Word: russianized
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Dates: during 1930-1939
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...fall of 1904, Russia's Far Eastern campaign against Japan was not going very well. The first Russian Pacific squadron had already had one mauling, and the Russian army was on the defensive in Manchuria. So the Baltic Fleet was given sailing orders for the Pacific. The long cruise did not start auspiciously. The Oryol, Novikoff-Priboy's ship, ran aground shortly after leaving harbor. Before the fleet had rounded Denmark there were several false alarms about Japanese torpedo boats. In the North Sea some British fishing smacks were mistaken in the darkness for enemy destroyers...
After they left Madagascar and headed east across the Indian Ocean the Russians daily expected an attack, but it was not until they were only three days from their goal, Vladivostok, that the blow fell. By that time they were in such a fatalistic frame of mind that the battle was almost a relief. Rozhestvensky's plan was rigidly simple-to force his column, battleships in the lead, through the Straits of Tsushima, head for Vladivostok. Since Togo's average speed was six knots faster, he had no trouble heading off the Russian column, kept pounding each leading...
Steward Novikoff-Priboy's battle-station on the Oryol was in the sickbay. When the big guns started, "the heavens resounded like an iron dome struck by Titans' hammers." The Russian shells were armor-piercing but often nonexplosive; the Japanese shells exploded on contact, started hundreds of fires on the Russian ships, which were heavily overdecorated with woodwork. The Japanese gunners concentrated their aim at the leading Russian ships; the Russians shot at anything they could see. First casualty was the Oslyabya. Pounded by six Japanese cruisers, her guns went silent one by one. The jar of each...
...Suvoroff, Rozhestvensky's flagship, was soon put out of action. The hail of shell-splinters flying into the conning tower thrice wounded Rozhestvensky. Soon no one knew who was in command of the Russian fleet. All that could be done was to follow the ship ahead, until it sank or fell out of line, turning in helpless circles. By nightfall (the action began at 2 p. m.) the Russians were trying only to escape. Till midnight they were harried by torpedo attacks. Next morning brought the main Japanese fleet again to mop up the survivors. By then most...
When Tsushima's terrible two days were over, the Russian fleet had been annihilated. Out of 38 ships, three somehow got through to Vladivostok; three more limped into Manila, were interned. Five thousand Russian seamen went down with their ships; 115 Japanese went with them...