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By the time of the Crimean War Russia had major fleets in the Baltic and Black Seas , along with minor squadrons in the Arctic White Sea and in the Far East . The Crimean War would see a major focus on the Black Sea and the destruction of Russian sea power in that theatre for some time to come . Less well-known are the Crimean War naval actions in the other theatres . For example , the Russian force in the Far East , consisting largely of frigate-sized vessels , played a game of hide-and-seek with a Franco-British force which assaulted Petropavlosk and failed to tie down the Russians to an engagement on the inland side of Sakhalin island.
In the latter half of the nineteenth century Tsarist Russia undertook an expansionist policy in the Far East. They 'bought' the Amur Maritime region from the Chinese Empire , thus acquiring the port of Vladivostock which was developed as the foremost naval base in the region. With the Chinese Empire ever more decrepit , its attempts at modernisation failing due to a multitude of inherent factors , the more advanced powers began to prey upon her. During the 1890s Germany established a colony in the Kiaochow peninsular in Shantung province , France at Kwangchowan in the South , and Russia made moves into Manchuria . The factor that was to prove most decisive in contemporary terms was the emergence of Imperial Japan as a modern military power.
The Sino-Japanese War in the early 1890s saw Japan take on and virtually eradicate the Imperial Chinese Navy , either destroying or capturing the majority of her warships . Japan occupied Wei-hei-wei in Northern Shantung and Port Arthur on the Liaoyang peninsular in Southern Manchuria , aswell as taking a leading role in Korea , previously a vassal kingdom of the Chinese Empire . These moves placed it on a collision course with the Russian Empire . As far as Port Arthur , an ice-free port , was concerned a united Russo-German action forced Japan to give up her claims to it . Soon afterwards it was occupied by Russia as part of her agreement with China , allowing Russia to occupy and develop Manchuria for a period of time.
At the start of the twentieth century the Boxer Rebellion occurred , an uprising aimed against the Western powers as much as against an Imperial Court which appeared to be incapable of stopping their inroads into China . Britain , France , Germany , Italy , the U.S.A. and Japan as well as Russia combined to enforce what they considered to be civilized values upon the renegade Chinese , taking the important fortress of Taku in the Western Yellow Sea , and advancing via Tientsin upon Peking where the Western legations were being besieged by the 'Boxer' Chinese. The allied forces defeated the Boxer Chinese and chose to restore the Dragon Empress to the pre-eminent position in China - she was officially to act again in a regency capacity for the infant heir but as before would have the majority of power at her personal disposal.
By 1904 tensions between Russia and Japan had mounted along the Korean border . Both countries had sizeable legations within Korea , still officially an autonomous kingdom , but increasingly the infighting between Japanese and Russian interests led to conflict. Disputes along the Yalu River , the border between Manchuria and Korea , initially centred on logging rights , but deep-seated rivalry between the two empires led to an escalation .
In February 1904 Japan launched a surprise attack upon the Russian Navy at Port Arthur , as well as against the cruiser Variag at the Korean port of Chemulpo.The Russo-Japanese War (see R-J War section) was a disaster for Russia. With Japanese land forces advancing inexorably across Manchuria , the Russian fleet at Port Arthur became increasingly cut-off . The cruiser squadron from Valdivostock made a good showing against Japanese transports off Korea beforer pinned down by a superior force and severely damaged , with the loss of the older cruiser Rurik. The Port Arthur fleet made a final attempt to break out at the Battle Of The Yellow Sea , after which a not insignificant part of the force , including the battleship Tsesarevitch headed for internment in neutral Chinese ports . The remaining Russian warships returned to Port Arthur where they were subsequently destroyed by land bombardment.
The final denouement saw the Russian Baltic Fleet achieve the remarkable feat of sailing around the world to the Far East , with ports closed to them and coal supplied by the German Hamburg-Amerika line. Steaming Northwards past Formosa the Russian fleet suffered the death of its second-in-command , Admirable Felkerzam on his flagship Osliabia. Attempting to sneak between Korea and Japan the Russian fleet , under Admiral Rozhestvensky , was caught by the Japanese and brought to battle not far from the island of Tsu-Shima.
Tsu-Shima was as decisive a naval battle for Japan as Trafalgar had been for Britain. Admiral Togo's tactics assured the Japanese Empire of total victory - What ships were not sunk were in the large part captured by the Japanese ; a few fled to neutral ports and only a handful of light forces (a couple of destroyers and the hybrid cruiser-yacht Almaz) made it through to Vladivostock . The intervention of American President Theodore Roosevelt secured a peace agreement in Portsmouth , New England , by which Russia lost all of Manchuria to Japan , as well as the Southern half of Sakhalin island and the Southern Kuril Islands. The defeat would lead to revolution and unrest within Russia , although for the moment the Tsar would remain on top. Japan emerged as the premier naval power in the region , a position enhanced by the rebuilding and reconstruction of surrendered or sunken Russian warships , even extending as far as the light cruiser Novik which had been pounded into a wreck after fleeing North from the Battle of the Yellow Sea.
Between 1905 and 1914 Russia slowly rebuilt its armed forces . The battleships building in the Baltic and Black Seas were redesigned at once to include lessons from the Russo-Japanese War , the vessels in the Baltic - Andrei Pervoswani and Imperator Pavel - emerging as semi-dreadnoughts , more powerful than their predecessors but weaker than the dreadnought battleships being constructed by the premier naval powers in the West. A programme of cruiser building culminated in the 10"-gunned armoured cruiser Rurik , completed in 1910 , though by then the battlecruiser was becoming a serious threat to such vessels.
