The Russo-Japanese War

Individual Ships

The Russian Fleet in the Far East proved incapable as a body of operating with great efficiency or effectiveness. This changed for a while with the appointment of Admiral Makarov as fleet commander , but his tragic death aboard the battleship Petropavlosk when it hit a mine and blew up outside the harbour robbed the Russians of many of the improvements he had set in motion.

Captain Robert Wiren of the armoured cruiser Bayan was to emerge as one of the most effective ship commanders of the war.Such was his ability that , after the Battle of the Yellow Sea when the fleet had failed to break out to Vladivostock , Wiren , who had missed the action because the Bayan was still being repaired after hitting a mine , was appointed the last commander of the beleagured fleet.

Another vessel which made a name for itself was the light cruiser Novik , under its commander Von Essen. Von Essen so impressed Makaroff that when the captain of the battleship Sevastopol , which had been involved in a number of collisions , was relieved of command it was Von Essen who was appointed to replace him , with Captain 2nd Rank Nikolai Schulz becoming commander of the Novik. It was Schulz who was in command when , after the Battle of the Yellow Sea , the Novik broke away to try to reach Vladivostock alone , but was eventually cornered and sunk by a much more powerful Japanese cruiser.

Russo-Japanese War - Death Of A Fleet (Part 1)