Re: OT-Wrong port arthur

On Tue, 6 Feb 2001 12:48:30 -0000, "Bif Smith"
<bif@bifsmith.fsnet.co.uk>
wrote:

>Anybody got any more info on these clowns?

When the fleet got out of the Baltic, they discovered Japanese torpedo
boats
waiting for them. They fired on them, but missed for the most part. They
did
sink one, though. Unfortunately, the torpedo boats were British
commercial
trawlers. Something like 4 people were killed. The British demanded the
captains of the firing ships held for an inquest. Russia refused, which
resulted in Britain putting pressure on neutral nations to close coaling
stations. The Russians eventually relented.

The Admiral had a habit of being a harsh task master. If a ship got out
of
formation, he would take his launch to the ship and berate the captain.
The
result was that the fleet captains feared mistakes, which meant that
they
never got proficient at manoeuvres. It also meant that morale plummetted
every
time the Admiral showed up.

I think it was pointed out that they didn't do live fire exercises
during the
trip.

Just before Tsushima, the second in command Admiral died from natural
causes.
However, in an attempt to maintain morale, the commanding Admiral didn't
tell
the rest of the fleet; he kept the second in command's flag flying.

During the Battle of Tsushima, one division (or part of one, I'd have to
check) pulled a rather novice move and a couple of ships ended up
screening a
couple of other ships, so that those other ships couldn't fire. This was
an
obvious mistake due to unfamiliarity of manoeuvring. 

Also, when the Admiral was wounded and had to leave his flag ship, the
third
in command was suddenly surprised to find that HE was now commander!
This
caused confusion in the Russian fleet at a crucial moment. The result
was a
disaster. 

The Russian ships were generally inferior to the Japanese. They had
inferior
armour for the most part. Even still, they were similarly armed and
outnumbered the Japanese ships. The Russian fleet should have been at an
advantage, but they were badly mauled.

Allan Goodall		       awg@sympatico.ca
Goodall's Grotto:  http://www.vex.net/~agoodall

"Now, see, if you combine different colours of light,
 you get white! Try that with Play-Doh and you get
 brown! How come?" - Alan Moore & Kevin Nolan,