Armored ships of the world

VLADIMIR V. ARBUZOV Issue I

"B 0 ROD I N 0"

class
ar.mored ships
"Orel" anchored head and stern. She is moored on the Neva.
 ARMORED SHIPS OF THE WORLD
Vladimir V. Arbuzov Issue I

"B 0 ROD I N 0" class

'armored s hip s
Brief description, illustrated by photographs, figures, tables and archival
drawings, of construction, service and participation in the naval warfare of
excellent warships, built at the beginning of XX century.

Content

1. Construction of "Borodino" class armored

ships . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

2. Far East cruise of the Second and Third

Pacific squadrons 12
3. Chronology of events during the Tsushi-
rna battle on May 14, 1905. . . . . . 23
4. Description of the Battle and Principal
conclusions . . . . . . . . 34
5. Armored ship "OreI" in the battle 46

"INTERPOISK" Publishers

St. Petersburg

1993
 1. CONSTRUCTION OF "BORODINO" CLASS ARMORED SHIPS

In 1898-1899 battleships·of "Borodino"class and arrange favourably her major and middle-
had been still in process of development while all caliber guns - in turrets - while having relati-
the principal elements of their future adversaries vely small displacement (12 900 t).
- Japanese armorclads of "Shikishima" class- The main task of the battleship of this type was
had been determined already, though not yet thought to be in the head of the squadron, when
detailed. the decisive battle. is fought with a formidable
In December 1898 heads of the Russian Naval enemy. It had been presumed, that this ship was to
Department, after careful examination of various be intended for actions in a limited sea area, being
armored ship projects by the Naval Technical supported by its rear bases. Because of it the stock
Committee (NTS), made a choice of the French of fuel, capacity of reserve coal bunkers, supply of
engineer A. Lagagne project, who was building food and drinking water, the stock of other
"Tsesarewich" in Toulon at that time. The consumable materials were reduced to two-weeks
armament of the developed ship was less for- norm, in order to strengthen the armor protection
~dable, being determined by NTS, than that of and gunnery of the ship as much as possible. The
"Shikishima" (two 152-mm guns less); on the store boiler water was not included in the ship
other hand, A. Lagagne managed to ensure the normal load at all, since high-effici ency desa-
safe protection of the ship against shells and mines linators were installed on the board.

FRENCH ARMORED SHIP "JAUREGUIBERRY· _

This ship had been a prototype of the armored ship "Tsesarevich", built later for Russia. Launched in 1893,
"Jaureguiberry" had been the typical example of high-board armored ship with gun turrets of the end of XIX century. Her
main armament consisted of 2 305-mm guns (model of 1891 - with the length of barrel 45 calibers; 2 274-mm and
8138 mm-guns. Minor caliber guns included 4 65-mm and 12 37-mm guns. Main characteristics of the ship: displacement
11324t, length III ni, breadth 22 m and draft 8.2 m. Her sides were protected by 470 mm armored plates; 305 mm-gun
turrets - by 370 mm armored plates, manufactured by Creusot. The speed of the ship was 18.1 kn.
Vladimir V. Arbuzov "Borodino" class armored ships" 3

The new armored ship, developed to be
supported by safe bases, might be supported in the
Baltic sea by Libau, Revel, Helsingfors and
Kronstadt; in the Far East her actions should be
limited by Vladivostok-Port Arthur area.
On the base of the conceptual design and the
specification of a French armorclad, D.V. Skvort:-
sov (who became later the chief shipbuilding
engineer of the Petersburg port) developed the
construction of the ship of normal displacement
13516 t to be built in the stone covered-in berth
of the New Admiralty. The main machinery of this
ship, which was named "Borodino", as the
tradition was for fleet battleships, was to be
manufactured by French-Russian plant in Peters-
burg; it was identical to the machinery of "Tse-
sarewich", rated for 16 300 h. p. power.
Early in 1899 the principal alteration was

ARMORED SHIP ..TSESAREVJCH'· ~ _

In opinion of Naval Technical Committee-of Russia, this ship would have been, after some modifications, the most
appropriate prototype for five new-buildings, constituting the series of armored ships of "Borodino" class. This ship had
been launched in shipyard Fondes et Chantiers in Toulon in 190I. Her main characteristics: deadweight 12912 t, length
118.5 m, breadth 23.2 m, draft 7.9 mm. Main armament: 4 305-mm guns with barrel length 40 calibers and 12 152-mm
guns. Similarly to armored ship "Jaureguiberry", all guns were mounted in eight armorclad turrets. Besides, to repulse
attacks of destroyers, 16 75-mm and 20 37-mm guns were provided. Two three-cylinder steam engines with total power
16300 hp allowed the ship to move with the speed 18 kn.
Ship armor: the sides were protected with armored plates of thickness from 152 mm to 254 mm, the turrets - by
152-254 mm armored plates, the bridge - by 254 mm plates and deck - by armored plates from 38 to 69 mm. The
principal aspect of novelty in armoring was the use of thinner, but stronger armored plates, manufactured on the base of
new technology of German industrialist Krupp.
"Tsesarevich" took part in two wars: first in the Russo-Japanese war, then in the First World War of 1914-1918. By
night of 28 January of 1904, when Japanese destroyers attacked suddenly Port-Arthur, she was hit by torpedo. After
repair the ship joined the fleet. 28th May, 1904 she went to Kiao-Chao, where disarmament took place. After October
revolution of 1917 the ship changed her name to "Citizen", then in the beginning of 20 s she was scraped.
4 Armored ships of the world. Issue I
made in the design; all the 75-mm guns were to be
protected by armor plates,while the thickness of
the main armor belt was decreased to 50.8 mm.
When the Baltic plant received the order for
building of the second armored ship of the-series,
engineers of tne plant changed somewhat the
ship's interior too. But the main distinction of
"Emperor Alexander III", named after the father
of Russian Emperor Nikolai II, from the first
ship of the series was in her main machinery of
15 800 h. p., developed by engineers of the Baltic
plant, and in the arrangement of the lower
"Tsesarevich" on the Toulon
roadstead. In some days she left
together with the armored cruiser
"Baian" for the Far East.
The fate of aprototype of the
"Borodino" class battleship - the
armored ships "Tsesarevich" was
lucky enouph. She took part in two
wars, fought in many battles,
underwent severe trials, but survived
and finished her life piecefully in
Kronstadt.
armored deck. The lower armored deck of
"Borodino" and "Tsesarewich"was curved down-
wards and connected with countermine armored
bulkhead. The armored deck of the new ship was
curved gradually to meet the lower edge of the
armored shelf, thus allowing, in the NTS opinion,
to improve ship's protection in case of shell
hitting.
The same arangement of the deck armor
protection was accepted for the third ship of the
series, "Orel", which was to be built in the
shipyard on the Galerny I~land (engines and
Vladimir V. Arbuzov "Borodino" class armored ships" 5

BaLtic shipyard on JuLy 21, 1901.

Shortly the first ship of the series,
the armored ship "Emperor
ALexander /If' wouLd be Launched.

. "Emperor ALexander /If' before

Launching.

boilers were to be manufactured by Baltic plant), Russian military leader, and the eighth ship was
as well for the seventh and eighth ships of the called "Slava" later.
series, ordered from the Baltic plant. After some Launched on July 21, 1901, "Emperor
hesitation, the decision was made to build these Alexander III" was ready for trials in the autumn
two ships on the base of the "Emperor Alexander of 1902. However, the tests and trials were
III" drawings. Originally planned reinforcement postponed, because some systems, armor pro-
of their armament was sacrificed for the sake of tection and armament were not ready besause of
uniformity and necessity to observe too hastily sluggishness of main offices of the Naval Depart-
concluded contracts on delivery of turret mo- ment.
untings. In 1900 the seventh of the series was Both the building and tests of "Emperor
named "Prince Suvorov" in the memory of Alexander III" were accompanied by a number of
centenary of the death of Suvorov, the famous dramatic events. Early in 1900 her model, manu-
6 Armored ships of the world. Issue I

Armored ship "Borodino"

- last rrdnutes on the
building ways.

Armored ship "Slava" in

the covered-in berth of the
Baltic shipyard.
Vladimir V. Arbuzov "Borodino" class armored ships"
"Borodino" is launched.
factured to be demonstrated to the general-
admiral, was burnt in a shop; during the launching
of. the ship the flagstuff with the Emperor's stand-
ard fell down from the roof of covered-in berth,
causing some deaths; when the ship was set in the
Alexandrovski dockyard in Kronstadt, her keel
and floors were damaged; shop tests of the
engines caused the dangerous list when sharp
turning was performed. Part of these events may
be explained by sheer chance, the others were
caused by lack of experience of the building of
such a large ship. Defects were to be repaired., In
the autumn of 1903 during the performance trials
the speed of "Emperor Alexander III" reached
17,6 kn under natural thrust and engine power
16265 h. p.
At that time the first ship of the series,
"Borodino" was still in Petersburg, without guns,
with part of armor yet missing.
The readiness of "Orel" and "Prince Suvo-
rov", both launched in 1902, was less by 1-2
month. Meanwhile the Far East situation became
worse day by day.
7
The Russo-Japanese war began suddenly,
without any declaration of hostilities. At night
Jnuary 27, 1904 Japanese destroyers launched the
sudden attack against ships of the Pacific
Squadron of the Russian fleet, anchored on the
outer roadstead of Port Arthur.
In result of this attack, the fleet armored ships
"Retvizan", "Tsesarewich" and cruiser "Pallada"
were struck by torpedoes and disabled for a long
time.
The decision to speed up the works in the
Baltic shipyard and complete building of the ships
in the middle of 1904 was made on February 17,
1904, when actions were expanded already.
But a true rush job began in April. After death
of S. O. Makarov near Port Arthur the inevita-
bility and the urgency of equipping of the Second
Pacific Squadron became obvious. The head of
the Baltic shipyard, S. K. Ratnik suggested to
prepare the fifth armored ship of the series-
"Slava"- for the campaign in the autumn 1904
too. This ship had been launched in August 1903.
However, rear-admiral Z. P. Rozhestvenski, who
8 Armored ships of the world. Issue I

September 12, 1902. The

hull of the armored ship
"Prince Suvorov" after
being launched.

CAUSES OF RUSSO-JAPANESE WAR _

As the result of the defeat of China in 1894-1895 war, Japan, striving to strengthen its positions in the Asia after
successful seizure of Korea, demanded from China to cede to it a part of the Quantung peninsula with Port-Arthur
harbour.
In April 1895 the treaty was concluded between Japan and China. By virtue of this treaty Japan received a part of
China territory and Korea territory, what allowed it to pursuit later the policy, leading to seizure all the territory of these
two countries.
But Russia, backed by Germany and Franse, troubled by this prospects, demanded from Japan to relinguish to
China the seized part of the Liaotung peninsula. This demand was supported by sending to the Far east seas an united
squadron of ships of these three powers. Japan was compelled to submit.
In 1896 Russia concluded with China an agreement on construction of the East-Chinese railway. On March 27, 1898
China granted the Liaotung peninsula to Russia by lease for 25 years, to~ether with harbours Port-Arthur and Dalny
(Talien).
When Russia obtained these ice-free harbours, it commenced to construct there mighty naval bases, thus arousing
strong opposition in Japan, that began preparations for a new war.
January 30, 1902 an agreement was concluded between England and Japan, by virtue of which England assumed
obligations to render economic support to Japan, including the building of combat ships.
During 1903 the relations between Russia and Japan became extremely tense, and after the negotiations were broken
off in August, the war seemed inevitable.
Vladimir V. Arbuzov "Borodino" class armored ships" 9

"Orel' anchored head

and stern. She is moored
on the Neva.

"Prince Suvorov" in
moment of launching.
10 Armored ships of the world. Issue I

Armored ship "Borodino". Mounting of 305-mm gun in Armored ship "Borodino" placed in the Kronstadt do~k.
the fore gun turret.

was appointed the commander of the Squadron, On the contrary, machinery of "Suvorov" and
didn't support this rational idea, because he "Orel", manufactured on the Baltic plant, showed
thought the estimated time of the squadron an excellent performance from the very
departure for the Far East too optimistic. The beginning. Engines and boilers of both ships were
squadron left Libau on October 2, and only on approved on account of the shop tests. The speed
October 30 "Slava", on the board of which all the of "Orel" reached 17.8 kn, but the ship, damaged
works were delayed till the autumn, proceeded in the result of wreck in Kronstadt harbour, wasn't
under her own power to Kronstadt after her basin ready for a trip until September. She overtook the
trials were completed. Squadron in Revel (now Tallinn) .
The building of "Borodino" and "Suvorov" When the building of the ships was completed,
was completed for the most part in August 1904. the constructive overloading of all the ships of
But the ships didn't undergo all the obligatory "Borodino"c1ass was revealed; for "Orel" it was
tests. When the shop tests of the first ship engines 635 t. Actual normal displacement was of the order
were carried out, some defects of assembly were 14 2001. In the world shipbuilding of that time the
revealed, which didn't allow "Borodino" to move constructive overloading was a rule rather than an
with the speed more than 16,5 kn.Just during the exception. For instance, the Japanese armorc1ad
trip the personnel of the engine-room, headed by "Shikishima", built in England, had 510 t over-
marine engineers V. S. Ryabinin and V. A.Obnor- load, "Mikasa" - 782 t overload. However, the
ski, put the engines in service properly. situation of the four ships of "Borodino"c1ass was
Vladimir V. Arbuzov "Borodino" class armored ships" 11

Armored ship "Borodino" completed in Kronstadt.

aggravated by loading the ships with huge quan-
tities of additional supply, taking into account all,
that may be needed during the long trip. The
additional stock included coal supply, boiler
water, oil supply, 152- and 75-mm shells (20% of
complete extra) etc.
Before "Borodino" left Revel, her displace-
ment was 15275 t, her draft was 8.9 m instead of
design value 7.9 m, her main armor belt was under
water. At the same time her initial metacentric
height decreased to 0.76 m compared with design
value 1.22 m.
When their attempts of empirical definition of
ship's stability had failed, the heads of NTC
insisted, that official warning was to be sent to
Z. P. Rozhestvenski as to precautionary measures
during the passage and impossibility of any additi-
onal charging of compartments above the
waterline.
But the commander of the squadron continued
to replenish coal supplies during the trip, so the
ships left Madagascar for the Indian Ocean,
having displacement about 16 800 1. Nowever,
they demonstrated excellent seakeeping charac-
teristics in a gale not long before.

KINDS OF LOAD OF ARMO-

Mass, t, %
Component loads RED SHIPS "SHIKISIDMA",
"Shikishima" "Mikasa" "Borodino"
"MIKASA" AND "BORODINO"
CL. (in accordance with
designs of 1897 and 1899)
Hull with equipment and supplies 6078; 42.1 6435; 44.8 5261; 39.0
Engines and boilers ~th water 1243; 8.6 1392; 9.7 1635; 12.1
Armor 4614; 32.0 4097; 28.5 3554.8; 26.3
Armament and ammunition 1612; 11.2 1550; 10.8 1761.1; 13.0
Coal (normal supply) 700; 4.8 700; 4.9 787.2; 5.8
Crew with luggage and foodstuffs 184; 1.3 184; 1.3 273.6; 2.0
Reserve deadwei~ht No - 242.7' 1.8
Total deadwei~ht (normal design value) 14431' 100 14358' 100 13516' 100
Actual normal deadweiJ!;ht. t 14941 15140 14200
Full capacity of coal bunkers, t 1722 1521 1235,
 2. FAR FAST CRUISE OF THE CECOND AND THIRD PACIFIC
SQUADRONS

Armored ships "Prince Suvorov".

April 6, 1904. Russian government decided to building of new ships, included in the Second
send to the Far East the Second Pacific squadron, Pacific squadron, the works had been organized
formed of all the battle-worthy warships of the during day and night, in three shifts.
Baltic fleet and newbuildings, that should be Simultaneously the General Naval staff started
available in September of 1904, in order to to complete the screw for new warships. The
support the First Pacific (Port-Arthur) squadron. available personnel of the ships of the Baltic fleet
Rear-admiral Z. P. Rozhestvenski, the former Cief had been inadequate to man new ships, because of
of General Naval Staff of Russia was appointed this the screw of four new armored ships of
the Commander-in-Chief of the squadron. "Borodino" class as well as of cruisers and dest-
May-September. In order to speed up the royers was formed to a great extent of recruits of
Vladimir V. Arbuzov "Borodino" class armored ships" 13

1904 and reserve specialists, called up for the the fleet armored ship "Prince Suvorov", lying on
military service in the beginning of the war. The the Great Kronstadt roads.
latter constituted the third part of the total man- August 29. Passing of the Second Pacific
ning of the Second Pacific squadron. Since the squadron, consisting of fleet armored ships
complement of officers in the Navy hadn't been "Prince Suvorov" (command ship), "Emperor
adequate too, the officer vacancies on the ships of Alexander III", "Borodino", "Osl'abia", "Sisoi
the squadron were filled frequently with called up Veliki", "Navarin", "Orel"; cruisers "Admiral
from reserve and newly promoted midshipmen, Nakhimov", "Avrora", "Dmitri Donskoi", "Svet-
assistant marine engineers and reserve ensigns lana", "Almaz" and destroyers "Bedovy", "Bles-
from the merchant marine.The newly completed tiashchi", "Bezuprechny", Bodry", "Buiny",
crews of the ships hadn't any time for normal "Bystry", "Bravy", from Kronstadt to Revel,
training on the board of their ships, because these where they came August 30.
ships should have been tasted after manufacturing September-October. The supplementary
process, and various tests and trials of the ships detachment of the Second Pacific squadron was

Armored ship "Emperor Alexander IIf'.

and their equipment, namely, various tests of hull, formed of ships, which weren't finished, when the
boiler test, tests of mechanisms, test of guns and so squadron left for Revel, and should have joined
on lasted too long to leave any time for training of the squadron later.This detachment under com-
personnel. Battle training of the personnel was put mand of captain Dobrotvorski included cruisers
off till the time of the ship cruise to the Far East, "Oleg" and "Izumrud", desroyers "Gromki",
that would have taken no less than 5-6 months. "Grozny", "Pronzitelny" and "Rezvy" and auxi-
August 1. The colours of the Comman- liary cruisers "Rion" and "Dnepr".
der-in-Chief of the Second Pacific squadron, September 29. The Second Pacific squadron,
rear-admiral Z. P. Rozhestvenski were made on consisting of fleet armored ships "Prince Suvo- ,
 14
rov", "Emperor Alexander III", "Borodino",
"Orel", "Osl'abia", "Sisoi Veliki" and "Navarin";
cruisers "Admiral Nakhimov", "Avrora" ,
"Svetlana" ,,,Zhemchug", "Almaz", "Dmitri
Donskoi", destroyers "Bedovy", "Blestiashchi",
"Bezuprechny", "Bystry", "Buiny", "Bravy",
,.Bodry", "Prozorlivy"; battle damage repair ship
"Kam- chatka" and transport ship "Anadyr''',
came from Revel to Libau.
October 2. The Second Pacific squadron left
Libau and began its Far East route in full comp-
lement, accompanied by transport ships "Kitai",
"Korea", "Prince Gorchakow", steamer "Meteor"
and rescue ship "Rus'''.
Armored ship "Borodino".
October 4-7. The squadron had come
October 4 to Langeland island and the ships went
into anchors. After the heavy gale, raging here,
settled down, the coal was loaded, then the' ships
went through .Great Belt to Skagen and went there
into anchors October 7.
October 7. Divided into 6 detachments, the
squadron left from Skagen and went through the
North Sea and the English Channel.
Armored ships of the world. Issue I
Political secret service established by Russian
government informed vice-admiral Rozhest-
venski and the Naval staff, that Japanese agents
were preparing diversions against the squadron,
that might happen everywhere after the squadron
left the Baltic Sea and that in the region of the
Norvegian skerries and Danish straits some
torpedo-boats and warships of unindentified
nationality were seen, which were moving by
night with no identification lights. The comman-
ders ordered to keep watch vigilantly and take
additive measures for ships protection when mo-
oring and at sea.
October 9. At 21 at night in the North Sea
vice-admiral Rozhestvenski received a number of
radio messages from the repair ship "Kamchatka",
that had failed to keepup with its detachment of the
cruisers because of failure of one of its engines;
they reported about this ship's being attacked by
torpedo-boats near Skagerrak. As it was reported
later, in the darkness the crew of "Kamchatka"
took a group of Norvegian fishing boats for enemy
boats and fired at them.
Vladimir V. Arbuzov "Borodino" class armored ships" 15

October 1O. "Hull incident", When reaching ships under command of vice-admiral Rozhest-
about midnight the Dogger Bank, the detachment venski went through the English Channel and in
of the new armored ships under command of the morning of October 13 entered the Spanish
vice-admiral Rozhestvenski met there the great port Vigo to replenish the coal supplies.
amount of fishing boats f.1uddled together, and the October 10-15: .The incident on the Dogger
warships had to go through them. Being in Bank resulted in aggravation of relations with
nervous expectation of an attack (after the mes- England. British naval forces, stationed in ports of
sages about imaginary attack at "Kamchatka"), the the British empire and in the Mediterranean Sea,
mariners took two small English fishing steamers, were hastily drawn up to the Gibraltar, the navy
crossing the way of "Prince Suvorov", for enemy reserve was called up and cruise detachments were
ships and fired at them and neighbour ships, sent to patrol the route of the Second Pacific
lighting them by their search lights. The incident squadron. Summit talks were urgently needed.
began at 0.55 at night, the gunfire was stopped in The talks resulted in the Russian government
10 minutes, but the results were disastrous: one of consent to imdemnify the victims for losses and

Armored ship "Ore!'.

the English fishing boats was sunk, four others
were seriously damageci., some men of their crews
were killed or wounded.
Some shells hit the cruiser "Avrora", which
was on the traverse of the detachment; on the
board a clergyman was killed and a seaman gunner
wounded.
October 13. Continuing its movement after the
Hull incident, the detachment of the new armored
pay compensation to the wounded and to families
of the killed. October 15 both governments agreed
to charge an international committee of inquiry
with investigation of circumstances of the incident.
October 16-26. The detachments of the
Second Pacific squadron met in Tangier; there
they were joined by the hospital ship "Orel" and
the refrigerator ship "Esperance" (under the flag
of France). In accordance with the planned route,
16 Armored ships of the world. Issue I

The squadron during the

Emperor s inspection on
September 26, 1904 on the
Revel roadstead.

Nikolai II with his

attendants on the board of
"SuYoroY".

two detachments of destroyers and the detach- royers left Tangier, October 24 it was· followed by
ment, consisting of the fleet annored ships "Sisoi the detachment under command of rear-admiral
Veliki" (command ship) and "Navarin" and Felkersam and October 26 - by the detachment
cruisers "Svetlana", "Zhemchug"and "Almaz", under command of vice-admiral Rozhestvenski,
under command of rear-admiral Felkersam, had to consisting of the fleet armored ships "Prince
go to Madagascar, where all the ships of the Suvorov" (command ship), "Emperor Alexander
squadron should have met, through the Medi- III", Borodino", "Orel", "Osl'abia"; cruisers
terranean Sea and the Suez Canal, while the rest "Admiral Nakhimov", (command ship of
of the squadron ships having too great a draft to rear-admiral Enquist), "Avrora", and "Dmitri
pass through the Suez Canal, should have go Donskoi", repair ship "Kamchatka" transport
around the Africa. ships "Anadyr", "Meteor", "Korea", "Malaya"
October 16 the first detachment of the dest- and hospital ship "Orel".
Vladimir V. Arbuzov "Borodino" class armored ships" 17

The flagship of the

squadron, the armored ship
"Prince Suvorov" decorated
with flags, when waiting for
the visit of the Emperor.

Emperor Nikolai II visiting

the armored ship
"Borodino".
18 Armored ships of the world. Issue I

The squadron before Leaving for the Far East.

The movement of the squadron was observed December. The Russian government decided
at a distance from cruisers of the British Navy as to form the Third squadron under command of
far as Canari Islands. rear-admiral Nebogatov, which was planned to
October 30 - November 3. Mooring of the include all the battle-worthy ships of the Baltic
squadron ships under command of vice-admiral fleet, in order to provide support for the Second
Rozhestvenski in Dakar to replenish the coal Pacific squadron.
supplies. December 16, 1904 - February 12, 1905.
November 13-18. Mooring of the squadron The international committee of inquiry, .including
ships under command of Rozhestvenski in representatives of Russia, England, France, USA
Gaboon to replenish the coal supply. and Austria, investigated the circumstances of the
November 23-24. Mooring of the squadron "Hull incident".
ships in the Great Fish Bay to replenish the coal The incident was settled up by an agreement
and victuals supplies. with England; in accordance with it Russia was
November 28-December 4. Mooring of the bound to pay 65 000 pounds sterling to imdemnify
squadron ships under command of Rozhestvenski for losses and pay compensation to injured fishers
in Angra-· Peckvena to replenish the coal and of Hull. The document,confirming the settlement
victuals supplies. of all the claims pertinent to this accident was
December 4-16. The squadron under com- handed over to the Russian government.
mand of vice-admiral Rozhestvenski left Angra- December 16. When the squadron under
Peckvena, went round the Cape of Good Hope command of Rozhestvenski came to Madagascar,
and then to Madagascar. In the Indian Ocean the the news reached them about the Port-Arthur
squadron run into heavy weather. December 7, 8 squadron having been sunk after Japanese troops
and 9 ocean waves of height up to 12 mand length had took the Vysokaja mountain.
up to 100 m caused the armored ships to roll and December 16, 1904 - March 3, 1905. The
pitch up to 12-20° and cruisers - up to 30-40°. Second Pacific squadron lay in Madagascar.
All the ships survived this gale notwithstan- December 20. Vice-admiral Rozhestvenski
ding their being overloaded with coal. received a message from the Admiralty about the
Vladimir V. Arbuzov "Borodino" class armored ships" 19

The squadron in the

Atlantic Ocean.

When the squadron was on

its route already, the fifth
ship of the series, the
armored ship "Slava" was
still in the Kronstadt
dockyard. She seemed to
avoid the fate of her sister
ships at the very beginning,
but twelve years later she
would be sunk too.

Mounting of armored
plates on the board of
"Slava".

Third Pacific squadron under command of rear-admiral Felkersam in Nosi--be, Madagascar.

rear-admiral Nebogatov being ready to be sent to
support the Second squadron; the Third squadron
was reported to include the armored ship "Nikolai
I", the armored ships of coast defence "Admiral
Ushakov", "Admiral "Seniavin" and "Gene-
ral-admiral Apraksin", cruisers "Vladimir
Monomakh" and "Rus'" and the hospital ship
"Kostroma".
December 27. The squadron of vice-admiral
Rozhestvenski was joined by the detachment of
The detachment of Felkersam came to Nosi-be
December 15, 1904.
January 12, 1905. In reply to suggestion of
vice-admiral Rozhestvenski, that after seizure of
Port-Artur and the loss of the First Pacific
squadron the urgent strategic objective of the
Second Pacific squadron should be the break-
through to Vladivostok of the whole squadron or
even some of its ships, Nicolas II sent a directive,
that the task of the Second Pacific squadron
20
---- --
"consists not in the break-through of some ships to
Vladivostok , but in taking the control over the
Japan Sea". But the available forces of the
squadron were thought to be inadequate for
carrying-out of this task, and because of this
Rozhestvenski was ordered to await arrival of the
detachment under command of captain
Dobrotvorski in Madagascar, then go together in
the Indian Ocean to be joined by the squadron of
Nebogatov, which had left already for the Far
East.
February I. The detachment of Dobrovorski
(cruisers "Oleg" and "Izumrud", auxiliary cruisers
"Rion" and "Dnepr", destroyers "Gromki" and
Armored ships of the world. Issue I
The squadron left the
bay Nosi-Be
( Madagascar).
Ships coming to anchor.
In the foreground -
destroyer "Blestiashcht'.
"Grozny") came to Madagascar and joined the
Second Pacific squadron.
February 3 - April 26. The squadron of
Nebogatov left Libau and following the route
Libau-Skagcn-the English Channel-the Atlantic
Ocean-the Gibraltar-the Mediterranean Sea-
Suda-Port Said-the Suez Canal-Djibouti-the Gulf
of Aden-the Bay of Myrbat-the Indian Ocean-the
Strait of Malacca-the Bay of Kamrang-the Bay of
Van Fong came to the Bay of Van Fong, where
joined the Second Pacific squadron.
February 26. The transport ship "Irtysh" has
come from Russia to Madagascar to replenish the
coal supply of the Second Pacific squadron.
Vladimir V. Arbuzov "Borodino" class armored ships" 21

Coal loading when being in the

ocean.

Vice-admiral Rozhestvenski was greatly twice, that was the whole bat1le training they have
disappointed: "Irtysh" brought neither victuals got.
nor awaited second complete set of ammunition, March 3. The Second Pacific squadron left
needed for firing practice in the course of crew Nosi-be to follow its route to the Far East.
training. So the whole plan of training of the March 31. The Second Pacific squadron came
squadron was frustrated, for, having only one to the Bay of Kamrang (in the South China Sea).
complete set of ammunition, the admiral couldn't The length of the warships route round the Africa
allow to spend for the firing practice more than was equal to 16600 miles, in average 180 miles a
20% of available ammunition. In the result the day, when the speed was 7.5 kn. The ships passed
warships of the squadron had only four fire from Madagascar to Kamrang (4560 miles) for
exercises when they had been in Madagascar; 28 days.
crew of some ships' practized fire only once or April 25. The third squadron under command
22
of rear-admiral Nebogatov, consisting of the
armored ship "Nikolai II", the armored ships of
coast guard General-admiral Apraksin",
tI
"Admiral Seniavin", "Admiral Ushakov", cruiser
"Vladimir Monomakh", the transport ships
"Livonia", "Kouronia", "Xenia" and "Swir'" and
the hospital ship "Kostroma", joined the Second
Pacific squadron in the Bay of Van Fong.
May 10. The last replenishment of coal
supplies on the ships of the Second squadron
before Tsushima battle. It must be noted, that
some ships were overloaded with coal, especially
Armored ships of the world. Issue I
On the "Oref' forecastle.
Ina few days the battle would
be fought.
all the armored ships; in the result the armored belt
on board of the coast guard armored ships was
under water.
May 10. After long disease the second flag-
officer of the Second squadron, rear-admiral
Felkersam died on board of his flagship "Osl'a-
bia". His colours continued to be made on the ship,
and nobody was appointed in his stead, because
his death wasn't reported to the squadron. In ac-
cordance with the order of vice-admiral Rozhest-
venski, the duties of the second flag-officer were
entrusted to captain Ber.
Cold waters of the
Tsushima strait are ahead
of them.
 3. CHRONOLOGY OF EVENTS DURING TSUSHIMA BATTLE ON
MAY 14, 1905

May 12. Since evening of this day radio ships"Anadyr'", "Irtysh" , "Kamchatka", "Korea";
stations of the squadron began to receive radio towing steamers "Rus'" and "Swir'" and hospital
communications of Japanese fleet. The captain of ships "Orel" and "Kostroma".
the cruiser "Ural", having powerfull radio station, The squadron was moving in the march order
asked for permission to bring disturbances to of two battle-ship columns, line ahead, the
wireless communication, but Rozhestvenski transport ships between them, guarded from both
forbade, preferring to keep the squadron undet- sides by the first and second destroyer divisions.
ected by enemy's scout vessels. Their speed was 8 kn. The squadron was followed
May 13. The Second squadron, moving to the by two hospital ships "OreI" and "Kostroma".
Korean strait, was engaged from 9 a.m. to 0.30 p. May 14. 4.28 a.m. The Second squadron,
m. and from 2.30 p. m. to 4.30 p. m. in
evolutions, in which ships of the
'squadron under rear-admiral Nebo-
a _
gatov took part for the first time since "
:' • l" • • • •

..... t·nta· .... l ••

_n _ .
1 ••

:. ""'....
~,

they joined the Second squadron. ~::'::~

At 4.40 p. m. vice-admiral .,.. ..,:,."".,...

".. " ..__:.
~: ;:~·;:.n
. ..
n.,..~_

Rozhestvenski made the signal "be : . . . . . -1'N. . I . . . . . ~ .

:~: ~~ll t:: ::;=.:~.

..

ready for the battle".

At lOp. m. the squadron passed
the Kelpart island and approached the
external patrol line of Japanese auxi-
liary cruisers, where they were sighted ..•.
by the Japanese auxiliary cruiser
"Shinano-maru" at daybreak.
Before the battle the squadron
consisted of: fleet armored ships
"Prince Suvorov", flagship of vice-
admiral Rozhestvenski, "Emperor
Alexander III", "Borodino", "Orel",
"Osl'abia", flagship. of late rear-
admiral Felkersam, "Sisoi Veliki",
"Nikolai I", flagship of rear-admiral
Nebogatov; armored ships of coast
defence "General-admiral Aprak-
sin", "Admiral Seniavin" , "Admiral
Ushakov"; armored cruiser "Admiral
Nakhimov"; cruisers "Oleg", flagship
of rear-admiral Enquist, "Avrora",
"Dmitri Donskoi", "Vladimir Mono-
makh", "Svetlana", "Izumrud",
"Zhemchug", "Almaz", auxliary cru-
iser "Ural"; destroyers: the first divi-
sion - "Bedovy", "Bystry", "Buiny,"
"Bravy"; the second division - 1. I I I '.1 ; I I I , I t 1,,;.
"Gromki", "Grozny", "Blestiashchi",
~Bezuprechny", "Bodry"; transport
Cross-sectional view of the ship near the fore turret. 20 th frame.
24
.., ,', , t I !
moving with blackout lights towards the Korean
strait, the hospital ships "Orel" and "Kostroma"
following it with their lights up, was sighted by
one of Japanese auxiliary cruisers, "Shinano-
maru", that was patrolling between the islands
Kelpart and Shirose. Having caught sight of lighs
of one of the hospital ships, the cruiser "Shinano-
maru" approached to identify it and at 4.28 a.m.
discovered the Second squadron, moving ahead of
the hospital ships, and reported of it to the
commander-in-chief of the Japanese fleet admiral
Armored ships of the world. Issue I
Cross-sectional view
of the ship near the
fore bridge. 30 th
frame.
'I .j;"! i' I 'L
Togo, who was stationed with main forces in
Mozanpo, getting into radio communication with
him. From this moment the Japanese headquar-
ters were informed in details about ships of the
squadron, their order, course, speed all the time.
At dawn it was cloudy, but after sunrise the
suhbeams dispersed the haze. The horizon range
was 6-7 miles. At SSW wind force 3-4 the swell
was from N. About 8 a. m. to the right from the
squadron the silhouette of the Japanese armored
cruiser "Izumo" was deteCted, that from 6.18 a. m.
Vladimir V. Arbuzov "Borodino" class armored ships" 25

•• c • .1" & • rI •

_
nOBlPlUOIOtUKII IHS 0
... -.~-:-...::::.:.
Cross-sectional view of the ship
near the second funneL 50 th
frame

was observing the movement of the Russia fleet, the armored ship "Orel" fired the cruiser "Kassa-
taking place of "Shinano-maru". gi". The rest of the armored ships opened fire too.
7 a. m. Vice-admiral Rozhestvenski made the After the Rozhestvenski's signal, saying "Spare
signal to the reconnaissance detachment, inclu- shells", the fire was stopped. .
ding the cruisers "Svetlana", "Almaz" and "Ural", At 0.05 p. m. on the signal of Rozhestvenski
which took 5 cables lead over the squadron, the squadron s.et the NO 23° course, making for
ordering them to go to the column end in order to Vladivostok.
safeguard the transport ships. 0.20 p. m. Taking into account the possible
9 a. m. On signal of Rozhestvenski, the fast arrival of main forces of the enemy and
armored ships of the first and second detachments intending to mislead the Japanese headquarters as
took place ahead of the third detachment <under to the order of ships, forming now the line ahead,
Nebogatov) and formed one column of ships, in as admiral Togo had been undoubtedly informed
line ahead. previously by his scout cruisers, Rozhestvenski
9.40 a. m. On the port beam of the squadron, desided to rearrange the order of the squadron
up to 6 Japanese cruisers were sighted, keeping into the line abreast under the cover of mist. How-
the parallel course and exchanging wireless ever, scarcely the armored ships began their
telegraph messages continuously. rearrangement on the signal, when mist cleared
11.10 a. m. Since Japan cruisers approached away and Japanese cruisers appeared at once, and·
at the distance less than 39 cables, 57-mm gun of Rozhestvenski was compelled to cancel rear-
 26 Armored ships of the world. Issue I

I. :.~ ..... , , .. . .
nounUOB CtUBIB H:6 5.
~. :::::~ :::::;. __" " _u.•,.......
.:
~.
. .. ,. . . .1
.-. -.,.
-· Cross-sectional

-.
eUA'" ,,._.
,.to =
'0 .'., -- .
. view of the ship
J-~
1
"
,...

Il • . -. . n ."
.\ near the 65 th
• ~.OIM,..t .... .,-", .
1'._·'''--' frame.
_.
·L ....' . . .U . . . . .t . . . . . .r..

.. ...... , .-.
,:~:::::;~;.::~ ••I •.

----~-

rangement as useless, and the armored ships
remained in the line ahead. But for some time the
Russian main forces couldn't return to the former
order and were proceeding on their route in two
columns.
1.40 p. m. Three points ahead of the Second
squ'adron, main forces of the Japanese fleet
appeared with the purpose to cross its course to the
. left; they consisted of two divisions of armored
ships; the first division included fleet armored
ships "Mikasa" , fla'gship of admiral Togo, "Fuji",
"Shikishima" and" Asahi" and armored cruisers
"Nisshin" 'and "Kasuga" , the second division
included armored cruisers "Izumo", flagship of
vice-admiral Kamimura, "Asama", "Tokiva",
"Azuma", "Yakumo" and "Iwate".
1.49 p. m. Beginning of the battle. Having
crossed the course of the Second squadron to the
left, the main forces of the Japan Navy headed for
the opposite course after turning in succession, in
order to surround the head of the Russian'squad-
ron, which; making use of passing of all the
enemy's ships through one steady point while
turning in succession, opened fire: the ships of the
first and second detachments shelled enemy's
of the squadron - "Prince Suvorov". The speed
of Russian ships was 9 kn, the speed of main fleet
of Japan - 16 kn.
2 p. m. The Russian hospital ships "Orel" and
"Kostroma", moving behind the Second squadron,
were captured by the Japan auxiliary cruisers
"Manzu-maru", and "Sado-maru", respectively,
thus depriving Russian seamen of any medical
help in case, they would be wounded.
2.05 p. m. To prevent surrounding of the head
of the Russian squadron, being the purpose of this
maneuvere - heading for the opposite course of
the Japanese ships, Rozhestvenski ordered Jhe
squadron to tum right two points, and in the result
both fleets set parallel courses; Japanese ships
concentrated fierce fire on the Russian flagship.
"Prince Suvorov" was the objest of heavy firing
from four Japanese fleet armored ships, "Osl'abia"
- from all enemy's armored cruisers.
2.20 p. m. The battle between the main forces.
Japanese gunners found precisely the range for
the first ten minutes of the battle and shelled
effectively both the Russian flagships. About 2.20
p. m. "Osl'abia", having several shot-holes in the
underwater part of her hull on bow, with 12 list 0

ships at the distance 38 cables from the head ship to port and fire in her middle parts, left the line
Vladimir V. Arbuzov "Borodino" class armored ships" 27

1.r _ r __ .
Cross-sectionaL view t • ..,n n _.U ........",.
of the ship near the
after bridge 74th
....._
I . . . . . .. . , . . ,
'.n
t
•. ..,_.
,.

,to,...11,,
.'.
. _,
..,.

.1 0
r

.
.

........n ..- . . . , . .
10C .
frame. 11
1.~
• 1
_ ' .. 11. u ••
lI-..
1
n
_.
,....
I.e ".
I ,. .

................. .
n
1.0
if
10
...,..
,
• c..,...
'
~"~ It" ,..,0. .,.
.

_-..
,..."'
~,
".
.

..,.. .....

a.................-"'....._.
U ...'LI .

=;'::E;:;~
II

"~ ,.
.1,
....
....
,,_. ,I,

i;Jj , i : ; i . I ' • , ( t t t t r[ i [ r' rr [ rr rr r i ! 1 ,.

and went to the right, but 30 minutes after, being attacks of minor enemy's forces till she sank.
unable to stop the water, flowing inside the hull 2.30 p. m. - 4.50 p. m. After the armored
through holes, capsized and sank. The destroyers ship "Osl'abia" sank and the flagship "Prince Su-
"Bravy", "Buiny", "Bystry" and towing steamer vorov" left the line, the Second squadron leaded
"Swir''', that rushed to help her, saved some by the fleet armored ships "Emperor Alexan-
officers and a half of her crew. der III" and "Borodino", still heading for Vladi-
2.26. p. m. The fleet armored ship "Prince vostok, fought the battle with main forces of the
Suvorov", with her middle part enveloped in enemy.Directing concentrated fire against both
flames, masts down and demolished stern turret, Russian leading ships and using to advantage their
lost her steerability because of the damaged rudder superiority in the speed by 6-7 kn, Japanese
system and left the line, turning right 16 points. At ships tried to surround the head of the squadron in
this time Rozhestvenski was already wounded in order to prevent its break-through northwards. In
the head and lost consciousness from time to time. the result of several hittings, causing fires and
Further on the ship couldn't take part in the battle shot-holes in underwater parts of ship hulls, both
because of her severe damages; she was moving head armored ships were compelled to leave the
autonomously, trying to fight fires and repulsing line.
28 Armored ships of the world. Issue I

,,.It. nOUIPlUDI CtU!I1 H~84.

.. t'_
"'-
I. '-_. , .• ~
t.
J.
h
,.. -...
III .
.
Cross-sectional
Jto ,....,... " _ _ _ . .
view 01 the ship
..... .. -
::=..
r .~
"', ~

~~
~O. :::=;... ..,
1
,,.... , :-._.
.. near the after turret
84 thframe.
.
:1

to!; ; i . ! i i ~ : ; .. i ,. ".j t r , t r j r r t ~ r·" -..!..Ll..:r'

3.05 p. m. - 3.40 p. m. The mist thickened, ya", hit near the waterline. The destroyer "Shira-
which clouded the field of the battle, and the kumo" took two hits.
adversaries were compelled to stop fighting for 35 3.40 p. m. - 4.20 p. m. After the mist has
min. The Russian squadron, that had deviated cleared away, the fight was resumed. Approaching
somewhat southwards, headed again northwards the Russian squadron, that headed for NO, to the
after most serious damages of the head ships had distance 27 cables, both Japanese divisions ope-
been repaired, while the armored ships "Emperor ned fire trying again to surround the .squadron
Alexander III" and "Borodino", that had left the head. In the result of fierce fire the leading ships
line before, were put again in the head of the "Emperor Alexander III" and "Borodino" were
column. compelled to deviate southwards through Ost; in
During the time before the battle the flagship this phase of the battle till 4.20 p. m. most severe
of admiral Togo "Mikasa" was hit by ten large-ca- damages were inflicted on two ships: the armored
liber shells, but there were no severe damages. ship "Sisoi Veliki" was enveloped in flames, leit
3.15 p. m. The division of armored cruisers the line and then took the place in the end of the
under rear-admiral Kamimura, while moving in column, and the armored ship "Orel" got several
the mist, met the fleet armored ship "Prince hittings of large-caliber shells; her captain was
Suvorov", moving autonomously, enveloped in killed, many members of her crew were killed or
flames and smoke, and fired at it from the distance wounded. When surrounding the head of the
10 cables; the cruiser "Yakumo" got away a column, the armored ship "Mikasa" approached at
torpedo. After it the dispatch ship "Chihaya" and the distance 10 cables and got away a torpedo at
four destroyers attacked "Prince Suvorov" at the 4.06 p. m., which missed the target.
distance 2-~.5 cables, making ten ineffective 4.20 p. m. Because of a new attempt of Japa-
torpedo shots. The Russian armored ship, defen- nese ships to surround the head of the column of
ding herself only by fire of the rest of aft minor- the Russian ships, the latter were compelled to
caliber guns, damaged the dispatch ship "Chiha- deviate to the right, to Ost, in order to take away
 .... ......
<:
iii
0.
§'
::;'
:<
~
~
General view of the armored ship "Orel' (Materials of the Central State Naval
Archive of Russia Stock 876, inventory 28, file 23). [
g~
5-
[Il
[Il

~O'\\a.~\,,~........,.;::;. ~e.c41o'"
~~~
.--..s.~"""
.
" @-pU'D ~
I
[ Il

=-
i~

jmmtIDrmnnnn r,rrrrrrrrcrrrrrrrrrc, ! ! ! r, ! ! ! 0 ! ! I r, ! ! ! t, ! , ! (1 ! ! ! n I! I ,."...

t-)
\0
30 Armored ships of the world. Issue I

the head ships from a new attack and give
opportunity for the ships in the end of the column
to use their guns; the Russian headquarters
intended to head later southwards to avoid a new
surrounding. The mist drew thick again, thus
interrupting the main operations till 4.50 p. m. On
their new course the main Russian forces met at
4.40 p. m. the detachment of their transport ships
and cruisers, fighting with Japanese cruisers,
which were attacking then from the south. The
armored ships chased Japanese ships away by
large-caliber gun-fire, thus allowing th~ transport
ships and cruisers to join the column.
About 4.30 p. m. Second attack of four
Japanese destroyers of fourth division of fighters
against the armored ship "Prince Suvorov" from
the distance 3-1.5 cables. Four torpedoes,
launched by them, missed the target. The ship had
only one undamaged 75-mm gun to defend
herself. The Russian squadron approached the
ship and helped by gun-fire to repulse the attack;
the destroyer"Asagiri" took shell-hits.
About 5 p. m. The Russin main forses, with
the armored ships "Emperor Alexander III" and
"Borodino" at the head, joined by the cruisers and
the rest of the transport ships, set on the course
NO 23° northwards.
The first Japanese division under admiral
Togo discovered the Russian squadron moving
northwards and set parallel course, then in a half
an hour started the fight from the distance 30-32
cables, concentrating fierce fire on the head
armored ship "Borodino". Taking several direct
hits ship was enveloped in flames, the smoke
hampered the precise laying, so the gun-fire was
concentrated then on the second ship in the head
of the column - the armored ship "Orel".
5.30 p. m.-8.00 p. m. The second squadron,
keeping the course NO-23°, with the armored ship
ARMOR PROTECTJON
"Borodino" at the head, was fighting the main
forces of the Japanese fleet, moving on the
starboard beam, which concentrated heavy fire on
the leading ships of the squadron, armored ships
"Borodino", "Emperor Alexander III" and "Orel".
All these ships took multiple shell hits, causing fire
and shot-holes in the underwater hull; two of them
took list. The speed of Russion ships was 9 kn,
the speed of Japanese ships - 15-16 kn.
About 6 p. m. The destroyer "Buiny" caught
sight of the fleet armored ship "Prince Suvorov"
all in -flames, approached her weather board and
took on wounded vice-admiral Rozhestvenski, his
flag-captain and 15 officers of the naval staff.
After pushing off from "Suvorov", "Buiny"
signalled the- transfer of the high command from
vice-admiral Rozhestvenski to rear-admiral Nebo-
gatov and the order to head to Vladivostok. This
signal wasn't made out on the flagship of Nebo-
gatov "Emperor Nikolai I", so the destroyer "Be-
zuprechny" approached the armored ship and her
captain gave the verbal message; after this
Nebogatov made the signal saying "Follow me".
6 p. m. - 7.30 p.' m. Surrounded by the
fourth, fifth and sixth divsions of fighters of the
Japanese fleet (one armored ship, 11 cruisers and
one dispatch ship), the armored ship "Prince
Suvorov", disabled, with all her guns destroyed
exept for one 75-mm gun, was gun-fired during
this hour and a half by all the Japanese ships, then
she was attacked by the second division of
destroyers (4 ships) at the distance 1.5 cables and
hit by three torpedos, capsized at 7.30 p. m. and
went down with all her crew. Till the last moment
her only 75-mm gun fired at enemies.
Somewhat earlier, about 6.45 p. m. the same
division had sunk the transport - repair ship
"Kamchatka", disabled earlier, when she tried to
help "Suvorov".
_

Details of armor protection and gunnery arrangement on the armored ships of "Borodino" class are as follows:
Armor protection, ensuring survivability of the hull: two solid armor belts of Krupp armor along the waterline,
133.67 mm thick, 3.35 m high midships and up to 4 m high in the bow part, 1.25 m being under water; two solid armor
decks, connected with upper and lower shelves of major armor belt, and cell-like layer along the waterline between two
decks; hold longitudinal side bulkhead, made of two layers of soft steel, total 43 mm thick, along 3/4 of the ship length,
protecting all the bunkers and mechanisms.
Protection of armament and conning house: armor protection of 76-mm gun turrets - 254 mm, of 57-mm gun turrets
- 152.4 mm; protection of the casemate and battery of 75-mm guns -76.2 mm; conning house - 203.2 mm, top - 50.8 mm;
boiler jackets up to the upper deck - 19.05 mm.
Gunnery arrangement: 2 two 76 mm gun turrets on the fore and aft ends, with the train arc 270 6 two 57 mm gun
0
;
0 0
turrets with the train arc 135 per side of fore and aft groups and 180 per side for middleship; gun-fire over diametral
plane two 76 mm guns and eight 57-mm guns; ten 47-mm guns per side in casemates and battery with the train arc
0
per 12 •

The total weight of Krupp and deck armor is 4500 t or 33%. The difference between "Tsesarewich" and "Borodino":
on the Russian armored ships the thickness of the main belt armor is 60.3 mm less, but all the 20 75-mm guns are
protected by armor plates 76.2 mm thick, in comparison with 16 guns of that caliber on the board of "Tsesarewich".
Vladimir V. Arbuzov "Borodino" class armored ships" 31

'J~~OI.~~ Z'P0""",~e.~g ,i2.J\.0\.. ~<A,,'"

Oxe.M.O\I\"YIM.'U~ 'te-pm001Cl0 Sp0l-\Mflot ~~
~o~~o~ ~"b'b
!'j~

.,'
~CMYL~~~N~~So..

(§T'.-
. ,

~~'-"'~"l~ .. 9··---....-.. 0 .
.0
..!.!. ;.J -
~r ~ ;# /1'
s

Scheme of the armor plating of the "Borodino" class ship: a - side armor, b - upper deck, c - battery deck,
d - lower deck (Materials of the Central State Naval Archive of Russia. Stock 876, inventory 10, file 37).
32 Armored ships of the world. Issue I

About 6.30 p. m. The division of fighters 6.50 p. m. capsized and sank with all her crew.
under Kamimura, that was in search of the second 7.10 p. m. Loss of the enveloped in flames,
division of fighters under admiral Togo, lost in but still fighting fleet armored ship "Borodino". At
mist, detected the end ships of the Russian last she left the line, moving to the left, and cap-
squadron, approached them at 6.50 p. m. at the sized. Of all the crew only one seaman was saved.
distance 38-40 cables and launched an attack on About 8 p. m. the flagship of Nebogatov, the
them. armored ship "Emperor Nikolai I", passing the
About 6.30 p. m. The fleet armored ship ships of the squadron, took her place at the head
"Emperor Alexander III", with the list growing of the column, ahead of the armored ship "Ore!.
ever greater, left the line, moving to the left, at 8.15. p. m. The sunset. The battle was over.

Asahi

[
/
." --1.

. .
!TTITrb'!T~":'':" !."!4i"T: ~rTrT'~":-;TI'!'i':'; j"'!": lor ;T" ~'r'~ ;-":", ;-r' '";'1 : ~ !'~'i -: :"j"!"! , : : ; ri ; ; ; _ _ P' _ _ ~ ---

• ,. M e - .. H , t « ,..'

!"LAN of _TECTWE DECK.

JAPANESE ARMORED SHIP "ASAHI" _

Two armored ships "Mikasa" and "Asahi" of the same class had been the most up-to-date ships of the Japanese navy
at the time of Russo-Japanese war. Both of them had been built in English shipyards on the base of modernized drawings
of armored ship "Formidable". "Mikasa" had been built in 1900 in Wickers and Co. shipyard, "Asahi" - in 1899 in
Clydebank shipyard. Their armament consisted of 4 305-mm, 14 152-mm, 20 75-mm, 6 47-mm guns. Ship armor: the
side-board armor consisted of 102-229 mm armored plates, the second armor belt - of 152 mm plates, the armor of 152
mm gun casemates - of 152 mm plates, the bridge armor - of 356 mm plates and deck armor - of 51-76 mm armored
plates. Armored plates of "Mikasa" had been manufactured by Krupp, those of "Asahi" - by Harvey. Main characteristics
of ships: deadweight 15200 t, length 122 m, breadth 23.2 m, draft 8.3 m. Power plant included 25 boilers and two steam
engines, their total power allowed to obtain the speed up to 18.5 kn. .
The fate of one of these ships, "Mikasa", was very sad. Only four months after Tsushima battle, 10.09.1905 she
caught fire and the aft powder-magazine blew up. The armored ship sank in Sasebo haven, taking the lives of 256 men.
Now "Mikasa" is a memorial ship.
Vladimir V. Arbuzov "Borodino" class armored ships"
LOSS OF ARMORED SHIPS
(from reminiscences of a participant of the battle)
"Prince Suvorov"
The flag armored ship· "Prince Suvorov"
became the main target of the first five Japanese
ships, having circled round after turning in
succession and setting on parallel course. She was
disabled simultaneously with "Osl'abia" because
of damage of steering wheel in the conning house.
She had the mainmast and after funnel down, the
aft 75-mm gun tower burst, its top thrown down
and lying on the aftercastle. All the 57-mm guns
were out of action, all the unprotected side
sections were destroyed, the underwater hull
under the conning house was shot-holed. The ship
was enveloped completely in flames, a dense cloud
of smoke was following her over the water. She
.was still afloat, her engines worked, allowing her
to move after the squadron; she crossed twice the
line. After 5 p. m. two her funnels and masts were
down. Her silhouette was disfigured beyond
recognition, so our end ships, unaware of her
leaving the line, took her for some injured Japa-
nese ship and even gun-fired her.
At 5 p. m. the wounded vice-admiral and 19
officers were taken away from "Suvorov" by the
destroyer "Buiny". At this time only 47 mm-gun of
the after casemate was able to fire. By making the
signal on the board of "Bystry" the admiral
informed the squadron about turning the command
over to admiral Nebogatov.
Helpless and abandoned by the squadron, the
flagship was attacked at 7.29 p. m. by the division
of enemy's destroyers, that got to close quarters,
and took the direct hit by four torpedos. Not far
from "Suvorov", the transport ship "Kamchatka"
was sunk, that had tried to help her. The heroic
flagship went down with her captain, officers and
crew; only vice-admiral and officers of head-
quarters were saved by "Buiny".
"Emperor Alexander III"
After the flagship "Suvorov" was disabled, the
armored ship "Alexander III" became the head
ship and undertook the daring attempt to break
through northwards, passing the. end of the
Japanese division, having come ahead. However
this maneuver was frustrated because of sudden
turning 16 points together of the entire enemy's
column, which crossed the course of "Alexan-
33
der III". This ship left the line temporarily, but
soon resumed her place at the head of the column
and continued to be there till 3.40 p. m., when
severely damaged and enveloped in flames, she
left the line and went to the end of the column,
taking place between "Nakhimov" and "Dshakov".
After 5 p. m. "Alexander III" was gun-fired by
Japanese armored cruisers from the port side. At
6.50 p. m. she left the line, making the signal "Ship
in distre~s". Having the great list, the ship fired
salvo of middleship 57 mm-gun turret and was on
her beam-ends. When she capsized, her hull was
floating some time, her keel over. Several tens of
men perched on the ship bottom; they might be
saved, but all of them sank with the ship.
"Borodino"
In the first phase of the battle, before the
attempt of break-through to the north, "Borodino"
had few insignificant damages. "Alexander III"
leaving the line, "Borodino" became the h~ad ship
and in her turn repeated the attempt to break
through northwards, passing the end of the Japa-
nese division. Making use of temporary absence of
Japanese ships, which moved southwards and lost
the Russian squadron in the mist, at 5 p. m.
"Borodino" collected the rest of Russian ships and
led them northwards. When Japanese armored
ships, that returned from the south by parallel
course, overhauled ourcolumn, "Borodino" took a
terrible poundering from starboard, but continued
to keep for Vladivostok, without any evolutions.
She was enveloped in flames. Her last hour
"Borodino" moved with 5° list to the enemy side.
From the bridge of the armored ship "Orel",
following her, one could see continuous hits of
76 mm shells against her waterline, causing huge
fountains to rise. Through ports of batteries bright
flame was shooting up. In the last moment the shell
struck the side under the after 57 mm-gun turret.
Probably it caused burst in bunkers, for the flame
appeared near the waterline, and the ship was in a
minute on her starboard beam-ends. The ship
capsized: About 30 men perched on the bottom of
turned-over ship, but in the result of some internal
burst, the hull went down and all the seamen
perished. By night the Japanese destroyer picked
up one man of this crew, who was the only
survived member of crew of this heroic ship.
 4. DESCRIPTION OF THE BATTLE AND PRINCIPAL
CONCLUSIONS
Successful tennination of the passage meant in
no way winning of the battle; to ensure success in
the battle, the combat ships needed discharging of
their excessive load of extra stores. Unfortunately,
it hadn't been done. The annored ships were
compelled to join the battle while having the total
overload about 1700 t; every one of them had had
more than 1000 t of coal on board. As the result,
the height of the midships second annor belt
(152 mm thick) above water was about 1.4 m, and
the 76-mm armored hull side near the 75-mm gun
casemate with cut-through ports was extending
2.1 m above water. The height of the forward part
of the second annor belt was only 2 m instead of
2.8 m, as it was designed, and under conditions of
moderate seas (3-4 balls) in the day of the battle
waves were flowing over unprotected hull sides.
However, 102 mm-thick armor belt of Japanese
annorclads was extending in the forward part
above water as high as 1 m.
The headquarters of the Second Pacific squa-
dron hand't taken necessary preparatory actions
before the battle: all the rowboats, steam launches
and mine launches were left on their places,
plentiful wooden details of deck houses, super-
structures and inner compartments hadn't been
dispensed with (exept for "Orel", where they had
been removed partly), to say nothing of colouring
of the annored ships - black hulls with yellow
funnels and tubes and dark-grey masts made good
targets for ranging shots of the Japanese.
The battle experience of the Japanese head-
quarters promptedthem to strip all the unnecessa-
ry wooden details and take away all the boats and
launches; they dismounted all the cumbersome
roundtops.
Tactical plans of the headquarters of the Rus-
sian squadron had foreseen formation of a
separate detachment of four Borodino-class ships
under command of Rozhestvenski, who was on the
board of his flagship, the annorclad "Prince
Suvorov". But it didn't mean separate manoeuv-
ring of the detachment - twelve Japanese annor-
clads were to be opposed by twelve Russion bat-
tleships in close fonnation, moving with the colle-
ctive speed 9 kn only.
The Russian ships were threatened most of all
by four Japanese annorclads, forming the first
fighting division together with the cruisers
"Nisshin" and "Kasuga", commanded by admiral
H. Togo himself. This division hadn't had decisive
supremacy over the first detachment of the Russi-
ans (see Table 2), composed of one-class ships
with the better arrangement of the artillery. It
would have been logical for Rozhestvenski to let
the fifth high-speed annored ship "Osl'abia" join
the detachment and then to attack the division of
H. Togo from the favourable (for the Russian
ships) distance. For the Russian artillery this
distance was of the order of 20-25 cables. Seri-
ous damages of one or two of Japanese battleships
should have compelled the Japanese to cease the
battle. But the Russian commander-in-chief had
let the Japanese take the fighting initiative.
Moreover, just after the main forces of H. To-
go had been sighted at 1.20 p. m. of that ominous
day May 14, 1905, Rozhestvenski thought of
nothing better than to order evolution of the
annored ships, which were to fonn single line
ahead, while the enemy had been approaching
fast. From the conning tower of his flagship Rozh-
estvenski had seen, that adversary's ships began
turning port in succession with the intention to
enter the parallel naval action, thus allowing the
Russians to attack these ships with fire for some
time till the turning was finished. When head ships
of H. Togo - "Mikasa" and "Shikishima" got on
new course, Rozhestvenski commanded to bring
them under fire and decrease the speed of squa-
dron ships from 11 kn to 9 kn. In the result the
fourth ship in the column, "Orel", hadn't time
enough to take her place before "Osl'abia", that
slowed down sharply and turned broadsides
towards the enemy; the annored ships, following
her, got muddled together.
The commander of the port forward 152-mm
gun turret of "Prince Suvorov", lieutenant Boris-
Danchich fired ranging shot from the distance 32
cables at 1.49 p. m. The shell fell within 20 m of
"Mikasa" stem. Following the flagship, Russian
annored ships opened fire, trying to concentrate it
on the head annorclads of the adversary. Actually
"Mikasa" was attacked simultaneously by "Prince
Suvorov", "Emperor Alexander III", "Borodino"
and periodically by "Osl'abia" and "Orel". The
latter, finding herself beyond the line, tried to
register her fire through "Osl'abia", while using
false reading of her range ,finder (55 cables), that
couldn't be corrected, because the fall of her shells
wasn't seen from her: "Mikasa" was hidden some-
times behind splashes. From the first minutes of
the battle "Osl'abia" came under severe fire of two
Japanese annorclads and several cruisers; her
forward gun turret had fired only three shots
Vladimir V. Arbuzov "Borodino" class armored ships" 35

bef ore it was damaged; the after gun turret

switched its fire very soon to other objects.
During the first 17 minutes of the battle
"Mikasa" was hit by 19 shells from the head
Russian armored ships, including five 305-mm
and fourteen 152-mm shells. One of 12 shells
pierced the roof of 152-mm gun casemate; 76-mm
ammunition, stored nearby, detonated, and all the
crew men were wounded. The second shell
exploded under the forebridge and demolished the
shelterdeck, its splinters got into the conning
tower and admiral H. Togo scarcely missed being
stricken by them. The third major-caliber shell
pierced 152-mm armored plate under casemate
No 1 and caused a coal bunker to be flooded. But
all these hits weren't serious enough to disable
15000 t ship. "Mikasa" managed to outran fire by
evasive manoeuvre because of poor organization
of firing even within the armored ships detach-
--~ ment of the Russian squadron.
Unsatisfactory organization of firing of the
Russian squadron allowed the three other Japa-
nese ships - "Shikishima","Fuji" and "Asahi" -
: I
to remain actually not subjected to fire. Follo-
I
I'
I I
:
wing "Mikasa", that brought down fire when hit
..... I: J
I • I by first shells, "Asahi" attacked by fire Russian
': ::

~
I

. a flagship without being prevented from it any-

.
,
I
I
I wise."Shikishima" and "Fuji" placed "Osl'abia"
I :;. under lire and inflicted fatal damages on her. At
I I
. ..l. .:... about 2 p. m. "Fuji" turned fire on "Prince Su-
vorov", attacked Ialso by the armored cruiser
"Azuma".
In some minutes after fire had been initiated
"Prince Suvorov" took hit after hit. The first shell
exploded near the forebridge. Japanese high-
explosive projectiles, hitting the battery deck,
commanding officer's state room, boats and
launches, placed on the sparedeck, became the
cause of more and more fires; falling thick and fast
splinters were punching fire hoses and injuring
men of the damage-control party. The sources of
the fire couldn't been suppressed: in a half of an
hour since the beginning of the battle "Prince
Suvorov" was enveloped in flames and smoke. On
the fore yard strips of burnt signal halyards were
dandling; no signals could be made by their
means. The radiotelegraph equipment, that had
been receiving uninterruptedly Japanese messa-
ges, was silent since 2.12 p. m.: both its antennas
failed. Shell explosion threw down a part of the
roof of the after 305-mm gun turret, but its guns
continued firing. The after port 152-mm gun turret
must be abandoned, for it became hot because of
6" - J52 mm gun turret 01 the "Borodino" class armored fire in the admiral's compartment.
ships. The captain of the flagship proposed repea-
36 Armored ships of the world. Issue I

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"BORODINO"-GLASSFLEEr ARMORED SHIPS (brie!historlcoutlineandprincipalc!uuacteristicso!ships) _

The first ship of a new series of fleet armored ships, "Borodino" had been laid down 11th May, 1900, in New
Admiralty shipyard of St.Petersburg port; this event had been celebrated widely. The same day her sister ship had been
laid down in the dockyard of Baltyiski shipbuilding and mechanical plant of the Navy Ministry; this ship's name had been
"Emperor Alexander III". Third ship of the series, fleet armored ship "Orel" had been laid down 20th May, 1900, in the
shipyard of Galley island, and in a year, 26th August, 1901, in the Baltic shipyard the laying down of the fourth ship of
the series, "Prince Suvorov", had been celebrated. The last ship of the series, "Slava", had been laid down in the same
shipyard a year after the fourth ship.
The first of these ships to be launched had been "Emperor Alexander III"- 21.07.1901, then "Borodino"- 26.08.190 I,
"Orel"- 06.07.1902 and "Prince Suvorov- 12.09.1902. The last ship, "Slava", had been launched only 16.07.1903. In
November of 1903 "Emperor Alexander III" had been put into service and joined the Russian Navy. Next three ships had
been commissioned in July-September of 1904 and the last ship, "Slava", only in October of 1905, after the end of
Russo-Japanese war.
The first four ships, that entered into the Second Pacific squadron, had following main characteristics: normal design
displacement 13516 t, actual displacement approximately 14200 t, over all length 121.2 m ("Borodino" and "Orel") and
 Vladimir V. Arbuzov "Borodino" class armored ships" 37

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121m ("Prince Suvorov", "Emperor Alexander III" and "Slava"), load waterline length 118.7 m, br~dth 23.2 m, mean
draft 7.9 m (design value) or 8.24 m (actual value).
Power plant: 20'steam boilers of Belville type and two triple expansion engines. The total power of the main engines
of "Borodino" was 16300 hp (the power of the engines of other ships was 15800 hp); the speed estimated by Afanasiev's
formula was 17.6 kn; normal coal supply was 787 t, full capacity of the coal bunker - 1235 t; the range of the ships was.
3200 miles/ 10 kn with complete supply of coal. .
Ship armor: the main armor belt 145-194 mm thick, the second armor belt 102-152 mm thick. Casemates and 75-mm
gun batteries were protected by 76 mm armored plates, the turrets of major caliber guns - by 254 mm armored plates, the
turrets of 152-mm guns - by 152 mm armored plates, the bridge - by 203 mm armor. The total deck armor plating
thickness was from 52 to 90 mm.
Gunnage: 4 305-mm guns (with 40-caliber barrel length and ammunition - 60 shells per a barrel), 12 152-mm guns
(45 calibers, with ammunition - 210 shells per each of them), 20 75-mm guns (50 calibers, ammunition - 300 shells per
each of them), 20 47 mm guns, 2 37 - Hochkis guns, 264 mm assault support guns of Baranovski type; 4 7,62-mm guns.
Effective range in fire: for 305-mm guns -74 cables, for 152-mm guns - 60 cables, for 75-mm gungs - 42 cables. The ships
were equipped by two 1.2 miles range finders of Barr and Strood type.
Mine (torpedo) armament: four mine-racks of 381 mm caliber surface racks on bow and stern, underwater racks on
port and starboard. All the ships were equipped with torpedo defence net (network barrage) and ten counter-mines and
six spheric mines; each of ships was carrying two 56-feet mine launches. For communication radiotelegraph equipment of
Slaby-Arco system, manufactured by Telefunken, was used.
Man: 28 officers, 9 petty officers, 745 men.
 38
tedly to do evasive manoeuvre to outrun fire of
Japanese ships, but Rozhestvenski did not agree,
because he was concerned only with accuracy of
his artillery fire. Under the shower of the adver-
sary's shells the flag armored ship turned twice
two points starboard: this didn't allow to avoid
brackets, but conditions for firing became some-
what better. Because "Prince Suvorov" couldn't be
discerned distinctly behind clouds of smoke,
Japanese ships turned their fire on "Emperor
Alexander III"; she took some heavy hits and
caught fire too. Probably, some shell, hitting
"Borodino", damaged the steering gear, and the
ship was disabled for some time. Nearly simultane-
ously "Osl'abia", being seriously injured, sheered
out of line. For a time these two armored ships
were brought to the same line with "Orel", thus
becoming the good target for the Japanese. "Boro-
dino" exchanged effectively fire with the enemy
with her after 305-mm gun turret, while firing over
the aftercastle of "Orel". 203-mm shells of Japa-
nese cruisers destroyed the forward 75-mm case-
mate. . But, fortunately for the Japanese, six projectiles,
Soon after "Osl'abia'" sheering out of line the
flagship "Prince Suvorov" fell out too, because the
gear, connecting the conning tower with her
steering machine, was damaged. The helm
remained in the starboard position. The armored
ship, that took to that time no less than thirty hits,
made a complete turning cycle, went through the
line of Russian ships and began to approach
enemy's ships."Emperor Alexander III" followed
her at first, but after the situation became clear, she
took the place at the head of the squadron in
accordance with the previous order of the com-
mander-in chief, trying to resume the initial cour-
se -. 23 to the north-east.
0
Possibly, "Alexander III" was still under the
command of her captain. The ship was fighting
valiantly, being attacked by combined fire of
Japanese ships. Narrow hits of several major-
caliber shells at the port forward part of the hull of
"Alexander III" caused six-meter hole in the
unprotected hull. A part of the stem post was
warped as a result of repeated explosions, plates
of the armor belt along the water-line were
displaced. Water, flowing through the shot-hole,
began to flood compartments above the armored
deck. With the list to port and fire on skids,
"Emperor Alexander III" sheered out of line at
2.40 p. m., suspending fire for some time. On her
burnt. sides red spots of the minium coating were
seen.
At this time, when Japanese armorclads under
. command of Togo completed almost their mission
Armored ships of the world. Issue I
of enveloping the head of the Russian squadron,
crossing nearly their "t", the admiral took resu-
ming of the initial course by "Emperor Alexander
III" for an attempt to break through northwards,
passing astern of the division under Kamimura,
which had lost the cruiser"Asama", disabled at the
beginning of the battle. The Japanese com-
mander-in-chief altered course to 90 to the left by
0
simultaneons turning, while his second flagship
continued on present course, protecting her ships
during this evolution and attacking the head
Russian ships by fire.
Instead of "Emperor Alexander III", the lead
of the column was taken by "Borodino"; this ship
together with "Orel" subjected Japanese ships,
brought to the same line, to fire. The cruiser
"Nisshin" was bilged by 305-mm shell; the
armorclad "Fuji" suffered heavy damages. It
seemed, fortunes of the war might come to the
Russians: 305-mm shell pierced 6"-thick armored
plates above the starboard gun of the after gun
turret of this ship and caused charges to inflame.
stored in the turret, didn't detonate at all, and the
water from the destroyed hydraulic system helped
to extinguish fire. Moreover, the port gun of the
turret was put into operatio;fl in 40 minutes.
At about 2.48 p. m. Togo'gave next command
to turn simultaneously to the left for evolution into
the single line ahead and then together with
"Nisshin" under rear-admiral S. Mitsu brought
"Borodino" under fire while this ship had
completed almost her turn northwards, trying to
approach the disabled flagship. The captain of
"Borodino" P. I. Serebrennikov, one of the senior
officers of the squadron, was awaiting for signals
from the flagship in accordance with the admiral's
command, ready to protect the flagship from the
next attack of the enemy.
"Prince Suvorov" and the head ships of the
Russian column, "Borodino", "Orel" and "Empe-
ror Alexander III", fallen in astern of "Orel",
came at 3 p. m. under concentrated fire of the
armorclads of Togo, joined by the cruisers under
command of Kamimura. The distance between
them was diminished up to 13-15 cables.
"Mikasa" and then the cruisers "Yakumo" and
"Azuma" even discharged torpedoes at "Prince
Suvorov", but missed the target. But the Japanese
guns, firing at a short distilllce, reduced the Rus-
sian flagship to a heap of metal ruins. In the result
of explosion in the after 305-mm gun turret its roof
was thrown down on the aftercastle. The foremast
and the after funnel were knocked down by shells
and fell to the deck. Through the underwater
Vladimir V. Arbuzov "Borodino" class armored ships" 39

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12" - 305-mm gun turret of the "Borodino" class armored ship.

40 Armored ships of the world. Issue I

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 Vladimir V. Arbuzov "Borodino" class armored ships" 41

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11.- ~

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-------.~-__r__-
42
shot-hole beneath the armor belt, near the port
mine racks, water was flowing over; some side
compartments were flooded thus producing a
steady list. When "Borodino" was approaching
"Prince Suvorov", she also took several hits.
Turning southwards, the Russian armored
ships disappeared for some time in the mist, and
the battle was suspended.
During this fight at short distances Japanese
ships sustained no serious damages because the
disposition of both adversaries didn't allow all the
Russian ships to keep under fire enemy's ships:
only head ships could attack by fire and only a
part of their guns could be used. On the board of
"Shikishima" a shell pierced casemate No 6 and its
crew was injured. On the board of "Nisshin" an
exploding shell tore the tube of a 203-mm gun off.
Passive manoeuvring of the Second squadron
under command of Rozhestvenski at the beginning
of the battle in combination with the poor coor-
dination of the collective firing of the squadron led
to the loss of the control over the squadron actions
and ultimately to ist defeat. After "Prince Suvo·rov"
was disabled, "Emperor Alexander III" and
"Borodino" were fighting desperately, trying to
fulfil previous commands of the admiral and
support each other and their flagship, but every
time their heroic efforts to lead the squadron
ended in that the head of the squadron came under
concentrated fire of the adversary. "Prince
Suvorov", that had lost control, ran into heavy
firing of "Mikasa", "Shikishima" and the five
cruisers under Kamimura soon after "Borodino"
turned southwards. In the result of new hits the
forward 305-mm gun turred was destroyed, many
officers and seamen, trying to extinguish fires,
were wounded or killed. To that time "Prince
Suvorov" took no less than sixty hits of shells of
major and middle caliber. Her three sisterships
suffered severe damages too, but"Borodino" and
"Orel" still retained their fighting capability. The
operating efficiency was preserved also by
"Mikasa", that took more than 25 hits.
At about 3.40 p. m. captain Serebrennikov
squared again the course of the squadron to 23° to
the north-east. "Borodino" was followed by
"Orel" and"Alexander III". The senior of remai-
ned flagships under command of rear-admiral
Nebogatov was going to fall in astern of the latter.
The flagship of N. I. Nebogatov, "Emperor
Nikolai I", followed by three armored ships of
coast defence, passed the stretched-out column of
Russian ships of the second demachment - "Sisoi
Veliki", "Navarin" and "Admiral Nakhimov" by
portside. At that time there appeared out of mist
Armored ships of the world. Issue I
five cruisers under Kamimura, followed by the
division of H. Togo. During the fight, which lasted
35 minutes, Japanese ships overtook the Russian
squadron once more; between the fighting ships
"Prince Suvorov" was moving by zigzags. At times
she approached enemy's ships as near as 11
cables, while the distance between the main forces
was of the order of 30-35 cables.To protect her
flagship, "Borodino" turned eastwards.
This fight demonstrated once more the supe-
riority of the Japanese in arranging the squadron
firing _."Prince Suvorov" lost the forward funnel
and the rest of the mainmast, tom off by explosion
of 305-mm shell. All her gun turrets were inactive
already, and only two 75-mm guns of the after
casemate continued fire.
Japanese shells inflicted damages on the board
of "Borodino", "Orel" and "Emperor Alexan-
der III". On the board of "Orel" a part of the tube
of the portside 305-mm gun in the forward turret
was torn off. Russian ships answered the
adversary's fire with accurate enough, but uncon-
centrated fire.
"Mikasa" and "Nisshin" took hits of major-
caliber shells. On the board of the flagship of
admiral Togo another coal bunker was flooded by
water through a shot-hole in the 152 mm-thick
armor belt. Splinters of a shell, which had dest-
royed the forward turret of "Nisshin", got into the
conning tower; they wounded rear-admiral S. Mi-
tsu and killed his officer. In the starboard 305-mm
gun of "Shikishima" forward turret its own shell
exploded - eleventh shell in this battle. The gun
was destroyed, the turret was to be repaired.
The obvious superiority in firing and compa-
ratively insignificant damages of Japanese 'ships
allowed Togo to approach Russian ships to
destroy them completely. Nevertheless he com-
manded his ships to turn simultaneously to the left
and disengage; maybe, he estimated wrongly the
situation in that moment, because visibility was
obscured by the mist and smoke from burriing
Russian ships. Meanwhile "Borodino" turned
gradually southwards, followed by the squadron,
and came ultimately to the field of fight of cruiser
detachments. Russian armored ships passed bet-
ween their own and Japanese cruisers, while
continuing their fight with Kamimura's division,
joined soon by the damaged "Asama".
The disabled Russian flagship was left behind.
Together with the damaged transport ship
"Kamchatka", "Prince Suvorov" endured terrible
pounding from Japanese cruiser detachments, but
retained her buoyancy. At about 7 p. m. rear-
admiral S. Kataoka sent his destroyers Nos 72, 73,
Vladimir V. Arbuzov "Borodino" class armored ships" 43

74 and to attack the ruined ship. Coming to "Prin-
ce Suvorov" from starboard and the bow, Japanese
destroyers discharged seven 356-mm torpedoes to
her portside. According to some evidence, the
guns of the ship were inoperative long ago, but
survived seamen were still rifling.
After two or three explosions of torpedoes
"Prince Suvorov", enveloped in black-yellow
puffs of smoke, turned over slowly on her portside
and sank in ten minutes. The fate of the heroic
ship was shared by her remaining crew members.
The Japanese wrote: "On the place, where there
have been the armored ship, only fragments of
smoke clouds remained, drifting over the water
surface".
Almost simultaneously two other sister ships
went down, which had been the brunt of the battle
of that day. At 5.40 p. m. the squadron led by
"Borodino" was ran down by the division of
H. Togo. The column of Russian ships spread out:
only "Orel" followed astern of "Borodino".
"Emperor Alexander III", flooded by water,
flowing through shot-holes in the bow, fell
behind. She was followed by the detachment
under command of Nebogatov and by "Sisoi
Veliki" , "Navarin" and"Admiral Nakhimov",
shifted somewhat to portside.
Japanese ships, having on the board unda-
maged fourteen 305-mm, one 254-mm and four
203-mm guns, attacked the head ships by fire at
the distance about 39 cables; probably, they were
answered by seven 305-mm guns and remained
152-mm guns of starboard turrets. Firing condi-
tions were unfavourable for Japanese ships, beca-
use the Russian ships were seen on the back-
ground of the setting-down sun. When the distan-
ce was diminished to 30 cables, visibility was
improved; at about 6.14 p. m. "Borodino" took
several hits and began to disappear in clouds of
smoke. The Japanese turned sometimes their fire
on "Orel", that was answering with rather good
accuracy. A 152-mm shell damaged a casemate gun
on the board of "Mikasa" . At 6.26 p. m. the
flagship of admiral Togo was hit by 305-mm shell.
"Taciturn admiral", armed with a sword (the
emperor's gift) and a Zeiss binocular, ordered to
increase the distance. At the beginning of this
stage of the battle the accident, similar to that on
the board of "Shikishima", occurred on the board
of "Mikasa"; a starboard 305-mm gun of the
forward turret was burst by its own (twenty-eighth
in that day) shell. The port gun resumed firing in
36 minutes.
After several hits at the armor belt on the level
of the waterline, "Orel" got off the course, her
heel in turning increased up to 6°; through
shot-holes in the unprotected hull sides waves
were flowing over. Water, flooding the battery
deck, poured to starboard, thus preventing. the
ship from straightening. "Navarin" sheered out of

Japanese armored ship

"Iwamt' (former "Orel').

JAPANESE ARMORED SHIP "IWAMI" _

About 11 in the morning of 15 th May, 1905 those Russian ships, led by rear-admiral Nebogatov, which remained
afloat after the battle of 14 th May and were encircled by the majority of Japan combat ships, were forced to surrender.
Among ships yielded to Japan, there was badly damaged fleet armored ship "Orel". She was tugged to Sasebo, repaired
and later joined the Japan navy under new name "Iwami". The ship was partly refitted. Her gunnery included, as before,
4 305-mm guns, but new 6 203-mm, 20 76-mm and 20 47-mm guns were mounted. "Iwami" took part in the First World
War. 23.08.1914 together with other ships of British and Japanese navies she shelled the German naval-military base in
Tsing Dao on Pacific. In 1922 this armored ship was taken out of service because of her utter obsolescence.
44
line and protected "Orel" with her hull, in order
she might repair her damages and return to her
place astern of "Borodino".
At about 6.30 p. m. Russian ships were
attacked by six cruisers under Kamimura, that
overhauled the squadron, at the distance 40-45
cables. Possibly, their target was "Emperor
Alexander III", that had come formely under fire
of "Kasuga" and kept out of line and somewhat to
starboard of the last ship of the Nebogatov deta-
chment, "Admiral Ushakov". "Emperor Alexan-
der III"preserved still her funnels and masts~ but
the spardeck was all in flames. While taking the
terrible pounding from enemy's ships, the ship
moved suddenly to portside, the list to starboard
became even greater gradually. Soon water began
to flow over through demolished ports of 75-mm
gun battery, 305-mm gun tubes touched crests of
waves. After firing her last shot, "Emperor
Alexander III" turned on her starboard over at
6.50 p. m.; upwards her huge bottom there were
clambering about fourty revived seamen.
Japanese cruisers chased off the Russian
cruiser "Izumrud", that tried to save lives of peris-
hing people. Soon the bottom of the armored ship
went down together with all the 867 men of her
crew. Wrec~ of "Emperor Alexander III" was cau-
sed by the loss of stability caused by flooding;
enormous masses of water flow:'ed through nu-
merous shot-holes, which could be neither loca-
lized, nor repaired while running and under con-
ditions of moderate seas. The greatest quantities of
water flowed through enormous holes in the bow.
Her operating efficiency was diminished to a large
measure by extensive fire, which first had found
plentiful materials to be fed with, and foremost
wooden details of deck houses, cabins and
rowboats. Because of overloading of the armored
ships the height of protected hull sides above
water was decreased as well as the safety angle.
At the moment of the wreck of "Emperor
Alexander III" both "Borodino" and "Orel" were
enveloped in flames. The head ship sustained very
serious losses and damages: all her officers were
killed or wounded, her mainmast was' knocked
down and dropped into water; the steady list to
starboard about 50 developed. At about 7 p. m. on
the stem of the ship two 305-mm shells exploded,
fired by "Shikishima" guns; they produced burst of
flames 9 m high. The guns of the after gun turret
were destroyed, on the after bridge 47 -mm
ammunition was exploding.
It was-getting dark, and admiral Togo decided
to let his destroyers to conclude the battle. "Mika-
sa" ceased fire and headed off to portside. Reach-
ing the turning point, "Fuji" fired the last shot
from her remained 305-mm after gun. The shell hit
the starboard forward 152-mm gun turret of
"Borodino"; probably, it caused detonation of the
Armored ships of the world. Issue I
ammunition. Flames and smoke rose as high as
funnels. Without falling out of the column, "Boro-
dino" capsized, turning over on starboard and
soon went down with tens of seamen, perched on
her bottom. The last thing, that was seen by obser-
vers, were rotating screws - the machine room
crew, headed by the ship's engineer V. S. Ry-
abinin, were doing their duty till the last moment.
Of 866 men of "Borodino"'s crew only one
man was saved later by a Japanese destroyer.
During the last half an hour of the battle firing
of the guns of "Borodino" and "Orel" was less
intensive. Centralized control of their artillery was
unfeasible. As to Japanese ships, only "Nisshin"
sustained some damages, not very serious: the tube
of another 203-mm gun was tom off. It must be
said, that "Sisoi Veliki" was given a geat chance to
revenge the loss of "Emperor Alexander III", for
her 305-mm shell hit the flagship of rear-admiral
H. Kamimura, the cruiser "Izumo". This shell,
gliding along the armored deck, pierced the boiler
casing, but didn't explode, fortunately for the
Japanese.
Of twenty-four 305-mm shells of Russian
ships, which hit Japanese armorclads, eight shells
didn't explode at all (33 %). Of course, this dimi-
nished greatly the efficiency of firing of the Rus-
sian artillery, which was actually quite unsufficient
because of very small charge of explosive: its
content comprised only 1,1-1,8 % of the total
mass of the shell. Meanwhile in Japanese 305-mm
shells the content of shimosa (melinite) comprised
5-8,5% of the total mass of the shell; the bri-
sance of melinite surpassed that of the smokeless
powder used in Russian 12" shells.
But Japanese shells couldn't pierce even
thinnest armored plates and exploded often in the
tubes of their own guns. "Orel" took about seventy
hits of shells, and fifty-five of them of 305-mm -
152-mm shells. The appearance of these damages
was impressive - plentiful shot-holes in the
unprotected hull, warped superstructures, destroy-
ed and burnt skids and rowboats. The ship
suffered very heavy losses: 41 men were killed or
died of wounds, 87 men were wounded. But the
ship was operable and preserved considerable
fighting capability: three 305-mm, five 152-mm
and ten75-mm guns. Hits of enemy's shells
diminished, of course, the intensity of firing, but
ship's guns fired at that day 185 305-mm and more
that 800 152-mm shells.
, The Japanese armorc1ad "Mikasa", having
taken about 40 hits, in that thirty-two hits of
152-mm - 305-mm shell~ lost 113 men: eight of
them were killed and 105 wounded. One 305-mm
and two 152-mm guns were destroyed. The rate of
firing of "Mikasa" wasn't 'greater toan that of
"Orel"; 120 shells of the main caliber were fired
and about a half of ammunition was left to continue
Vladimir V. Arbuzov "Borodino" class armored ships" 45

the fight. Of course, if explosions of Russian
shells were more effective and there were no
failures, detonation of the ammunition on the
board of "Fuji" and destroying of boilers on the
board of "Izumo" could be hardly avoided, but the
excellent properties of the Japanese ammunition
couldn't be considered to be the main factor,
ensuring the winning of the battle. Neither could
be drawbacks of the armored ships of "Borodino"
class considered to be the main cause of defeat of
the Russian navy:- these ships demonstrated good
enduranse under severe conditions.
The Japanese gained the upper hand in this
battle because of superiority in tactics, in tactical
use of their artillery. They managed to use their
guns in favourable tactical situation, concentrate
fierce fire on best Russian armored ships and hit
their objects most effectively. That allowed them
to disable and destroy three armored ships of
"Borodino" class and "Osl'abia".
Japanese gunners were firing with good
accuracy: 3,2 % of fired shells of major and middle
calibers hit their targets, and the main object of
attack of the Japanese artillery was four armored
ships of "Borodino" class, which took no less than
265 hits of 360 hits, taken by twenty Russian
armored ships. Armored ships of the detachment
under Nebogatov took only ten hits, but they were
placed in an unfavourable position for firing, so
their fire wasn't effective, though their expen-
diture of the ammunition was considerable.
Efficiency of fire of the armored ships artillery
was decreased, of course, as a result of actions of
the adversary. However, while guns of some ships
fired with the good accuracy, and the fire intensity
was high enough, the total efficiency of fire of
Russian armored ships artillery was low, three
times worse than that of Japanese guns, only 1,2%
hits. Most hits were taken by "Mikasa" and
"Nisshin", while the rest of hits were distributed
evenly among all the participating combat ships.
By their manoeuvring Japanese ships aimed at
offering the best possibilities for their ships
artillery action and evading the fire of the Russian
artillery; they coped with this task successfully. At
the same time the armored ships of the squadron
under Rozhestvenski were tied to limited collective
speed (9 kn), their initiative was brought to
nothing by orders of the commander-in-chief,
who lost control of the squadron after "Prince
Suvorov" was disabled. Well-known English
historian and theorist of navy H. Wilson wrote
later: "The Russians didn't lack courage, they
stood firm to the end, but they were devoid of
initiative and enterprise".
In opinion of many Russian, Japanese and
English specialistes the battle was lost by the
Second Pacific squadron in the first 40 minutes
after fire was initiated. Meanwhile the armored
ships of "Borodino" class were fighting valiantly
more than four hours after this first phase.

EFFICIENCY OF GUN FIRE

The Russians The Japanese IN THE BATTLE OF 14 TH
MAY, 1905
Hits of Hits of
First group of First group of Men
152-305 mm Men killed 152-305mm
armored ships armored ships killed
shells shells

"Prince Suvorov" 100 (?) 935 "Mikasa" 32 113

"Emperor 50 (?) 867 "Shikishima" 5 37
Alexander III"
"Fuji" 5 29
"Borodino" 60 (?) 865 "Asahi" 2 31
"Orel" 55 128 "Kasuga" 2 27
"Nisshin" 9 83
Total 265 (?) 2795 Total 55 320

NUMBER OF SHELLS FIRED

492 (?) 305mm 445 305mm
2500 (?) 152mm 50 254mm
284 203mm
5748 152mm
Total 2992 (?) Total 6527
 5. ARMORED SHIP "OREL" IN THE BATTLE

In the course of all stages of the artillery At 3.40 p. m. the captain of the ship was
engagement of the day "Orel" took 15 hits of 12" wounded mortally; charges in two starboard 6"
caliber shells and more than 50 hits of 8" and 6" gun turrets took fire, the deck around the conning
caliber shells, to say nothing about minor caliber tower was enveloped in flames. All the officers in
projectiles of countennine guns. the conning tower and gun turrets were wounded,
At first "Orel" was struck in her afterbody at commanding officers of forward and aft casemates
the same time, when "Osl'abia" had her forward were killed. At 4 p. m. the ship took 6° list on
damaged. "Orel" sustained severe damages when starboard, sometimes it increased up to 10°, but
passing on opposite tack the line of Japanese ships thanks to well-coordinated work of hold crew it
at 3 p. m. was repaired. Then the ship took a terrible

The damaged armored ship "Ore!' in Japanese harbor Maizuru.

 Vladimir V. Arbuzov "Borodino" class armored ships" 47

pouning of collective fire of 12" guns from

starboard, simultaneously with "Borodino". Some
shells struck the deck near the mainmast, and
admiral's rooms were set on fire.
In this phase of the battle Japanese cruisers
were attacking our ships from port side; after loss
of "Alexander III" they continued to fire at "Orel"
8" and 6" caliber shells. After "Borodino" was
lost, "Orel" moved some time at the head of the 4#------.-----------------_____________ _-
... column till "Nikolai I", the flagship of Nebogatov, .
overtook it.
Before the 4arkness fell, more than 50 shells
were fired and fell behind the stern of "Orel", but
all the guns of Japanese armorclads missed their
target. It was the last salvo before stopping the
fire. "Orel" survived all the artillery strokes of the
adversary during the battle and by night, while
following the head ship "Nikolai I", accompanied
by the cruiser "Izumrud", avoided enemy's
torpedoes. Her engines were working normally,
her steering system was operable; as to the
armament, one 12"· gun in the forward turret
mounting and two 6" gun turrets on the port side ------ ----- -------------------------------
remained operable. When the division of Nebo-
gatov, including this ship, was surrounded by
enemy's ships, "Orel" opened fire, but her 6"

shells didn't reach them. When Japanese ships
concentrated their fire on "Nikolai I", "Orel" was
forced to lower her flag, in order to save the
flagship from being destroyed.
Such were the circumstances of the loss of all
four head armored ships and of elimination of
fighting efficiency of the last of new-built ships.
But this loss seemed to be inevitable because of
Rozhestvenski tactics, he had chosen in the
beginning of the battle, when fire had been
opened. He let his adversary envelope the head
ships of the Russian squadron and separate them
from seven end ships, which were armed by 39
guns of 6" -12" calibers; he allowed his adversary
to eliminate subsequently all the five head ships by
collective fire; after it the destruction of the last of
the squadron presented no difficulty. The ability
of the armored ships to withstand injures was
limited, and the high command tactics should be to
arrange skilfully evolutions in order not allow to
reach this limit. As soon as the headquarters are
unable to impement the fighting potential of ships
under their command, the defeat is inevitable.
How can one persist in the opinion, that this battle
was lost because of inadequate fighting capa-
bilities of Russian ships? The battle was lost in
first 10 minutes, while the armored ships of "Boro-
dino"class were swimming during 5 1\2 hours
after that.
-~~-
~__'l9f_'~~~
Scheme of injures inflicted to the armored ship "Oref' in
the battle: a) port, b) starboard.
ADVANTAGES OF JAPANESE
COLUMN OF SHIPS IN TACTICAL
SPEED AND FIRE CONTROL
The Japanese managed to destroy the Russian
squadron thanks to persistent use of specific tactics
worked out by their headquarters: it consisted in
enveloping the head of the Russian squadron
including five newly built armored ships, and their
consecutive destroying by concentrated fire, one
ship at a time. The tactics proved to be successful
because of advantage in the collective speed of all
twelve Japanese ships, moving with the speed up
to 16 kn, while the Russian squadron, tied down to
its "lame ducks" - old slow-speed combat and
transport ships, was making only 9-10 kn, while
five Russian armored ships might move as fast as
Japanese ships. Then the tactical advantage of the
Japanese could be brought to nothing, and the fast
maneuvre of surrounding and separating the head
of the Russian squadron would be unfeasible.
48
b)
Th-e second factor of the Japanese tacti~s was
based upon was their thorough artillery prepa-
ration. It had been attained because of adequate
training, allowing to provide collective adjustment
fire for detennination of the targetable range, the
collective fire control for the ships of the column,
and.to provide the maximum rate of fire and the
collective fire of all the broadside guns and even of
all the guns of several ships against one target.
Japanese ships could hit a target at the distance
more than 30-40 cables.
These skills, acquired because of adequate
training and appropriate organization of shelling,
allowed the Japanese to concentrate promptly the
gunfire of their ships on two our ships -
"Osl'abia" and "Suvorov" and disable them in
30 minutes.
To diminish this advantage of the Japanes~,
Rozhestvenski should have approached fast Japa-
nese ships as near' as possible.
EFFECT OF JAPANESE SHELLS
The Japanese were firing high-explosive
projectiles of two types: those of the first type
Armored ships of the world. Issue I
c)
f=-------
!
...L
I
12j/illtl
'--'--__,
0 0
Injures sustained by the armored ship "Orel':
a - 305-mm shell hit the J52-mm gun turret,
b - the conning tower hit by shell,
c - bow armored plate, damaged by hit.
were exploding when meeting a minimum resi-
stance; projectiles of the second type were explo-
ding after pierciing second (nonconstructive) side
or thin plating.
The projectiles of the first type produced thick
black puffs of smoke when bursting in the result of
fall into water or striking the plating. They infli-
cted significant external damages in unprotected
parts of hulls and were used for adjustment fire,
but caused inflammation seldom enough, even if
great amount of combustibles was present.
The projectiles of the second type, when bur-
sting, gave a bright yellow flame and somewhat
larger fragments. The temperature of burst was
very high, so all the available combustibles in-
flamed very fast. The armor became heated,_ the
mild steel was melting. These projectiles inflicted
internal damages in parts, near to ship's sides,
because they burst immediately after piercing the
plating.
The projectiles of 6" caliber, which hit "Orel"
(judging by shot-holes) were of the first and
second types equally. All the 8" caliber projectiles
burst when striking the ship's sides.
Only four of all the 12" caliber shells burst
 Vladimir V. Arbuzov "Borodino" class armored ships"
after piercing the external plating. The burst came
after the second stroke, always causing the fire.
Shot-holes in the 9.525 mm-thick plating had
following dimensions: caused by 12" caliber
shells - 243.8x243.8 cm, by 8" caliber shells -
- 152.4xI82.9 cm, by 6" caliber shells-
-91.4x91.4 cm.
The largest shot-hole was inflicted, when two
12" caliber shells burst near the base of aft
starboard 6" gun turret, its dimensions were
243.8x365.7 cm, that is about 9.29 m2 •
When bursting, 12" caliber shell demolished
all the hull structures around, in the range of about
. 260 cm. The burst inside the ship threw down all
the noncapital cabin bulkheads in the surroun-
dings in the range up to 243.8 cm; trunks and coal
hoses were torn up and twisted.
Meanwhile 8" caliber shell bursting near the
ship's side on the battery deck, didn't destroy
even nonstructural cabin bulkheads; they were
pierced by large splinters, but cabin furniture was
left untouched.
The/ore gun turret of"Orel'. A part 0/ the port-side.
49
EFFECT OF JAPANESE HIGH-
EXPLOSIVE PROJECTILES ON ARMOR
PROTECTION
In Tsushima battle Japanese ships used only
high-explosive projectiles. 76.2 mm-thick ca-
semate armor plates and 50.8 mm-thick armored
deck withstood bursts of 12" caliber shells without
having any through shot-holes, that could be made
by large shell fragments. But obviously the bursts
were of impulse character and were accompanied
by sharp concussion, causing injures of armor
plate attachments. The plates detached themselves
from the jacket along an edge opposite to the side,
where the plate was stricken and a shell burst.
Bolts couldn't withstand strain and their thread got
stripped.
"Osl'abia" was lost because armor plates of the
upper side armor belt had been tom up in the
result of the plate repeatedly hit by shells. On
"Orel" 127 mm-thick plate of the upper armor belt,
adjacent to the stem, was tom up. Armor bolts,
attaching 152.4 mm-thick armor plates, protecting
6" gun turrets, were broken down as well as
attachments of 127 mm-thick armor plates,
protecting feed pipes, which were fixed by means
of riveted posts and boundary angle bars. A
203.2 mm-thick armor plate of the conning tower
was moved aside and drop out of its attachment.
The armor plates of 12" gun turrets withstood
hits and burst of 12" caliber high-explosive
projectiles. The side armor belt plates showed the
tendency to rotate about their centre of gravity
under the influence of striking and bursts of the
major caliber shells; it was an evidence of the
wrong method of the armor plates attachment. In
order not to allow plate edges to be detached from
the hull, they were to be fixed by two lines of bolts
to strenghened posts in places of butts, jointed
together by keys.
The Japanese destroyed the Russian ships
using only high-explosive projectiles; they never
used armor-piercing shells. This tactics of fighting
against the armored ships turned out to be
successive only thanks to the great number of hits.
While "Orel", that wasn't the head ship, took
direct hits by 142 large caliber shells, the last three
her sisterships, without any doubt, sustained much
greater injures. "Suvorov" lost all her upper
structures, not protected by armor plates, and was
reduced to low-built naked frame with armor
protection; she bore a strong resemblance to the
old "monitor". "Borodino" and "Alexander III"
had their funnels and masts preserved till the end,
unlike "Suvorov", and they also were kept
50
Damaged plating near the
middleship port J52-mm
gun turret.
swimming thank to their above-water armor belt
remaining tight. When their side armor got
submerged besause of the great list, and shot-holes
of secondary side plating above the battery deck
went under water, the ships turned over in no time,
because they lost their transverse stability.
"Osl'abia" was lost because of shot-holes on the
level of the waterline. She went down steadily.
"Suvorov", having lost all her secondary side
plating, was sunk by torpedoing.
The ships got turned over when their list was
more than 6°-7", and water flooded the battery
deck through shot-holes in the ship's sides. But
even after the ship's secondary side plating had
been demolished, the ships kept buoyant as long,
as they were able to retain vertical position. The
injured "Suvorov" was able to keep vertical,
Armored ships of the world. Issue I
Armored ship "Ore!' after the
battle.
After bridge view of the
spardeck.
though she had still considerable amount of load
in her holds and was bereft of her upper
superstructures. The hold crew of "Orel" managed
to repair her list, when it appeared, thanks to good
organization of works.
If the Japanese used armor-piercing shells,
three sister ships of Borodino class wound be sunk
earlier, because they sustained enormous number
of hits.
EFFECT OF FRAGMENTS OF
HIGH-EXPLOSIVE PROJECTILES
Japanese projectiles burst into fragments of
different sizes, most of them being small-sized, not
more than big sand grains. Design of constructions
of the Russian ships didn't take into account
Vladimir V. Arbuzov "Borodino" class armored ships"
Damages of the spardeck.
protection from being injured by small splits,
whereas the latter did much harm, because they
reached every slot and hole. Though the main
armor protection of "Orel" was damaged nowhere,
most men of rank and officers were killed or
wounded while being protected by armor plates
- in the gun turrets, conning tower, casemates
and batteries. Shell splinters might pass through
the gun embrasures, into the clearance of the
conning tower and gun ports of the casemates.
Two commanders of the gun turrets lost their sight
because of shell-splinters, which came through the
aperture sights of the armored hoods. Fragments,
got into the conning tower, were rebounding from
the floor, walls and armored roof and destroying
range founders, speaking tubes, engine telegraphs
and steering wheels.
51
Damages of the after bridge.
Projectiles, bursting on the water surface near
the ship, smashed into many fragments, which
pierced unprotected hull parts holing them like a
sieve. These shot-holes couldn't be seen behind
inner nonconstructive boards, so they remained
not stopped up. Splinters disabled all the boats and
motor launches very soon, destroyed rigging and
signal halyard, wrecked minor-caliber quick-
firing guns mounted on bridges, as well as sear-
chlights, various meters, water supply pipes,
tanks, fire extinguishers and diverse internal
equipment.
Small fragments got even into muzzles of the
guns. The 6" gun of port aft turret of "Orel" got
obstructed by a splinter, which left unobserved.
The gun was charged by a segment projectile, that
couldn't come to its place. It couldn't be disch-
52 Armored ships of the world. Issue I

arged either in the combat environment, so the gun 12" gun turret of "Borodino", the armored hood
was disabled. was torn up and the commander killed. Thin
External walls of muzzles of many guns were hoods of the 6" gun turrets were readily tom up by
pierced by large splinters to the depth of 25.4 mm. gases, given off by high-explosive projectiles.
In the forward 12" gun turret of "Orel" the muzzle Turret mechanisms continued to operate effecti-
of one of the guns was. cut in half by the shell, the vely, but electrical connections failed most often.
first half of it having been thrown to the upper 6" gun turrets withstood many hits of 6"
forward bridge, where three men were killed by it. caliber high-explosive projectiles, but were
The fragments of 6" and even 8" caliber destroyed by burst of 12" caliber shell. Plates got
projectiles had small penetrative force. The were tom up from the riveted hull, rollers were distor-
held even by thin cabin bulkheads; when they hit ted, the roof came down.
people, they didn't injure them very much, most
often being held up in the skin.
CONNING TOWERS
DRAWBACKS OF TURRET
CONSTRUCTION In Tsushima battle conning towers of all the
armored ships of Borodino-class were severely
The roofs of 6" gun turrets didn't withstand damaged. The conning tower of "Suvorov"
bursts even of 6" caliber shells, their 25.4 mm- suffered serious injures in the beginning of the
thick plates sagging and butts of plates disjointing. battle. All the officers present were wounded or
The burst of 8" caliber shell tore up the 63.5 mm- killed, the commander-in-cheif was wounded in
thick roof of 12" gun turret of "Orel" along the butt the head. All the equipment, controlling fire,
and caused its edges to bend inside, this reducing steering system and machinery was destroyed.
the value of the angle of elevation of the gun, the The conning tower was deserted, because it
effective range being limited to 30 cables because couldn't be used as the central control room. The
of it. conning tower of "Borodino" was destroyed by
. When a large-caliber shell burst on the roof of 12" caliber shell, coming from behind, in the

RELATION BETWEEN.
Number of guns in the board fire FORCES OF FIRST DETACH-
MENTS OF MAIN FORCES,
Caliber of guns The Russians The Japanese
LED BY Z. H. ROZHEST-
First group of armored First group of combat ships
VENSKI AND H. TOGO IN
First group of combat ships THE BATTLE OF 14 TH MAY,
ships with "Oslyabya"
1905
305 16 16 16
254 - 4 1
203 - - 6
152 24 29 40
75 or 76 40 50 50
Total 80 99 113

Fleet armored ship "Slava".

FLEEr ARMORED SHIP "SLAVA" _

It is the fifth ship of the series of "Borodino" class armored ships. She hadn't been built in time to enter the Second
Pacific squadron and was finished just after the Russo-Japanese war had ended. At that time everywhere in shipdocks
ships of classes, preceding the well-known dreadnought, were built.
And yet this ship took part in another war. 4 th October, 1917, "Slava" together with the capital ship "Grazhdanin"
("Citizen", former "Tsesarevich") and armored cruiser "Bayan" joined the battle against two German dreadnoughts, two
cruisers and eleven destroyers, led by vice-admiral Benk, in the Baltic Sea, near Moonzund islands. During this battle
"Slava" was hit seven times by shells of 305-mm caliber and two of them hit below the waterline. The ship was filled with
1130 t of sea water and heeled heavily. Her increased draft didn't allow the ship to pass safely the Moonzund channel,
and her crew was forced to sink her.
54 Armored ships of the world. Issue I

entrance aperture. All the officers were wounded remained unprotected. The mushroom- shaped
or killed, the control was transferred to the engine apron plate didn't let shell fragments to go further,
control room. when they were rebounded from below, and
The conning tower of "Orel" was destroyed directed them inside the conning tower. Additio-
by three 6" caliber shells. All equipment was nal horizontal 24.4 mm-thick apron plates, moun-
demolished, but the steering whed remained ted at the top of the vertical armor plates, were
fortunately safe. The ship was controlled from the guarding from small splinters, but they were
conning tower till the end of the battle. This usually tom up, when shells burst below apertures.
function was performed by a senior officer, who The starboard apron plate on the board of
had been shell-shocked. "Orel" was tom up by burst of 8" caliber shell and
The main drawback of the conning towers of thrown into the room; the suspended range finder
the Russian armored ships was inadequate const- was brought down and the board with all the
ruction of their roof, which overlapped the vertical speaking tubes was demolished. The othef 8"
armor cylinder by 30 cm, this edge being curved caliber shell struck 50,8 mm-thick overhang of the
down to form mushroom-shaped apron plate. roof and cut it through. The roof was bent down
Meanwhile a 30 cm-wide space between the armor from above by burst of 8" caliber high-explosive
plate and the armor cylinder of the conning tower projectile.

Armored ships
"Grazhdaninjformer
"Tsesarevich") and
"Slava" on their way
towards fighting .
positions.

"Slava" under fire of the

German battleships
"Konig' and "Kronprinz"
October4, 1917.
Vladimir V. Arbuzoy "Borodino" class armored ships" ss

October4, 1917 at 0.25 p.h.

"Slava" had three hits below
the water line. Her draught
increased thus preventing
her from passing through
the Moonzund channel,
and her crew was compelled
to sink her.

"Slava" in the Moonzund

channeL The photograph
was taken on October 14,
1917 on the board of one
of German ships. Muzzle
of 305-mm gun had been
cut off during the battle
and thrown over to the
conning bridge.

Hull o!"Slava" in 20 s.
 Squadron fighting during the Russo-Japanese war allowed to make conclusion, that the main part
in the battle was played by major-caliber guns. After the war guns of305-mm and of greater calibers
had been mounted on the board of nearly all the battleships, the length of their tubes increased to 45
or 50 calibers. As an auxiliary artillery, 120, 127 and 152-mm guns were used, they took the place of
minor-caliber guns. Training fights used to be fought at the distance from 80 cables.
Immediately after the Russo-Japanese war English shipbuilders began to construct the super-
armorclad "Dreadnought". A new era came - the era of dreadnoughts.

Major caliber guns of the "Poltava" dreadnought.

In this publication there are used documents, drawings and photographs from the
Central State Archive of the Russian Navy in St. Petersburg, information out of documents of
the General Naval Staff of Russia of 1906-1907 period and memoirs of V. P. Kostenko, who
took part in the Tsushima battle, "On the board of "Orel" in Tsushima battle" ("Sudpromgiz"
Publishers, 1955).

A number of photographs was presented to the author by "Oblik" Publishers.

DEAR READERS

"INTERPOISK" Publishers speciality is issuing of magazines, booklets, dealing with the history
of the Navy, in Russian and in English.
Presently we are planning to publish in English the following books: "Use of barbette carriages on
board of warships", "Predecessors of dreadnoughts in the Baltic Fleet of Russia", "British
.-
armorclads "Nile" and "Trafalgar", "British armorclads "Victoria" and "Sans Pareil".
We are hopeful of these books to arouse some interest of amateurs of the history of the Navy.

"INTERPOISK" Publishers
-
Russia, 171280, Tverskaya obI., Konakovo-2, P. O. B.
AOOT «l1BaH <J>eAopoB». 3aK. 10306.
N~ 1
© Vladimir V. Arbuzov, 1993
-
"Slava" in Helsigfors February 1917.