The Decisive Battles of World History

Lecture 31: 1905 Tsushima—Japan Humiliates Russia

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and technology of the Royal Navy.

x Just getting his ships to the battle zone posed an enormous logistical

challenge. The vessels were coal-powered, and there were not many

friendly refueling stations along the route. The Hamburg–America

steamship line was contracted to position supply ships bearing

340,000 tons of coal at intervals along the route. On October 15,

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an epic journey.

x Meanwhile, Port Arthur was being menaced by advancing Japanese

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port of Vladivostok. The remaining battleships and cruisers were

intercepted by Togo. In the Battle of the Yellow Sea, the more

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neutral ports, where they were interned for the remainder of the war.

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of hopelessly outdated ironclads and slow coastal defense vessels.

Rozhestvensky realized that these ships would add nothing to the

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not to burden him with them, but he was nevertheless ordered to

wait for their arrival before proceeding to Vladivostok.

The Battle

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the presence of many ships of questionable value, Rozhestvensky

still had a solid core of 7 modern battleships to Togo’s 4 and the

advantage of more 10- and 12-inch cannons—41 to Togo’s 17.

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speed, morale, and 8-inch guns.