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Originally intended to be a relieving force for the Port Arthur fleet Admiral Rozhestvensky's fleet set out on its epic journey around the world in the Summer of 1904 . Composed of ships from the Baltic Fleet , this 'Second Pacific Squadron' consisted partly of the main fleet ships from that theatre , and partly of brand new battleships of the Borodino class. Later , a 'Third Pacific Squadron' under Admiral Nebogatoff was dispatched to 'reinforce' Rozhestvensky ; in contrast to the Second fleet this third force consisted of old ships , many of them of dubious fighting value , and including a number dating back over twenty-five years which had recently been substantially rebuilt.
After an incredible voyage to the other side of the world , during which all ports were closed to them as combatants and only the colliers of the German Hamburg-Amerika Line provided a lifeline , the fleet approached China , having long ago learnt that Port Arthur had fallen and nothing remained of the powerful fleet that had been based there . It only remained for Rozhestvensky's fleet to try and get through to Vladivostock where it could play a part in the peace negotiations that were now inevitable.
Even this hardly noble fate was not to be . The Russian fleet , having lost its second-in-command Admiral Felkerzam to natural causes on his flagship Osliabia , entered the the waters to the West of Japan. Rozhestvensky , who had not informed anyone of Felkerzam's death , hoped that the prevailing fog would hide his fleet from Japanese patrols , but smoke from his warships was sighted by a Japanese auxilary , and Admiral Togo's battlefleet headed in to engage the Russians near to the island of Tsu-Shima.
The Japanese came within range at the worse possible moment for the Russians who were in the midst of reorganizing their formation . Thus , bunched up and ill-deployed , they came under heavy fire from the van of the enemy fleet. By nightfall hardly anything was left . The cruisers , under the inept command of Admiral Enqvist had cut and run , heading for internment in China , and in some cases even further South. The modern battleships of the Borodino class had borne the brunt of Japanese fire , and only one , the Orel , survived to the next morning. Rozhestvensky himself had been severely wounded and taken off his flagship by a destroyer. Most of the older battleships and cruisers fought valiant individual battles against more modern Japanese foes , many scuttling themselves rather than allow them to be captured upon surrender .
Dawn found Admiral Nebogatoff in command of the only sizeable Russian force left , centred around the ancient battleships of the Third Pacific Fleet , and including several destroyers and the modern light cruiser Izumrud , as well as the only surviving modern battleship , the Orel which was hardly in a good condition . Inevitably the Japanese soon came upon them and began opening fire. His old guns unable to find the range , Nebogatoff faced the choice of sitting and watching his force been destroyed without chance of fighting back , or of surrender. When he made clear his decision to adopt the latter course , the Izumrud and the remaining destroyers broke out of the cordon of Japanese warships and headed for Vladivostock. Nebogatoff then surrendered the only suriviving batleships of the Russian fleet.
The destroyer carrying the badly injured Rozhestvensky had sailed on through the night , passing other stricken Russian vessels , until it was eventually cornered by a Japanese force. Unable to run at high speed because the vibrations would kill the admiral , the Russian destroyer surrendered , allowing Rozhestvensky to pass into captivity.
Only a few Russian warships escaped the Japanese to head North towards Vladivostock. Of these , the cruiser Izumrud ran aground and was wrecked attempting to enter the harbour at night. It was thus that the hybrid cruiser-yacht Almaz became the largest ship to make the port , with a couple of destroyers eventually coming in , having burnt the majority of their wooden fittings to expand their range.
As a postscript it can be noted that the ships captured by the Japanese at Tsu Shima , just like the wrecks captured at Port Arthur , were eventually repaired and incorporated into the Imperial Japanese Navy with new , Japanese , names .
