The Battle of Tsushima: The History and Legacy of the Decisive Naval Battle that Ended the Russo-Japanese War by Charles River Editors

Author:Charles River Editors [Editors, Charles River]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Charles River Editors
Published: 2022-01-15T22:00:00+00:00

A Date with Destiny

On November 26, the Cape Squadron arrived off the tiny French colony of Gabon and once again met with a fleet of colliers to begin the hated coaling. The battleships were overloaded with coal before setting off, crossing the equator and continuing south to their next coaling rendezvous off the Portuguese colony of Great Fish Bay, which they reached on the 6th of December. On the 11th, the fleet reached its final coaling point in Africa, and one of the few friendly ports it would call in at, when it steamed into the German colony of Angra Pequena on the southwestern coast of Africa. Bad weather there made coaling even more arduous than usual. Each of the large battleships was required to load more than 2,400 tons of coal to allow them to make the next 3,000-mile leg of their epic journey non-stop to Madagascar.

On the 17th, the fleet left Angra Pequena and steamed south towards the Cape of Good Hope. They rounded it without difficulty, but on December 20, the squadron encountered a terrible storm that lasted for 48 hours. The ships were separated and barely visible to one another when all were suddenly alerted by a message from the Kamchatka: “Do you see torpedo boats?” Rozhestvensky attempted to bring the scattered fleet to action stations until a second message from the Kamchatka noted that she had used the wrong signal. She had merely meant to signal that she was weathering the storm.

After the fleet survived the storm, it arrived at Sainte-Marie, a small island off the east coast of Madagascar, on Christmas Eve. There, Vice-Admiral Rozhestvensky received several upsetting pieces of news. The first concerned the Canal Squadron, the group of ships that had been sent via the Suez Canal. Since their journey had been shorter, Rozhestvensky had expected them to be ready to sail when he arrived in Madagascar, but upon his arrival at Sainte-Marie, he received a message from the commander of the Canal Squadron, Admiral Dmitry Gustavovich Fyolkerzam, explaining that the squadron was at Nossi-Be, an island 500 miles away on the other side of Madagascar. Even worse, several of the ships were undergoing extensive overhauls and would not be ready to put to sea for at least two weeks.

This was in direct contravention of Rozhestvensky’s orders, but Fyolkerzam claimed that he had received new orders from the Russian Admiralty. Rozhestvensky immediately fell into one of his characteristic rages, railing against the temerity of the Russian High Command for its interference. However, he soon received new information that explained the change of plans. The Japanese siege of Port Arthur was making progress, and it seemed certain that the port would soon fall and all the Russian warships trapped inside would be destroyed or captured. This meant that instead of being reinforcements for the Pacific Fleet when they arrived, Rozhestvensky’s rag-tag collection of warships would comprise the only Russian naval forces in the region. They alone would have to challenge and overcome the Japanese fleet.

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