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By December 1904 there was no longer any hope for the Russian Pacific Fleet based at Port Arthur. Having failed to break out to Vladivostock , the decisive event being the retreat back to Port Arthur after The Battle Of The Yellow Sea , and since the fall of a vital hill over-looking the port faced with constant bombardment from the Japanese land forces besieging the city , the fleet's only remaining role was to help in the defence of the city. To this end Admiral Wiren stripped the larger vessels of any guns which could be mounted on the hills for the city's defence , and utilised the crews as auxilary infantry . All the while Japanese shells continued to plunge into the harbour , smashing the warships there and destroying Russian sea power in the theatre.
At the turn of the new year (1905) the last surviving vessels met their fate. A number of destroyers broke out and headed for internment in Chinese ports across the Yellow Sea , whilst the battleship Sevastopol whose captain , Von Essen , had taken her into the roads and fought off numerous Japanese attempts to torpedo her , scuttled his ship . Soon afterwards the port fell .
The occupying Japanese inherited a sunken battlefleet. Over the next year or so the majority of these ships would be raised and rebuilding set in motion. They would never be first-line ships again but they would add important in-depth strength to the growing strength of the Imperial Japanese Navy , and many of them would survive to play a supporting role in the First World War - for example as convoy escorts during the early stages of the global conflict.
 The protected cruiser Pallada | wrecked in Port Arthur |
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The battleship | Pobieda The armoured cruiser | Bayan The battleship | Poltava |
Wreck of a Russian | torpedo boat at Port Arthur |
