break and the sun shone
fitfully," says Captain Semenoff,[23] "but although a fairly fresh
south-westerly wind had sprung up, a thick mist still lay upon the water."
Rojdestvensky meant to pass the perilous straits in daylight, and he
calculated that by noon next day the fleet would be in the narrows of
Tsu-shima.

[23] Semenoff had served with the Port Arthur fleet on board one
of the cruisers which were disarmed in a neutral port after the
battle of August 10th, 1904. He then returned to Europe, was
attached to the staff of the Baltic fleet, and went out to the
East on board the flagship. His remarkable narrative, "The
Battle of Tsu-shima," is a vivid detailed account of the
"Suvaroff's" fortunes during the fight. He died in 1910.

Behind that portal of the Sea of Japan Togo was waiting confidently for his
enemy, who, he knew, must now be near at hand. Never before had two such
powerful fleets met in battle, and the fate of the East hung upon the
result of their encounter.

That result must depend mainly upon the heavy armoured ships. In these and
in the number of guns of the largest calibre, the Russians had an advantage
so far as mere figures went, as the following tables show:--

ARMOURED SHIPS
Class. Japan. Russia.
Battleships 4 8
Coast-defence armour-clad -- 3
Armoured cruisers 8 3
-- --
Total 12 14

HEAVY GUNS
Quick-firers.
Guns. 12-inch. 10-inch. 9-inch. 8-inch. |---------------|
6-inch. 4.7-inch.
Japan 16 1 -- 30 160 --
Russia 26 15 4 8 102 30[24]

[24] These tables are from Sir George Sydenham Clarke's preface
to Captain Lindsay's translation of Semenoff's "Tsu-shima,"
p. 11.

The annexed tables (pp. 315, 316) give some details of Russian and Japanese
armoured ships.

With regard to the armour it must be kept in mind for purposes of
comparison that the armoured belts of the newer ships, nine inches at the
thickest part, were of Harveyized or Krupp steel, and could resist
pene