The Imperial Russian admiral who led the Baltic Fleet to catastrophe at Tsushima
He later wrote: 'Had I possessed even a spark of civic courage, I should have cried out to the whole world: protect these last resources of the fleet! Do not send them to be slaughtered! But I lacked that spark.'
Vice-admiral of the Imperial Russian Navy who commanded the Second Pacific Squadron in the Russo-Japanese War, completing an unprecedented voyage of an all-steel battleship fleet from the Baltic to the Far East, only to suffer catastrophic defeat at the Battle of Tsushima against Tōgō Heihachirō's Japanese fleet. He sensed from the outset that the expedition was a reckless gamble, yet sailed anyway, declaring that 'public opinion must be satisfied,' and later confessed that had he possessed 'even a spark of civic courage,' he would have 'cried out to the whole world: do not send these last resources of the fleet to be slaughtered.' Severely wounded and taken prisoner during the battle, he was court-martialed upon his return but acquitted on account of his injuries; he died in seclusion on New Year's Eve 1909.
Career Timeline
- 1868–1873Graduated Sea Cadet Corps and Mikhailovsky Artillery Academy
- 1877–1878Russo-Turkish War: artillery officer on Vesta, engaged Ottoman ironclad
- 1883–1885Commander of the Bulgarian Navy
- 1891–1893Naval attaché in London
- 1898–1903Rear admiral; commander, Baltic gunnery training detachment; Chief of Naval Staff
- 1904–1905Vice-admiral, commander Second Pacific Squadron: 18,000 nm voyage; catastrophic defeat at Tsushima
- 1906Court-martialed, acquitted due to wounds; retired
- 1909Died of heart attack in St. Petersburg