The Russian ship destroyed was Admiral Makaroff’s flagship, the
Petropavlovsk; the second ship injured was the battleship Pobieda. In
the action in which she engaged the third squadron, the Bayan also was
damaged, and the effective Russian fleet for the moment reduced to the
Peresviet, Sevastopol, Askold, Diana, Novik, and some five destroyers.
Another attempt to block the harbour followed, no less than ten ships
being employed. In Japan this attempt was accepted as completely
successful; but there are few grounds for believing that it was more
than temporarily so.
Too little is yet known of the real facts of the war for many
conclusions of value to be drawn; indeed, only one thing is as yet
fully clear, and that is the importance of battleships. Russia’s
failure lay here. Lacking a battleship superiority, she was unable to
support her cruisers, and these consequently unable to support the
destroyers. As a result, despite the extraordinary activity of the
Russian cruiser Bayan, the naval war followed the exact course that any
one cognizant of naval affairs could have predicted on February 10,
1904. Only the battleship can confer command of the sea.
Later events to the end of May included the loss of the battleship
Hatsuse, by contact with a Russian mine, and the sinking of the cruiser
Yoshino, after collision with the Kasuga in a fog.