Russo-Japanese War (1904–1905)
Battle of the Yellow Sea
The Battle of the Yellow Sea (Japanese: 黄海海戦 Kōkai kaisen) was a major naval engagement of the Russo-Japanese War, fought on 10 August 1904. In the Russian Navy, it was referred to as the Battle of 10 August. The battle foiled an attempt by the Russian fleet at Port Arthur to break out and form up with counterparts from Vladivostok, forcing them to return to port. Four days later, the Battle off Ulsan similarly ended the Vladivostok group's sortie, forcing both fleets to remain at anchor.
Background
The Imperial Russian Navy's First Pacific Squadron, commanded by Admiral Wilgelm Vitgeft, had been trapped in Port Arthur since the Imperial Japanese Navy's blockade began on 8 February 1904 with the Battle of Port Arthur. Throughout late July and early August, as the Imperial Japanese Army laid siege to Port Arthur, relations between Admiral Vitgeft and Russian
Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. The rise of the Russian Empire coincided with the decline of neighbouring rival powers: the Swedish Empire, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Qajar Iran, the Ottoman Empire, and Qing China. Russia remains the third-largest empire in history, surpassed only by the British Empire and the Mongol Empire. Viceroy Yevgeni Alekseyev increasingly soured. Viceroy Alekseyev, a former Admiral, favored an aggressive sortie so as to enable the First Pacific Squadron to link up with the Vladivostok Squadron and thereby create a naval force powerful enough to challenge the Japanese
The Empire of Japan, also known as the Japanese Empire or Imperial Japan, was a historical nation-state and great power that existed from the Meiji Restoration in 1868 until the enactment of the post-World War II 1947 constitution and subsequent formation of modern Japan. Economic and political turmoil in the 1920s led to the rise of militarism, nationalism and totalitarianism eventually culminating in Japan's membership in the Axis alliance. fleet. Admiral Vitgeft believed in a fleet in being, which simply stayed at anchor, while at the same time contributing some of his weaponry to the land battle as the safest course to follow. Although passive, Vitgeft's preference was actually more in keeping with the Russian Navy's doctrine, which was building up strength (waiting for the arrival of the Baltic Fleet, also known as the 2nd Pacific Squadron), and then engaging the Japanese navy in decisive battle.
Alekseyev appealed to St. Petersburg, and Tsar Nicholas II replied that he fully shared the Viceroy's opinion. Faced with an Imperial writ and threat of legal action, Admiral Vitgeft was ordered to sail for Vladivostok immediately. By 06:15 hours, on 10 August 1904, Admiral Vitgeft, flying his flag in the battleship Tsesarevich, began leading his battleships from the harbor.
Battle Opening Moves
At 09:55 his fleet had cleared the harbor's entrance, and as Admiral Vitgeft's Pacific Squadron completed their exit, he wisely made a feint to the south-west to conceal his actual intent, whereby he succeeded in delaying Admiral Tōgō Heihachirō's concentration of his forces. Although Vitgeft's move had bought him time, Tōgō had nonetheless previously issued orders for his warships to assemble near Encounter Rock, in the event Admiral Vitgeft was to take that route. By 11:00 hours, it was clear in which direction Vitgeft's fleet was sailing: they were headed for the open sea. The Russian squadron consisted of the battleships Tsesarevich, Retvizan, Pobeda, Peresvet, Sevastopol, and Poltava, protected cruisers Askold, Diana, Novik, and Pallada, and 14 destroyers.
Japanese Admiral Tōgō's flagship, Mikasa
At about 12:25 the battleship fleets sighted each other near Encounter Rock at a range of about 11 miles (18 km). Vitgeft's battlefleet was headed southeast at 13 knots (24 km/h; 15 mph), while Tōgō, on an intercepting course, came from the northeast at 14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph). His fleet consisted of Japan's four surviving battleships Mikasa, Asahi, Fuji, and Shikishima, the armoured cruisers Nisshin and Kasuga, as well as eight protected cruisers, 18 destroyers, and 30 torpedo boats. During this time, Admiral Dewa's four cruisers came into view, fast approaching from the south at 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph), and Tōgō attempted to squeeze Admiral Vitgeft's fleet between the two advancing columns.
Just after 13:00, Tōgō attempted to cross Vitgeft's T and commenced firing his main batteries from the extreme range of more than 8 miles. Vitgeft, with the battleship Retvizan, returned fire, but the range was excessive for both sides and no hits were scored. Tōgō had miscalculated his speed when trying to cross the enemy's T, and Vitgeft simply made a quick turn to port, maintained his speed, and increased his range from Tōgō's fleet. Within minutes, Admiral Vitgeft was again headed for the open sea, and Admiral Tōgō's pincer move had failed, as Admiral Dewa's cruisers had to turn quickly to avoid Tōgō's battle line, and thus broke contact without having fired a shot. As Tōgō observed Vitgeft's battle line swiftly move past his own in opposite directions, he quickly ordered each warship to turn about individually, which put his cruisers into the lead, but now parallel with Vitgeft's battle line.
At about 13:25, and again at a range of over 8 miles (13 km), Tōgō's battleships opened fire on Vitgeft's flagship and Retvizan, hitting the latter 12 times. By about 13:30 the Russian flagship had returned fire, knocking out Tōgō's wireless communications with two 305 mm (12 in) shell direct hits at this extreme range. For nearly half an hour the two battleship fleets pounded each other, slowly closing their range, until by 14:05 they reached about 3.5 miles (5.6 km), at which time both fleets let loose with their secondary 155 mm (6 in) guns. As the fleets continued to pound each other with all available guns, Tōgō's flagship was beginning to feel its wounds, and he tried to turn his vessel a bit, due to the hits she was taking (she ended up being hit 20 times), and urgently tried to have his cruisers engage the Russian battleline. But with his radio shot out, he had to rely on flag signals and radio relays from accompanying warships.
Stern Chases
The Japanese cruisers had re-established contact with the Russian battleline, but were quickly driven off by their 305 mm gunfire. Both battlefleets were maintaining about 14 knots, but again, Vitgeft had managed to get past Togo, and the Japanese were forced to commence a stern chase. By 14:45 the Japanese flagship had closed to within about 7 miles (11 km) of the trailing battleship Poltava, which had been unable to maintain its fleet's 14 knots due to engine troubles. Mikasa and Asahi soon began to pound Poltava, scoring several hits. However, Admiral Ukhtomsky in the battleship Peresvet observed the plight of Poltava and ordered his division to fall back and help Poltava, and they began concentrating their gunfire onto Mikasa and Asahi. With Admiral Ukhtomsky's division firing, coupled with Poltava's rejoining of the fight, Mikasa and Asahi began taking too many hits, and upon the urging of his chief of staff, Tōgō used his superior speed to break contact, race ahead of Vitgeft's fleet, and try to re-establish contact again under more favorable conditions. By 15:20 the range was opened and the firing ceased.
As the battleships had broken contact, Admiral Dewa with his cruisers attempted to get into action, when suddenly the Russian battleships opened up on him. At about 15:40 one 305 mm shell hit Dewa's cruiser, Yakumo from a range of over 8 miles, which was well out of range of his 203 mm (8 in) guns. Admiral Dewa decided that his four Japanese cruisers had no business tangling with any Russian battleships.
By this time, only Tōgō's 6 warships (4 battleships and 2 armored cruisers) were chasing Vitgeft's 10 warships (6 battleships and 4 cruisers). With darkness only 3 hours away, Admiral Vitgeft believed that he had outranged Admiral Tōgō, and would lose him totally when darkness came. Tōgō knew this too, and ordered a 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph) speed to catch up to the tail end of Vitgeft's fleet. By 17:35 hours Tōgō's warships had closed to within 3.5 miles of the again lagging battleship Poltava, and opened fire upon her. Admiral Dewa also showed up with his cruisers, and Tōgō ordered all battleships and cruisers to shell Poltava, hoping to at least sink one Russian battleship. However, the Russian commander, Captain Ivan P. Uspenskiy of Poltava would not go down meekly, and his crewmen scored several hits on Admiral Tōgō's flagship. At this time, the Shimose shells loaded inside the 305 mm guns began detonating prematurely inside the hot gun barrels; knocking out of action one 305 mm on Shikishima at 17:45, and two 305 mm barrels on Asahi at 18:10 hours. By 18:30, Tōgō had only 11 of his original 17 305 mm guns still in action.
Hand-Off
Although the range had dropped to about 3 miles, the secondary batteries of 155 and 203 mm guns were still ineffective, and Poltava and Peresvet, although heavily damaged, were still with the Russian battleline. By 18:30, Tōgō was still having trouble controlling his battleship's gunfire; Shikishima and Asahi were blasting away at the crippled Poltava, Fuji was shooting at Pobeda and Peresvet, while the flagship Mikasa was duelling with the Russian flagship Tsesarevich. No IJN warships were shooting at the Russian battleships Retvizan and Sevastopol, which allowed them to freely blast away at Mikasa. With darkness only 30 minutes away, the Japanese flagship Mikasa almost no longer combat effective, and Russian gunfire seemingly becoming more accurate and effective with each cannon shot; the flagship signaled to Asahi to take over (known as a battle handoff) the shooting upon the lead Russian battleship. Within 10 minutes of being relieved by Asahi, Admiral Tōgō got his lucky break, when at 18:40 Asahi fired a 305 mm salvo into the Russian flagship Tsesarevich, instantly killing Admiral Vitgeft and his immediate staff, and jamming the flagship's steering wheel. The explosion had wedged the wheel into a port turn, sharp enough so that Tsesarevich heeled over 12 degrees. Retvizan, which was unaware of the situation on the flagship, followed in her wake. By the time Pobeda arrived at the turning point, Tsesarevich had swung around 180 degrees and was heading back into her own line. With no signal to indicate what had happened, the other ships were unaware that Tsesarevich was not only out of control and without its admiral, but was actually without anyone at all in command.
Charge of Battleship Retvizan
Prince Pavel Ukhtomsky of the battleship Peresvet soon realized that the flagship was out of action, and attempted to gain control of the Russian squadron. But a Japanese shell, falling wide, cut the foremast of Peresvet, preventing the signal flags from being hoisted as usual; they had to be hoisted along the bridge instead. Being thus almost hidden from view, the signal apparently was only seen on Sevastopol, no other Russian capital ships followed Ukhtomsky's lead.
At the same time Captain Eduard Schensnovich commanding Retvizan, immediately turned his battleship towards Togo's battleline, charging directly into it with all weapons firing, despite being down by the bow from battle damage. Tōgō's battleline shifted their fire onto Retvizan as the range dropped to less than three miles. There were so many shell splashes surrounding the charging battleship, that Japanese gunners were unable to adjust their fire. However, as Togo's battleships were running low on 305 mm shells, and many of his main guns were out of action, he decided to play it safe, and with the Russian squadron scattered, he turned the fight over to his cruisers and destroyers.
As Togo's ships began their turn, they fired a final salvo, hitting the enemy battleship with several shells, one of which seriously wounded Captain Schensnovich in the stomach. Retvizan laid smoke and also began to turn away, but the battleship had effectively ended the duel between the opposing pre-dreadnoughts, and had saved the flagship from destruction. There was little choice but to give up the attempt to reach Vladivostok and to return to Port Arthur. Even this proved impossible to coordinate, and many ships wandered off on their own.
Two hours later, the bulk of the Russian fleet returned to the relative safety of Port Arthur. Five battleships, a cruiser and nine destroyers made it back. The damaged Tsesarevich and three escorting destroyers sailed to Kiaochou, where they were interned by German authorities. The cruiser Askold and another destroyer sailed to Shanghai and were likewise interned by Chinese authorities. The cruiser Diana escaped to Saigon, where it was interned by the French. Only the small cruiser Novik sailed east around the Japanese home islands to try to reach Vladivostok. However, on 20 August 1904 pursuing Japanese cruisers forced the ship aground at Sakhalin, where it was destroyed by the crew after engaging the Japanese at the Battle of Korsakov.
Result
The Russians wanted to breakout and sail to Vladivostok (relocating the fleet to there would have left the Japanese needing to mount a new campaign if it wanted to besiege the Russian fleet again and such a campaign would have overtaxed the resources of Field Marshal Ōyama). The Japanese had an underlying objective to destroy the Russian fleet while minimising their own losses. Once the Russian fleet left Port Arthur the Japanese initially sought to prevent it returning there, when the Japanese realised the Russians were not returning to Port Arthur they also sought to prevent the Russians reaching an alternative port, the Japanese prevented the Russians from reaching Vladivostok but failed to stop most of the fleet returning to Port Arthur. Neither side achieved its tactical goals. The Japanese, however, were successful to prevent the breakout, and returning Russian ships were later eliminated in the course of the Siege of Port Arthur.
HISTORY
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This article uses material from the Wikipedia articles "Russo-Japanese War" and "Battle of the Yellow Sea", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0.
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