ew that if he kept his fleet near the shores of Japan his enemy must come
sooner or later within effective striking distance.

Rojdestvensky might attempt a raid on the coasts of Japan, or make a dash
for Niu-chwang to seize that port, now the nearest base of supply of the
Japanese field army. Far-seeing precautions were taken against this
eventuality by accumulating enormous stores of supplies in the immediate
rear of the army. But it was far more likely that the Russian admiral would
try to reach Vladivostock, either with or without a battle. To do so he
would have ultimately to pass through one of three channels into the Sea of
Japan. He must choose between the Korean or Tsu-shima straits between Japan
and Korea, or the Tsugaru channel between Nippon and Yozo, or the La
Perouse Straits (known to the Japanese as the Soya channel) still further
north. Whatever course he chose, the best position for the Japanese fleet
was near the Tsu-shima straits, with the arsenal and dockyard of
Shimonoseki close by on the Japanese shore. This the Russians themselves
foresaw would be the most likely position for Togo to select.

He made Masampho Bay on the Korean side of the straits, and inside them
(the "Douglas Bay" of our Admiralty Charts), the station for his fleet.
Freed from all harassing blockading and cruising work, he devoted the
period between the retirement and destruction of the Port Arthur fleet in
the late summer of 1904, and the approach of the Russians in May, 1905, to
repairing his ships very thoroughly, substituting new guns for those they
had mounted at the beginning of the war, which had had their rifling worn
down. Continual target practice and manoeuvre exercises kept every ship and
every man up to the mark. Charts of the sea around Japan were ruled off
into small numbered squares, so as to facilitate the reporting of the
enemy's position and movements from the moment he would be first sighted.
An elaborate system of scouting by light cruisers was organized; signal
stations were established on islands and headlands, and wireless
installations erected at central and outlying points. If Rojdestvensky made
for the Tsu-shima channels, Togo was there to meet him. If he went for
either of the more northern straits, the Japanese admiral counted on having
news of his movements in sufficient time to enable him to steam at full
speed by a shorter route, and still interpose between the Baltic armada and
Vladivostock.

Aft