Battle Off Ulsan - The Battle

The Battle

At 0520 on 14 August 1904 the fleets had closed to 7800 m, and the IJN opened fire first. For some reason, Kamimura, in assigning targets, concentrated fire on the Rurik, the last and weakest in the IRNs column. Subjected to twice the bombardment administered to her stronger comrades. Rurik lost most of her officers in a short time, and although extremely damaged, remained afloat, the diminishing number of survivors continuing to fire the few remaining guns until the very last, in a gallant display of classic heroism that won the admiration of the IJN.

On the easterly run the Japanese ships took some hits, but nothing comparable to what they inflicted. It would be assumed that when the Russians sheered away, Admiral Kamimura would have pressed his advantage closer. Inexplicably, this did not happen. Kamimura oddly held his course during the IRN turn, and when the IJN turned a few minutes later, it was to a new tack that actually lengthened rather than narrowed the range.

The remaining IRN cruisers tried to cover the Rurik, but with increasing damage, Admiral Jessen decided at 08:30 to scuttle the Rurik, and save his other ships by heading back towards Vladivostok. IJN cruisers chased them for some time, and firing continued, with more damage to the Russian cruisers and slight damage to the Iwate and the Azuma. The Russians were in a far worse condition than the Japanese, but Admiral Kamimura then made another inexplicable decision: after pursuit of only three hours, while still on the high seas, and with long daylight steaming hours between the IRN cruisers and Vladivostok, at 11:15 hours the IJN ceased the chase, and turned back towards Busan.

Despite Kamimura's failure to destroy the two remaining Russian cruisers, he was hailed as a hero in Japan, and the Vladivostok Cruiser Squadron never threatened Japanese shipping again.