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   AN INTERVIEW WITH GORSHIN (Part 6)

   By KATZMAREK(C)

   "Nebogatov didn't arrive till late April, 1905," Admiral Gorshin
explained.  "Besides his original 4 ships, we discovered that he'd found
another, the Ushakov.  It was a 'flatiron' like the Senyavin and Apraxin.
Its engines had been in a poor state and it had taken them some time to get
her ready.  Like the others her guns were short-barreled, old-fashioned
things that barely made 10,000 metres with a swift wind behind."

   "What was Rhozdventsky's reaction to their arrival?" asked the Ensign.

   "He ignored them.  We crews clapped and cheered them, of course. 
Although they didn't round the Cape as we had done, nevertheless it was a
top effort to get those ancient things all that way."

   "They brought another Destroyer with them, Commander Georgy Kern's
Gromky.  When we'd left, it had been laid up after hitting a sand bar. 
That brought us up to 10 Destroyers, 8 Cruisers, 4 Coast-Defence Ships, the
Oslyabya with 260mm main guns was really a large armoured cruiser, 2 second
rate Battleships and 4 first raters.  Together with his warships, Nebogatov
brought 4 transports and 11 colliers.  A few days later the Hospital Ship
Ural arrived.  The anchorage was crowded with shipping."

   "Little did we know at the time, but it wasn't Nebogatov who proved our
undoing, but that Hospital Ship, as I shall explain later."

   --------------------------------------------

   Nebogatov sailed into Cam Ranh Bay with his antiques smothered in signal
flags.  Their crews, looking smart in dress whites, lined the rails and
saluted.

   Nebogatov was an uninspiring but studious senior Officer who spent a
great deal of time on the problems of his squadron and the Navy generally.
His crews had trained continuously since they'd set out from the Baltic. 
He'd tried to instil pride in his little fleet by insisting they dressed
and comported themselves properly.  Up to 40% of his crews had never been
to sea before and he'd done a superb job with them.

   Rhozdventsky treated him very badly.  He hadn't even informed him he was
now second in command after the death of Felkersam.  The Commander in Chief
consulted his second in charge rarely.  Instead he issued orders to him as
if he was a lowly subaltern.

   That Nebogatov kept his feelings to himself is all to his credit in a
fleet where this was rarely the case.  Enkvist, for example, had no qualms
about criticizing Rhozdventsky to his Captains.

   The entire fleet was in need of reprovisioning and coaling.  For this
final leg the ships again would take on as much coal as they could manage.

   With the arrival of the reinforcements the Commander in chief
re-organised the fleet.  The Nakhimov joined the 2nd Division and the
Monomakh sent to bolster Enkvist.  The Nakhimov had been given a set of
modern 210mm guns and it was thought they would stiffen the Division.

   The fast Cruisers Zhemchug and Izumrud were detached from Enkvist's
command and sent to co-operate with the Battleship Divisions.  Enkvist's
ego was soothed by the Almaz, sent back to the Scouting Division.  The Rear
Admiral himself shifted flag to the Oleg, for reasons lost in the mists of
time.  Probably he'd had a fight with the Aurora's Captain.

   The Destroyers were split into two half-flotillas.  Grozny was to take
its place behind Bravy, as usual, with Bezuprechny, Buiny and Bedovy
behind. Their place was to be ahead of the fleet, while the Gromky's group
was to take station between Nebogatov and the Scouting Division.

   Enkvist was given the task of protecting the transports, a role he never
forgave Rhozdventsky for.  'The Scouting Division's proper place,' he later
said, 'was leading the fleet.' By then, however, no-one was listening to
him any more.

   The 3rd Pacific Squadron was renamed the 3rd Battleship Division. 
Rhozdventsky was having no independent commands in his fleet.

   This then was the Russian Fleet: 1st Battle Division; the 305mm gunned
Kniaz Suvurov, Alexander III, Borodino and Orel.  2nd, the 260mm gunned
Oslyabya, with Sissoi Veliky and Navarin of mixed calibre guns and
Nakhimov. The 3rd consisted of the Imperator Nikolai I with three 260s of
different calibres, and the 'flatirons', Apraxin, Senyavin and Ushakov with
two short-barrelled 305s each.

   The Armoured Cruiser Oleg led the Scouting Division, followed by Aurora
and the Svetlana, all 210mm gunned vessels of modern design.  Almaz
followed with her 155mm weapons, then came the old girls of the fleet, the
Dimitri Donskoi and the Monomakh with their mixed armaments.

   The fast 155mm gunned Izumrud was attached to the 1st Division, the
similar Zhemchug to the 2nd.

   To attend to the fleet's needs were four transports, two tugs and 2
Hospital ships.

   A comprehensive set of orders was circulated around the fleet, only the
second time such orders were issued by the Admiral.  'I intend,' it read,
'to enter the Tsushima Straits at night and be well past Japanese Naval
bases by dawnbreak.'

   'If Togo is sighted, the 1st and 2nd Divisions will form a second line
to starboard of the fleet.  With the Grace of God we may catch the enemy
between two fires.  At my signal those divisions will turn 8 points to
starboard (ie.  90 degrees).'

   It ended with the exhortation, 'all ships are to continue on to
Vladivostok regardless of losses.  I have in mind to preserve as much of
the fleet for future operations as possible.'

   The Japanese were also preparing, but they had the benefit of a flood of
intelligence about the Russians.  Along the China coast they'd set up a
covert series of observation stations complete with radios.  All manner of
vessels were enlisted as patrol ships, their sole mission to report on the
Russian fleet.

   Togo knew this was the last fleet Russia had to send.  He doubted it was
a card they knew how to play.  He was concerned, though, that the Russians
out-gunned him.  His Armoured Cruisers had done well in the Battle of the
Yellow Sea so he decided to use them to boost his Battle Squadron.

   His four Battleships, Mikasa, Shikishima, Asahi and Fuji were all
British designed 12 inch gunned vessels of the latest type.  His Italian,
Ansaldo-built Armoured cruisers Nisshin and Kasuga followed.  Next came the
excellent pair Idzumo and Iwate with the British-built Yakumo and French,
La Seyne-built Adzuma.  Lastly the two Armstrong-Elswick Cruisers Asama and
Tokiwa brought up the rear.  All his armoured cruisers had uniform
batteries of 8 inch guns.

   Togo's trump card, however, was the use of a new type of explosive for
his shells.  It was called Shimose, an incendiary-explosive that the
Japanese had been working on for some time.

   Built into the Russian ships were great quantities of combustable
materials.  Indeed, most warships of the time hadn't really come to grips
with the problem of fire.  The decks of the Russian ships were overlaid
with planks of Baltic Pine, corked with tar and 'paid' with Linseed oil. 
Inside, the Officers' accomodations were luxuriously compartmented with
mahogany and oak, all coated with thick varnish.  Even the oil-based Black
and Canary Yellow paints that the crews labouriously caked onto the outside
of the ships contained highly volatile solvents.

   Paint stores were rarely secured, propellant charges and shells were
stacked ready for use inside the turrets and embrasures.  The ships were
time-bombs waiting for a spark.

   The Japanese had seen how hard it was to sink an armoured ship during
the war.  Therefore they decided to use fire to disable the Russians
instead.  Instead of putting delayed fuses onto their shells, they chose
contact fuses.  This meant that they exploded the instant they touched
anything, causing a fireball that they hoped would make the Russian ships
uninhabitable.

   --------------------------------------------

   "We left Indo-China on the 14th of May.  Except for a period of 48 hours
between the 24th and the 26th the Japanese tracked our every move.  We knew
that they knew, of course.  What we didn't know, was where the Hell *they*
were."

   "Did you see this Nataliya again?" the Ensign asked.

   "Oh yes," Gorshin chuckled, "she was a Honey.  Little did I know at the
time but I left her with a little gift."

   "Sir?"

   "Nataliya, I found out years later, was called Tranh Na and she had my
son.  She named him Na Yves Ranh, which I thought was very flattering. 
Yves was the closest she could get to Yvgeny, it's French of course."

   "So how did you find out?"

   "He came to Russia in 1942 to train for the Viet Minh, who were fighting
the Japanese at the time.  While he was there he looked for his Father.  I
was with the Northern Fleet at Murmansk then.  He knew my name and he had a
photo I'd given his Mother.  The Ministry Of Marine in Leningrad recognised
me straight away and got in touch.  'Did I want to meet this man?' they
asked.  Well of course I did.  He was 37 years old and I never knew he
existed."

   "That must have been...  very emotional."

   "Damn right it was!  Not half as emotional as when I had to explain it
all to Katka, though." The Ensign stifled a laugh.

   "What is he like?"

   "Huh!" Admiral Gorshin smiled, "have you ever seen a 6 foot Vietnamese
with brown hair?  We keep in touch.  He's now on the staff in Hanoi.  I'm
not sure what he does.  They're a secretive lot, the Vietnamese."

   --------------------------------------------

   The Russian Fleet left Cam Ranh and set out into the South China Sea. 
They were in three columns, a very rough three.  Station keeping had not
improved very much.

   The fleet was passed by a number of merchant vessels.  It was believed
that British ships in particular were reporting their position.  Gorshin
observed a buzz of Radio traffic whenever British ships were in the
vicinity.  Some of the messages appeared to be in code and were
indecypherable.

   Izumrud and Zhemchug took on observation duties under the direct command
of the Commander in Chief.  Not for the first time Enkvist was sidelined.
He was in a foul mood at having been cast as a 'nursemaid' to the
transports.

   A week later they made their way slowly through the Taiwan Strait. 
After negotiating that busy area of sea they left the coast and ventured
far out into the East China Sea to get away from shipping.  On the 26th the
fleet halted at a point roughly between the island of Cheju (then known as
Quelpart) and the Southern Japanese home island of Kyushu.  Rhozhdventsky
wanted to wait until evening to make a run for the Tsushima Straits. 
Astonishingly, they were not observed.

   The Southern passage into the Sea of Japan is divided into two straits
by the island of Tsushima.  That between Korea and Tsushima, the Korea
Strait, is considered the more hazardous to shipping.  The Tsushima Strait
lies between the 'dog' islands of Ikishima and Okinoshima and Tsushima. 
It's the better passage and that is the one Rhozdventsky chose.

   It was an anxious time for Togo whose scouts seemed to have fallen down
on the job at the last minute.  The Korea or Tsushima Strait?  To pick the
wrong one would allow the Russians to slip past and prolong the war.

   And that is precisely what the Japanese couldn't afford to do.  It had
now become an issue of national survival.  Unlike the Russians, the war had
bankrupted the Japanese treasury.  In 1905 Japan was spending a whopping
70% of her Gross Domestic Production on the war with Russia and now she had
simply run out of funds.  If the Russian fleet made Vladivostok then it was
unlikely that Japan could continue the war for more than a few months.  She
had to end it now.

   The pressure on Admiral Togo, therefore must have been enormous.

   Togo Heichiro was the son of a Samurai from the Satsuman town of
Kagoshima.  As a boy he'd witnessed the destruction of his home town by the
Royal Navy in revenge for the killing of an Englishman by the Samurai of
the Daiwa of Satsuma.  He noted how the antiquated shore artillery of
Kagoshima was totally ineffectual against the British warships and pledged
never again to see Japan so defenceless.

   He was among the first intake of recruits to be sent to Britain to train
at the Devonport Naval College.  This was following the Emperor Meiji's
restoration and the overthrowing of the Shogunate.

   Togo was noted as a hard-working and thorough scholar, although no
genius.  He graduated in the middle of his class.  His hero was Admiral
Lord Nelson and he kept a portrait of the Victory on his cabin wall.

   Togo's promotion was swift in the fledgling Japanese Navy.  He served on
Japan's first British built warship, the Steam Frigate Hiei.  He commanded
the Japanese squadron against the Chinese at the Battle of the Yalu River,
1894, using Nelson's tactics at Trafalgar as a model.  He was assisted on
that occasion by the mystifyingly bad performance of the Chinese Fleet.

   Among the Admiral's strengths was his ability to lead by example.  His
normal place in battle was on the wing bridge of his ship, totally exposed.
It was unthinkable for him to seek shelter.  His other great strength was
his utter, ruthless determination.

   The Russians were going to learn why he was considered the greatest
Admiral of his time.

   ---------------------------------------------

   "Togo needed the information about us.  He had with him about 50 Torpedo
Boats and Destroyers and if he'd sailed too early they would be running out
of coal.  To have sailed too late, of course, meant we would get away.  His
scouts had crapped themselves at the last moment.  Luckily for them we gave
them a helping hand."

   "How?"

   "By obeying International Law.  The fleet was becoming obsessed with
doing everything correctly lest we annoy the British.  Fuck!  We had sown
mines in International waters, coaled and repaired vessels in Neutral
ports, used their flag under false pretences and then we'd fired on their
fishing boats.  You don't know how close we'd come to war with the English.
That led us to do something so unbelievably stupid it defies all reason."

   "What was that, Admiral Gorshin, sir?"

   "Hospital ships must display the red cross and that must be illuminated
at night.  The law is very specific." The old Admiral shook his head from
side to side slowly.

   ---------------------------------------------

   On the evening of the 26th the Russian fleet formed in line ahead and
started for the Tsushima Strait at a leisurely 9 knots.  The order was
passed down to darken ships.  All lights were to be extinguished, any
orders were to be passed by loud hailer via the Izumrud and Zhemchug. 
Signal lamps were kept masked or else!

   The fleet had barely set out when the Admiral saw a bright glow behind
him among the transports.  Asking who was showing lights, he was told it
was the Hospital ship Ural.  Rhozdventsky sent orders back to demand she
extinguish lights and was told that it was the law.  The Admiral threw his
hands up in frustration and allowed them to be left on.

   Why did he permit the Ural to show her lights?  The other Hospital ship,
Don, had doused hers so why was an exception made for the Ural?

   Gorshin had his theory like everyone else.  He believed it had to do
with the personality of Zinovy Rhozhdventsky, who displayed a habit of
ignoring things he didn't want to deal with.

   "'Fuck them, fuck everybody!' was the Admiral's motto when things went
against him," Gorshin explained afterwards.

   No such qualms about darkening ship were demonstrated by the Japanese
merchantman Shinano Maru.  One of Togo's scouting vessels, she is credited
with the first sighting of the Ural, lit up like a Christmas tree.  In fact
several Japanese scouts spotted the Russian ship and radioed the
information to Togo anchored in Queen Caroline Inlet, Mesampo Bay, Korea.

   The Japanese had been waiting for days with their boiler fires banked.
With the Shinano Maru's message they immediately weighed anchor and set out
in an Easterly direction.

   The Shinano Maru placed the Russians further East than was actually the
case.  This mistake was repeated by the 4th Japanese Scouting Division,
Chikuma, Chitose and Hiei who took up shadowing the Russian fleet later
that night.

   Yvgeny could hear the Japanese scouts chatting on the Radio in Morse. 
He had no doubt they were reporting to Togo, although they were invisible
in the dark.

   "Sir," he asked Pikalevoi, "why can't we go after them?"

   "A night attack against a few old tubs we can't see?  There'll be plenty
more in the morning, my boy," he replied, shrugging.

   Meanwhile the Japanese Navy had sprung to life all around the Sea of
Japan.  From the ports of Sasebo and Nagasaki came the protected cruisers
Atago, Kagero, Takao, Nachi and dozens of others both the old and infirmed.
Anything that could carry a gun converged on the Russians' position as hard
as they could steam.  As the sky lightened in the early morning of the 27th
of May 1905 dense smudges of coal smoke could be seen at every point of the
compass.

   14,000 metres East the dawn revealed the three old cruisers of the 4th
Japanese Scouting Division sedately keeping pace with the fleet.  They
seemed like they were on some peacetime pleasure cruise.  Crewmen lined the
rails curiously studying the Russian fleet.  Their guns were unmanned,
being well out of range.

   At Seven the Russians had breakfast followed by a Mass and Absolution.
On most ships the Captains then made a speech to their crews reminding them
of their duty to Tsar, Church and Empire.  On the Suvurov there began a
cheer that was gradually taken up by the rest of the fleet down the line.

   "Ourah pobieda!" (Hail Victory)

   That cry has taken Russians into battle since the time of Tsar Peter the
Great.

   It seemed to galvanise the Russian Fleet as if raw patriotism and
emotion could overcome their obvious shortcomings.  Men scurried around the
decks of the Battleships.  Hoses were run out and laid across the decks. 
The main guns were manned and the turrets swung around.  Shells and charges
were prepared.  Secondary and Tertiary guns were unshipped, turrets or
embrasure doors opened.  Even the little 3 pounders mounted in the fighting
tops of the Suvurov Class were prepared.  In the prow of the Oslyabya, the
little 'bow-chaser' 3 pounder was run out through its hatchway.  Some
crewmen expressed sorrow at what they were about to do to the Japanese.

   At every masthead the giant battleflags of Imperial Russia were run up
and unfurled.  They featured a blue St Andrews Cross on a white field, the
same flag designed by the founder of the Russian Navy, Peter the Great. 
Unless the Japanese had any doubt, the Russians had arrived.

   Then the men waited...  and waited.

   -----------------------------------------

   "The tension was indescribable," explained Admiral Gorshin.  "All around
us we could see the funnel smoke of the Japanese who were lying just below
the horizon.  Where was Togo?  Was he behind or in front, port or
starboard? We scanned every smudge to see if one was more dense than the
other.  Was that one the Battlefleet or another group of his scouts?  All
morning we just plowed on and on knowing this tempest was gathering around
us.  Beside us were these impudent little scouting cruisers just out of
range and God we wanted to have a go at them!"

   "Behind us we could see the turret crew of the Suvurov just standing and
staring beside their guns.  Then a hatch opened and this little 3 pounder
gun poked out of the prow.  We thought it was very funny."

   ----------------------------------------

   Just after noon the shadowing Japanese cruisers had moved to within
10,000 metres.  This was too much for the Orel and with an enormous crash
she fired a full broadside from her 305mm's.  As the smoke drifted behind
the Orel, Nebogatov of the 3rd Division, who had drifted to starboard of
the line, ordered his ships to open fire.  The Nikolai and her 'flatirons'
released an earsplitting broadside at the Japanese, instantly smothering
the rear of the column in gunsmoke.

   The Orel's shells whizzed over the top of the Japanese, however,
Nebogatov's neatly straddled the cruisers and deluged their decks with
water and splinters.

   Gorshin watched amused as the startled Japanese crews ran for cover.

   With a stacato roar another flight of high explosives howled over
towards the hastily retreating cruisers.  The Suvurov promptly ran up flags
on her signal mast.  [Cease fire] they angrily read.  All the crews were
then sent to dinner.

   --------------------------------------------

   "The Grozny's tiny Officers' Mess rang with toasts, hilarity and the
clinking of glasses.  We thought the battle won already and we'd chased the
Japs back to Tokyo.  Nebogatov's shooting had astounded us.  The oldest
guns in the fleet had plastered them with their first shots.  We were very
happy."

   "Toasts, sir?  You mean to say you drank vodka before a battle?"

   "We were the 'Smirnoffs,' Ensign," the Admiral chuckled, "there were few
occasions that couldn't be oiled with a little liquid relief.  But if
you're implying that we were drunk?  No, the times were much too serious."

   --------------------------------------------

   After dinner the distant smoke had resolved itself into three distinct
groups.  Rhozdventsky and his senior staff had to decide which one was the
main Japanese fleet.

   Actually Togo was in a similar state of confusion at this stage.  Misled
by his scouts about the Russian fleet's position he couldn't find them
where he expected them to be.  The scouts seemed not to have corrected
their initial error in their enthusiasm.  Each scouting cruiser probably
assumed someone else had provided the information to the Commander in
Chief.

   Just before the Chikuma squadron scuttled away under fire from
Nebogatov, he detached two of his cruisers, Tokiwa and Asama, to look for
the Russians.  Spotting Nebogatov's muzzle flashes both groups converged,
the Tokiwa group from the North West and Togo from the North East.

   The third cloud of brown smoke Rhozdventsky's lookouts spotted was the
Nagasaki and Sasebo cruisers hurrying up from the South East.

   Around 1230 hours Rhozdventsky seemed to have made up his mind and sent
up the signal for the planned 8 point turn.  He probably assumed that the
South East Cruisers was Togo's battleline and intended to place his 1st and
2nd Divisions across the front of them.  However, before the 2nd Division
had begun their turn, he changed his mind and ordered the 1st Div back onto
the original course.  This placed the Suvurovs in a column to starboard of
the rest of the fleet.  Apparently he now mistook the Tokiwa and Asama for
Togo.

   The sudden maneuvering threw the lead Destroyer flotilla into confusion.
Having turned to starboard in conformity with the 1st Division, Grozny and
Bravy now found themselves well to starboard of both columns.  Behind them,
the rest of the flotilla scurried after the Division on their new heading.
With the blanket of funnel smoke behind them, the two lead Destroyers
missed the second turn.

   Commander Vladimir Ber Captained the lead ship of the 2nd Division, the
Oslyabya.  He was the de facto Admiral of his division following
Felkersam's death.  Rhozdventsky seemed not to have signaled his change of
mind to him.  He was left to figure out for himself what the Admiral
intended.  As the 1st Division came back on to their original course, he
therefore cancelled his intended turn and remained on the original bearing
and speed.  This meant, though, that it placed his ship parallel to the
last of Rhozdventsky's ships, the Orel, masking her port guns.

   At about 1300 both Togo's and Rhozdventsky's lookouts finally spotted
each other's fleets.  Togo was well to the East and ordered a South West
turn across the front of the oncoming Russians.  The Tokiwa group rejoined
the end of his battleline as he worked up to a speed of 15 knots, nearly
twice that of the Russians.  On board Mikasa a fluttering of signal flags
ran up the mast, [The fate of the Empire depends on you.  Let every man do
his duty] Its nod towards Admiral Lord Nelson's famous signal at Trafalgar
was unmistakeable.  Togo's personal 'war pennant,' the 'Z' flag, then
replaced the signal.  It was to remain there throughout the battle to
demonstrate that the Admiral was still in charge.  The Z flag was flown
again--by Nagumo on the morning of 7 December 1941.

   Meanwhile Nebogatov had drifted further to the West with Enkvist tagging
along behind.  This meant that the Russian fleet was now in three distinct
columns, almost in echelon as the technical term goes.

   Bravy and Grozny pounded after the rest of the flotilla well to the
West. Just as they rejoined, at approximately 1345, they were again
surprised by the 1st Division's sudden maneuvering.  The Suvurov began
making a turn to port, across a Northerly bearing, until she was on a
converging course with the 2nd Div.

   "What the fuck!" exclaimed an astonished Pikalevoi, "I give up, what the
Hell are they doing?"

   Commander Ber of the Oslyabya was aghast.  He watched the Borodino and
Orel bear down on his vessel.  It was clear one or both of them was going
to strike his starboard side.  In desperation he ordered an emergency 'bear
away' to port.  Sissoi Veliky behind him was also caught napping and her
Captain ordered her engines reversed.  The Navarin swung to starboard to
avoid colliding with the Sissoi up ahead.

   The blundering Oslyabya caused chaos to the 3rd Division.  Nebogatov
slowed and moved the Nikolai and the 'flatirons' further to port to avoid
hitting her.

   Rhozdventsky seemed completely unconcerned by the confusion behind him.
But what the Hell was he doing?

   --------------------------------------------

   Togo had handed Rhozdventsky a gift, a free punch that, for sheer
virtuosity and daring, has few parallels.  Sailing over to the Russians'
port side and well out of range, he then ordered his ships to reverse
course by turning 'in succession.' This meant that each ship turned at
exactly the same point as they reached it one by one.  The Russians now had
an opportunity to practice their 'fixed point firing' they so assiduously
trained for.  The Japanese Battleships had no chance of replying until they
had completed their turns.

   At 1345 Rhozdventsky observed the Mikasa turning around onto the
opposite course, followed by the Shikishima behind.

   "Crazy!" he told Lieutenant Bogdanovich, the Suvurov's 1st Officer.  He
then ordered a sharp turn to port, thereby allowing the Division's
broadside guns to bear on the target point.  (Known in Naval lingo as
'opening 'A' arcs')

   The 1st Division bullied their way across in front of the 2nd in their
haste to take the offered opportunity.  At 1408 the Suvurov opened fire to
be followed by the rest of the Division.  Those of the 2nd Div that could
bear followed suit.

   The Destroyers to starboard foamed their propellers and swung away East.
This was no place for the little ships to be.

   The Mikasa was instantly straddled by heavy shells.  A shell from the
Oslyabya slammed into the Shikishima's forward turret as she was turning.
The Russian observers distinctly saw it shatter into fragments across the
Battleship's forecastle.  It was a dud.

   The Mikasa popped a single ranging shot from its fore turret; it fell
short.  The Russian Battleships' gunners were excelling themselves with the
accuracy and speed of their firing.  Rhozdventsky was delighted and sent
Kursel around the Suvurov to tell them to keep it up.

   Then at approximately 1413 the Suvurov landed a hit fair and square
behind the forward superstructure of the Mikasa.  The Russians cheered as
they saw the flash and smoke cloud erupt.

   On the Japanese flagship splinters sprayed over the deck.  Many of the
exposed Secondary gun crews were scythed down, the survivors heaving their
bodies out of the way and carrying on.  On the wing bridge, a fragment of
shell whipped Togo's leg, opening a vicious gash across his thigh.  His
horrified staff watched him look briefly down before putting his binoculars
back to his face.  He seemed not to notice the medics who bound up his leg
while he concentrated on the battle.

   The 1st Russian Division began a slow turn to starboard to keep bearing
on the Japanese Battleships.  The 'point of turn' was left up to Nebogatov.
It was now his and Enkvist's turn to pound the rear of Togo's fleet.

   -----------------------------------------------

   "We did not see very much at all of that," recalled Admiral Gorshin, "we
were well out of the way skulking to starboard.  Occasionally one of the
Japanese ranging shells would splash into the water not far off.  Strange,
clearly Togo was within range but he held his fire.  We didn't know what he
was waiting for."

   ------------------------------------------------

   Enkvist's cruisers had closed the range by sweeping in a curve towards
the Japanese fleet.  About 1416 hours both he and Nebogatov opened fire
with all guns.

   As the Armoured Cruisers Nisshin and Kasuga made their turn they were
swamped by Russian shells.  The Nikolai the 1st dropped two 260mm rounds
right on top of the Nisshin, one hit amidships and the other at the base of
her after turret.  There was a tremendous explosion and the turret was seen
to lift completely into the air and go over the side.  The rear of the
ship, from the fore-funnel back, disappeared in a dense cloud of black
smoke.

   Next behind, the Kasuga was roughly handled by the Aurora, Oleg, Ushakov
and the Senyavin.  A 305mm shell blew off her stern and three 210mm rounds
demolished her after funnel.  Both ships reeled out of line and staggered
away from the action to put out their fires.

   The next to go was the Asama, hit by a 305mm round from the Apraxin as
she was making her turn.  The shell penetrated below the command bridge and
blew up her Captain and his entire staff.  She too bore off to starboard
while control was regained by using the duplicate after-bridge facilities.

   Lastly the Tokiwa was hit repeatedly by Aurora and Oleg, however she
continued on with her boat deck on fire.

   When Togo saw the last of his ships complete their turns he ordered his
fleet to open fire.
   (C)KATZMAREK