The Tsar's Last Armada: Journey to Tsushima Battle

The entire Russian fleet was annihilated on May 14-15, 1905, in the Tsushima Straits near Japan, with its ships sunk, scattered, or captured by the Japanese. In the decisive battle of the Russo-Japanese War, the Japanese only lost three destroyers, while the Russians lost twenty-two ships and thousands of sailors. It was the first modern naval battle, utilizing all the new technology of destruction. The old imperial navy was woefully unprepared. The defeat at Tsushima was the last and greatest of many indignities suffered by the Russian fleet, which had traveled halfway around the world to reach the battle, dogged every mile by bad luck and misadventure. Led by their legendary admiral, dubbed "Mad Dog," the Russian fleet embarked on an extraordinary eighteen-thousand-mile journey from the Baltic Sea, around Europe, Africa, and Asia, to the Sea of Japan. They were burdened by the Tsar's incompetent leadership and the old, slow ships that he insisted be included to bolster the fleet. In addition, they were constantly under fear of attack, with no friendly ports to supply coal, food, and fresh water. The level of self-sufficiency achieved by this navy was not seen again until the Second World War.

The battle of Tsushima is among the top five naval battles in history, equal in scope and drama to those of Lepanto, Trafalgar, Jutland, and Midway. Despite its significance, it has been long neglected in the West. Constantine Pleshakov tells of the Russian squadron's long, arduous journey and swift, devastating defeat with a novelist's eye and a historian's authority.

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