Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More - The Horrible Voyage of the 1905 Russian Baltic Fleet (Encore)

Starting point is 00:00:00 The following is an encore presentation of Everything Everywhere Daily. In February 1904, the Russian Empire found itself at war with the Empire of Japan over what was territory in the current nation of China. The problem for Russia was that a big chunk of its Navy was located in the Baltic Sea, and the war was in Asia. The Baltic fleet was sent on an incredibly long and interesting voyage to get the ships into battle. Learn more about the disastrous voyage of the Imperial Russian Baltic fleet and how it helped change the course of Russian history on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. What if your perceptions about the past were wrong?

Starting point is 00:00:53 ThruLine is a podcast that takes you back in time to uncover the parts of the story that may have gone unnoticed. It effectively turned day into night. And how it shaped the world now. Time travel with us every week on the ThruLine podcast from NPR. In 1904, Russia found itself at war with Japan. The proximate cause of the war was a Japanese attack on the primary Russian port in the Pacific at the time, Port Arthur. Today, Port Arthur is the Chinese city of Lu Shunko.

Starting point is 00:01:30 The causes of the Russian-Japanese war were numerous and is not the focus of this episode. But suffice it to say that Japan was in ascendance and Russia was in decline, and this was the point where their interests clashed. When the war started, no one in Europe really thought much of it. An Asian nation had never beaten a European one since the days of the Mongol Empire. Everyone assumed, including the Russians, that the war would be a cakewalk. Unfortunately, the war took place in Asia, and most of Russia's military was in Europe. Most importantly, for this episode, the largest part of their Navy was located in the Baltic Sea outside of St. Petersburg. A bit about Russian geography.

Starting point is 00:02:10 Despite being an enormous country, Russia has very little in the way of sea access. Getting a warm water port has been on the Russian wish list for centuries. They had St. Petersburg in the Baltic Sea, some ports on the Black Sea, which required passing through the Bosporus, an enormous coast on the Arctic Ocean, which is mostly useless for shipping, and a few ports in the North Pacific, which was far away from their population centers. So after several months of the war not going so well for Russia, the Tsar decided to move the Baltic fleet over to the Pacific to help relieve the besieged Port Arthur. This was actually pretty reasonable. You had ships over here, and they were needed over there. The problem was going from the Baltic to the North Pacific was about as far as you could sail on Earth. So on October 15, 1904, the fleet under the command of Admiral Zenovi-Rostisvinsky set out from St. Petersburg for Asia,

Starting point is 00:03:04 a journey of 29,000 kilometers, assuming that they went through the Suez Canal. Here I should note that while Russia had a navy, it wasn't the best navy. Russia was traditionally a land power, a fact that will soon become obvious. On the first day of the voyage, the Russian flag ship and a cargo ship ran aground. Not a very auspicious start. And while the ships were getting pulled out, a destroyer ran into a battleship. Admiral Rostosvensky was extremely vigilant. He assumed that the Japanese had sent ships to the Baltic to attack the Russian.

Starting point is 00:03:39 There had been rumors of Japanese mining in the waters and of Japanese torpedo boats and submarines. All of the sailors were on high alert, which made everyone anxious. As they sailed around Denmark, a ship approached the fleet sailing right at them. So the Russian ships opened fire. Totally missing the ship. Which was actually a Russian cruiser called the Aurora. And it was delivering a message to the admiral saying that he had just been promoted. On October 25th, the fleet reached an area in the North Sea off the coast of England,

Starting point is 00:04:09 known as the doger bang. In the middle of the night in heavy fog, Russian spotters on duty saw what they assumed were Japanese torpedo boats. The Russians opened fire, and other ships in the fleet hearing gunfire returned fire. When everything calmed down, there were no Japanese warships. There were British fishing boats. The Russians sank one boat, damaged five others, and killed two people. They also happened to kill a sailor and a Russian Orthodox priest from their own fleet from friendly fire. So, even though they didn't have any guns, the British managed to fight them to a draw. The darker bank incident almost led to war between the United Kingdom and Russia. The fleet continued south and briefly stopped off the coast of Cangiers in Morocco. The fleet

Starting point is 00:04:52 had to split up because the battleships and large cruisers couldn't pass through the Suez Canal. While they briefly paused before the fleet split up, they dropped anchor and accidentally cut the telegraph line connecting Africa and Europe. The ships which had to sail around Africa didn't have any ports that they could stop at for refueling. Russia didn't have any ports, and neutral countries in the war legally couldn't help them, so they had to sail with an enormous amount of coal. They didn't have anywhere to put the coal, so there were just large piles of coal on the decks of the ships, which resulted in many crew members developing respiratory diseases en route to Asia.

Starting point is 00:05:29 As the fleet rounded Africa, they decided to make a stop in Madagascar to give the crew a bit of rest and relaxation on January. January 2nd, 1905. The crew went ashore and purchased a bunch of exotic animals, including venomous snakes and crocodiles. These animals got loose on several ships, causing a host of problems. Then the refrigerated supply ship broke down, and they had to toss all of the now-spoiled meat overboard. They tried to do some target practice off the coast of Madagascar by having one of their ships tow a target. Not a single hit was registered on the target, but the ship that was towing it was damaged. One of the crew actually died en route and was given a funeral at sea. One of the ships fired a salute from its guns and hit another ship in the fleet.

Starting point is 00:06:13 Conditions for the Russian sailors going around Africa were bad as they never had experienced that long at sea and never that warm of a climate. One ship almost mutinied. Finally, the two fleets were able to meet up and headed to China. They made a brief and somewhat illegal stop in Comran Bay, Vietnam, which was under French control. There they found out that Port Arthur had already fallen, rendering their entire mission moot. However, by that point, they couldn't really turn back. The issue is fuel. In addition to just piling tons of coal on the decks of the ships, they were also refueled by several German ships en route. Now that they were as far as Vietnam, the only real option

Starting point is 00:06:51 was to keep going and try to reach the Russian port of Latavostok on the Pacific. However, to do so, without running out of coal, meant taking the most direct route through the sea of Japan. Finally, after almost six months on the high seas, where the Baltic fleet was never really designed to operate, the ships approach the Tsushima Strait, the water separating Japan and Korea. There were 38 ships of the Baltic Fleet, now called the Second and Third Pacific Squadrons, which had made it this far. As the fleet entered the Tsushima Strait on the evening of May 27th, there was a thick fog in the area. The fleet was running dark except for the hospital ship Orell, which had its lights on, as per the rules of war at the time.

Starting point is 00:07:31 The Orel saw a ship approaching them in the distance and assumed that they had finally encountered another Russian ship. They sent them a radio message giving the details about their number of ships and their locations. The ship they sent all this information to was not another Russian ship. It was the Japanese cruiser, Shenanu Maru. After months of false warnings and sightings of Japanese ships, the first time they actually encountered a Japanese ship, not only did they not identify it, but they gave them their entire battle plan. The Shenano-Maru then radioed Admiral Togo, who sent a combined Japanese fleet of over 120 ships to intercept the Russian fleet. Given the performance of the Russian Navy up to this point, and given the overwhelming numbers of the Japanese fleet, you can probably guess the outcome.

Starting point is 00:08:17 The Russians were annihilated. The Japanese lost three torpedo boats and 117 sailors in the battle. The raw tonnage of the Japanese ships lost was only 255 tons. The Russians had 21 ships that were sunk, which included 11 battleships, with an additional 14 ships captured. 5,045 Russian sailors were killed, 803 were injured, and 6,016 were captured. The total tonnage of the Russian ships lost was over 143,000 tons. Only three ships managed to slink into Vladivostok. The lopsidedness of this battle wasn't just a matter of superior Japanese numbers. They also had better weapons, better technology, and, quite frankly, better trained sailors. A single hit from a Japanese gun was usually enough to sink a Russian ship, whereas a hit from a Russian gun usually only damaged a Japanese ship.

Starting point is 00:09:12 The ramifications of the Battle of Tsushima were wide-reaching. It effectually ended the Russian-Japanese War. Russia gave up its claims in the region and recognized Japanese control over Korea and the parts of Manchuria that it formerly controlled. As the first European power to lose to an Asian power, it greatly weakened Russia's influence in Europe, as well as the standing of the Tsar. It so weakened his government that losing the war was in no small part responsible for his eventual downfall. The Battle of Tsushima became a central part of the 20th century Japanese imperial mythos, leading to the eventual domination of the region, culminating in the Second World War 30 years later. Admiral Rossesvinsky was wounded and captured.

Starting point is 00:09:53 While he was in the hospital, he was visited by his counterpart, the Japanese Admiral Togo. He told him, quote, defeat is a common fate of a soldier. There is nothing to be ashamed of in it. The great point is whether we have performed our duty, end quote. Ross Svensky was later put on trial and took full responsibility. He was sentenced to death, but it was later commuted by the Tsar to a short prison sentence. He died a few years later of a heart attack in St. Petersburg. The Battle of Sushima was actually one of the most important battles of the 20th century. What made it significant wasn't the maneuvering or the tactics, because after all, it was a lopsided route. What made it so important was the power shift that it represented. From this battle,

Starting point is 00:10:33 you can draw a line to the eventual fall of Tsarist Russia, the rise of Imperial Japan, and the end of the absolute hegemity of European powers in Asia. The executive producer of Everything Everywhere Daily is Charles Daniel. The associate producers are Benji Long and Cameron Kiever. I want to give a big shout out to everyone who supports the show over on Patreon. including the show's producers. Your support helps me put out a show every single day. And also, Patreon is currently the only place where Everything Everywhere Daily merchandise

Starting point is 00:11:05 is available to the top tier of supporters. If you'd like to talk to other listeners of the show and members of the Completionist Club, you can join the Everything Everywhere Daily Facebook group or Discord server. Links to everything are in the show notes.

Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More - The Horrible Voyage of the 1905 Russian Baltic Fleet (Encore)

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