| First Edition | December 1906 |
| Reprinted | February 1907 |
| Reprinted | March 1907 |
| Reprinted | July 1908 |
| Reprinted | October 1909 |
| Reprinted | September 1910 |
| Reprinted | January 1912 |
THE BATTLE OF
TSU-SHIMA
BETWEEN THE JAPANESE AND RUSSIAN
FLEETS, FOUGHT ON 27TH MAY 1905
BY CAPTAIN VLADIMIR SEMENOFF
(ONE OF THE SURVIVORS)
TRANSLATED BY
CAPTAIN A. B. LINDSAY
2ND KING EDWARD’S OWN GURKHA RIFLES
WITH A PREFACE BY
SIR GEORGE SYDENHAM CLARKE
G.C.M.G., F.R.S.
NEW YORK
E. P. DUTTON & COMPANY
1913
“Captain Semenoff’s little volume, which would wellrepay translation, is a remarkably graphic and luminousaccount of Admiral Togo’s great victory, compiled fromnotes taken by the author during the engagement. Hisaccount is all the more interesting as he was also on theCesarevitch when Admiral Vitoft made his unsuccessfulattempt to escape from Port Arthur on 10th August1904.... Every word of this little volume bears theimpress of reality, and enables the reader to form avivid picture of the various phases of the battle. Thereis a plan showing the positions of the contending fleetsfrom 1.20 till 7 P.M.”
—Times Literary Supplement, 17th August 1906.
v
The paucity of war experience sincethe introduction of the steam-drivenarmoured ship invests the battle ofTsu-shima with supreme importance.Between Trafalgar and the 27th May1905, there had been only two fleetactions on a large scale—those of Lissaand of the Yalu—and the first was foughtbefore the wooden vessel had disappearedand the rifled gun had become universal.The various minor engagements whichoccurred during this long period wereeither destitute of teaching, or failed toviprovide an adequate basis for conclusionscapable of serving as guides to a rationalsystem of tactics or to a scientific shipbuildingpolicy.
It has, therefore, followed, in thiscountry especially, that the evolutionof the warship has been frequentlycapricious, indicating the absence ofany clear principles, and entailing animmense total expenditure upon vesselsunsuited to our national requirements,but happily not forced to demonstratetheir inutility.
In all wars, whether by sea or land,some few general lessons stand out unmistakably;but the difficulty of arrivingat a just estimate of the relative significanceof the causes which have led tovictory or to defeat is always extreme.Genius, which may be defined as an unerringviisense of proportion, is necessarilyrare, and the