The Tsar's Last Armada

Summary

On May 14-15, 1905, in the Tsushima Straits near Japan, an entire Russian fleet was annihilated, its ships sunk, scattered, or captured by the Japanese. It was among the top five naval battles in history, equal to those of Lepanto, Trafalgar, Jutland, and Midway. The Japanese lost only three destroyers, but the Russians lost twenty-two ships and thousands of sailors. To this day Russian ships throw wreaths on the waves when passing the Korea Strait.The Russians had traveled for nine months to be destroyed in a few hours. Because they were afraid of capture in the Suez Canal, their legendary admiral, dubbed "Mad Dog," led them on an extraordinary 18,000mile detour 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 bulk up the fleet. Moreover, they were under constant fear of attack, and there were no friendly ports to supply coal, food, and fresh water. The level of self-sufficiency achieved by this squadron was not again attained in naval practice until the Second World War.With a novelist's eye and a historian's authority, Pleshakov tells of the Russian squadron's long, difficult journey and swift, horrible defeat.

Author Biography

Constantine Pleshakov received his Ph.D. from the Soviet Academy of Sciences and was Director of the Geopolitics Center there until 1995. Pleshakov has been a Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton and a Fellow at the Norwegian Nobel Institute in Oslo. Since 1998 he has been a professor of International Relations at Mount Holyoke College

Foreword

Acknowledgments

xix

PART ONE RACE

``The First Ball of the Tsar,'' 1890-1904

(22)

``Master the Sea!'' January-August 1904

(44)

``Rumors from the Bazaar,'' August-October 1904

(22)

``This Is a Miserable Fleet,'' October 4-23, 1904, Western Europe

(24)

``We Have No Coast Batteries in Dakar!'' October 23-December 16, 1904, African Coast

115

(36)

PART TWO LINGERING

``The Yacht Squadron,'' October 1904 January 1905, Red Sea

151

(18)

``Nossibeisk,'' December 16, 1904 March 3, 1905, Madagascar

169

(34)

``Ten Guns Done Up in India Rubber,'' March 1905, Indian Ocean

203

(14)

``A Hole Coated in Iron,'' March 26-May 1, 1905, Indochina

217

(30)

``Be Prepared for Full Steam Ahead,'' May 1-13, 1905, Pacific Ocean

247

(14)

PART THREE BATTLE

``They Are All There!'' 6:30 A.M.: 5:30 P.M., May 14, 1905

261

(16)

``Follow the Admiral,'' 5:30 P.M.: May 14-1 P.M., May 15, 1905

277

(10)

``Slutty Old Geezer,'' May 14-21 1905

287

(12)

``Throw Me Overboard,'' 5:30 P.M., May 14-6 A.M., May 16, 1905

299

(10)

``Return Soon,'' May-November 1905

309

(12)

``The Insulted Russian People,'' November 3, 1905 January 1, 1909

321

(18)

Notes

339

(32)

Select Bibliography

371

(6)

Index

377

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