Resounding Victory at Tsushima Strait
by David Castor
June 14, 1905
Our esteemed Admiral Heihachiro Togo, pictured left, brilliantly led our fleet to a definite victory of the Russian Baltic fleet commanded by Admiral Z. P. Rozhestvensky. Our fleet of four battleships, eight cruisers, twenty-one destroyers, and sixty torpedo boats crushed the Russian Baltic fleet of seven battleships, eight cruisers, 9 destroyers, and many other smaller craft. (1) While their fleet was superior on paper, our superiority, in both military strategy and technology, lead to our inevitable victory.
We have achieved such a victory that has not been seen at sea since that at Manila Bay or even as far back as Trafalgar. This victory has lead to peace negotiations with Russia heavily in our favor. Officials say that we will receive influence over Manchuria and over Korea in exchange to agreeing to a peace treaty. A great step for the continued expansion of our great empire has been achieved. Not only have we gained territory, but also we have gained prestige. Now, we have beaten a Western power, not only beaten but also utterly crushed one.
We have taken the fight constantly to the Russians. First we crushed them at Port Arthur, and now at Tsushima Strait we have achieved a total naval victory over the Russians. Peace talks have commenced with diplomats at Russia. Both sides seem to be eager to reach a conclusion and put an end to this short war that began on February 20, 1904 and a little more than a year later seems to be coming to a close.
After long anticipation of counts, the Japanese government has finally have finally released statistics regarding the details of the battle at Tsushima Strait. Fought on May 27, 1905, the battle of Tsushima Strait was one of the most one-sided outcomes in naval warfare in all of past history.
At 5:05 a.m. Admiral Togo sighted the Russian fleet approaching Tsushima Strait at reported to Tokyo “I have just received the news that the enemy’s fleet has been sighted. Our fleet will forthwith proceed to sea to attack the enemy and destroy him.” (2) He proceeded on to do just that. A map of the early action and manuvers is shown below.
According to Japanese government counts, two-thirds of the Russian Fleet was sunk or captured. More than 4,300 Russian sailors were killed with almost 6,000 captured. Among the captured was the Russian fleet admiral, Admiral Rozhestvensky. Our navy lost around 100 sailors. (3) They shall forever be remembered for their sacrifice for the empire. Only 3 Japanese torpedo boats were sunk and all other boats that were damaged were salvaged. Only 3 Russian warships out of the 37 engaged escaped our clutches. (4)
This war has brought our nation of Japan to the status of a world power. Now, we are one of those holding power. We are now the rulers of Asia. Asia is our domain and influence and we can finally hold pride in our status as Asians, as Japanese. No longer is their white supremacy. We have proven that Asians can stand up to the Europeans and win. After Asia, we must look across the Pacific Ocean at the United States of America. Both of our nations hold naval supremacy. We must rise to the challenge presented to us from across the pacific. We must rise up as one unified Japan so we may hold dominion over Asia and hold superiority over the Americans across the Pacific. They no longer is such a thing as Caucasian superiority, that notion has been shattered and we must ride that destruction to the forefront of Asia to be at the forefront of the world.
Footnotes
1. William Weir, 50 Battles That Changed the World (Franklin Lakes: The Career Press, 2004), 51.
2. Lt. Col. (Ret.) Michael Lee Lanning, The Battle 100: The Stories Behind History’s Most Influential Battles (Naperville: Sourcebooks, 2003), 116.
3. William Weir, 50 Battles That Changed the World (Franklin Lakes: The Career Press, 2004), 54.
4. Paul K. Davis, 100 Decisive Battles: From Ancient Times to the Present: The World’s Major Battles and How They Shaped History (Santa Barbara: Oxford University Press, 1999), 349.
Images
1. Admiral Togo. Heihachiro Togo: http://www.futura-dtp.dk/SLAG/Personer/NavneT/TogoHeihachiro.htm
2. Tsushima Battle Map. Tsushima Phase I: http://www.russojapanesewar.com/tsushima-map-2.html