The Russo-Japanese War

Early Actions

One early move of the war saw the Russian gunboat Mandjur (meaning Manchurian) attacked by the Japanese despite it being at a supposedly neutral Chinese port. After finding it impossible to escape the Russian gunboat's commander , Captain Crown , destroyed the ship but had to watch as the Japanese took possession of the wreck .

The most famous early action of the war was the attack upon the Russian detachment at Chemulpo in Korea. This consisted of the cruiser Variag and the gunboat Korietz (meaning Korean in Russian). Despite being heavily outnumbered by a Japanese cruiser squadron the Russians sailed out of the harbour to do battle , later returning to scuttle their heavily-damaged vessels after receiving the inevitable pounding at the hands of a superior force.

At Port Arthur the initial Japanese attack by destroyers upon the battleships and cruisers at anchor in the harbour entrance had succeeded in badly damaging several ships , amongst them the battleship Retvisan , but not in destroying any. The Russians were to prove remarkably resilient in their ability to patch up and return severely damaged ships to action using often the most rudimentary of facilities - e.g. pumps and cofferdams were often all that was available.