At Vladivostock we had the gallant cruiser squadron of Admiral Essen. Mention must be made of these brave ships to complete our Russian view of the Naval part of the Russo-Japanese War of 1904/5.Forefront is the Gromoboi (Thunderer) one of the better of the Russian armoured cruisers. To the right is the Rossiya and they both appear to be wearing wartime colour schemes. Missing is the Rurik, named after one of the semi legendary Varangian founders of ancient Muscovy.
These three armoured cruisers caused a fair bit of panic in Japan, owing to their interception of Japanese supply ships bound for Korea. However, Vitgeft left them in the lurch following Yellow Sea.
They'd been ordered to meet the Russian squadron from Port Arthur as it made its attempt to reach Vladivostok - culminating in the Russian defeat at Yellow Sea.
Rear Admiral Kamimura caught them off Ulsan, Korea, and there ensued a running fight.
Rurik was the oldest and slowest and was soon in trouble. Eventually, Essen made the hard decision to leave Rurik to its fate, thereby preserving the rest of the squadron.
Rossiya was the worst knocked about of the two survivors and repairs were never finished until after the end of the war.
Don
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