina on the eve of the war), might almost have been classed as smaller battleships, and certainly would have been given that rank a few years earlier. His fine fleet of armoured cruisers were at least a match for the Russian coast-defence ships and the older battleships.

RUSSIA
Class.		Ships.	Displace- ment. Tons.		Thickest Armour. Inches.	Principal Armament. Guns.			Men.	Remarks.
Battleships.		Knias Suvaroff		13,516	09.0		4 12-inch 12 6-inch		740	Flagship of Admiral Rojdestvensky.
		Imperator Alexander III								These four ships were all completed in 1904.
		Borodino
		Orel
		Ossliabya		12,674	09.0		4 10-inch 11 6-inch		732	Flagship of Rear-Admiral Fölkersham. Completed 1901.
		Sissoi Veliki		08,880	15.7		4 12-inch 6 6-inch		550	Comp"eted 1894.
		Navarin		10,206	16.0		4 12-inch 8 6-inch		550	Comp"eted 1895.
		Imperator Nikolai I		09,672	14.0		4 9-inch 8 6-inch		604	Comp"eted 1892. Flagship of Rear-Admiral Nebogatoff.
Coast-defence Armour-clads.		General Admiral Apraxin		04,162	10.0		3 10-inch 4 6-inch		400	Completed 1898.
		Admiral Senyavin		04,684	10.0		4 9-inch 4 6-inch		400	Comp"eted 1895.
		Admiral Ushakoff
Armoured Cruisers.		Admiral Nakhimoff		08,524	10.0		8 8-inch 10 6-inch		567	Completed 1898. Reconstructed 1895.
		Dimitri Donskoi		06,200	07.0		6 6-inch 10 4.7-inch		510	Completed 1885. Reconstructed 1896.
		Vladimir Monomach		05,593	10.0		5 8-inch 12 6-inch		550	Completed 1885. Rearmed 1898.

JAPAN
Class.		Ships.[25]	Displace- ment. Tons.		Thickest Armour. Inches.	Principal Armament. Guns.			Men.	Remarks.
Battleships.		Mikasa		15,200	09		4 12-inch 14 6-inch		795	Completed 1902. Flagship of Admiral Togo.
		Skikishima		14,850	09		4 12-inch 14 6-inch		810	Completed 1899.
		Asahi
		Fuji		12,320	14		4 12-inch 10 6-inch		600	Comp"eted 1897.
Armoured Cruisers.		Nisshin		07,294	06		4 8-inch 14 6-inch		500	Comp"eted 1904. Nisshin was flagship of Vice-Admiral Misu.
		Kasuga
		Idzumo		09,750	07		4 8-inch 14 6-inch		500	Completed 1901. Idzumo—flagship of Vice-Admiral Kamimura.
		Iwate
		Adzumo		09,436	07		4 8-inch 12 6-inch		500	Completed 1901.
		Asama		09,700	07		4 8-inch 14 6-inch		500	Comp"eted 1899.
		Tokiwa
		Yakumo		09,850	07		4 8-inch 12 6-inch		498	Comp"eted 1901.

Besides his armoured ships, Admiral Rojdestvensky had a squadron of six protected cruisers under Rear-Admiral Enquist, whose flag flew in the "Oleg," a vessel of 6750 tons launched in 1903, and completed next year. She had for her principal armament twelve six-inch quick-firers. The other cruisers were the "Aurora," of a little over 6000 tons, the "Svietlana," of nearly 4000, the "Jemschug," and "Izumrud," of 3000 tons (these two armed with 47 quick-firing guns), and the "Almaz," of 3285, a "scout" of good speed, carrying nothing heavier than 12-pounders. There was one auxiliary cruiser, the "Ural,"[26] a flotilla of nine destroyers, four transports, two repairing ships, and two hospital steamers.