FLEET THAT HAD TO DIE: New Edition [Paperback]

Richard Hough (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 2001

On the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War in 1904 Russia's Baltic Fleet was sent to the aid of embattled troops in Russia's Chinese enclaves. The two fleets met at Tsushima on May 27, 1905.Most thought the Russians would have little trouble defeating Japanese naval forces. What followed was perhaps the greatest naval victory of all time. The acclaimed author of The Bounty has written another gripping tale of the sea.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"You have all wished us a lucky journey and have expressed the conviction that with our brave sailors we will smash the Japanese We thank you for your good intentions, but they only show that the public funds spent on ship construction have been wasted. You wish us victory, but there will be no victory. But we will know how to die, and we shall never surrender... - Captain Bukhvostoff of the Alexander III; 'Seldom has naval history been presented in so readable and entertaining a form' - Nicholas Monsorrat" --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

About the Author

Richard Hough was the author of numerous books on naval and other history, including Jutland, Dreadnought, and Admirals in Collision. His book The Great War at Sea is widely recognised as a classic. He died in 1999. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 237 pages
• Publisher: Birlinn; 2nd edition (August 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1841580449
• ISBN-13: 978-1841580449
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 4.9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,589,022 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Still Interesting but Dated, August 14, 2002

By 

R. A Forczyk (MD, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: FLEET THAT HAD TO DIE: New Edition (Paperback)

The Fleet That Had to Die, written in 1957, is a dated but still interesting account of the epic voyage of the Russian Baltic Fleet around the world in 1904-1905 until its destruction at the Battle of Tsushima. The author's style was intended for mass-market audiences not scholars, and some readers may cringe at a comment in the foreword that, "this book is not primarily concerned with history..." Furthermore, the author's introduction to the second edition includes a ridiculous statement that, "the Soviet Navy today [May 1975] has become the most powerful in the world..." which was false when written and appears laughable now. This book is best read in tandem with the recent Russian account, The Tsar's Last Armada, by Constantine Pleshakov.

The book consists of 12 short chapters, four appendices, 14 photographs and several sketch maps. Oddly, the author does not provide an order of battle for either side at the Battle of Tsushima. Although the author is impressed by the 18,000-mile voyage of the Russian fleet - calling it "one of the most remarkable voyages in maritime history" - there is a faint anti-Russian tone throughout these pages and even the title suggests a tragic inevitability. At one point, Hough commits overkill by referring to the fleet as, "a raw squadron that could scarcely maintain station in a flat calm on a steady course." Readers should remember that Britain was incensed at the Russian Baltic Fleet after the "Dogger Bank incident" where the Russian warships mistakenly fired on part of the Hull fishing fleet. Some of the lingering anti-Russian bias intrudes into Hough's account.

One area that Hough's account excels is in his discussion of the Russian battleships, their crews and the logistics of the voyage. The Russian Baltic Fleet was centered upon the four new battleships of the "Borodino" class, but these were poorly designed vessels. Modern fire control equipment was only installed at the last minute and the gun crews were never allowed to practice with it and live ammunition before Tsushima, which no doubt contributed to the abysmal Russian gunnery. Furthermore, the battleships were so top heavy that captains were ordered to, "avoid hoisting all but essential signals from the yards." Vice-Admiral Rozhestvensky, the fleet commander, exacerbated the problem by over-loading the battleships with coal and this made the ships slow and unwieldy in battle. However, in constantly referring to the battleships as "ironclads," Hough is both inaccurate and tedious (since the fleet included no wooden vessels, all ships were made of steel).

Hough does shed some interesting light on the Dogger Bank incident. Both before and after that senseless incident, Russian spotters reported sighting "enemy balloons" and other nonsensical items. Apparently, not only were the average Russian sailors totally untrained in observation at sea, but also their gullible officers seemed inclined to accept all sightings at face value. During the Dogger Bank incident, Hough notes that the Russian flagship at one point was firing on a British fishing boat only 100 yards away and continued to misidentify it as a Japanese torpedo boat! Essentially, the incident was a result of inadequate Russian training and paranoia.

The character of Rozhestvensky is addressed at length in Hough's account, but not as well as Pleshakov's newer account (Hough misses the presence of the admiral's mistress on the fleet hospital ship). During the long, tiring voyage, Hough notes that whenever delays or problems occurred that Rozhestvensky "always responded to this sort of frustration by fits of uncontrollable rage..." which is not an effective command style. As the crews suffered from declining morale, Rozhestvensky became sullen and withdrawn, refusing to divulge his plans to his subordinates. At the Battle of Tsushima, Hough notes that Rozhestvensky issued only two orders and that these lead to confusion and chaos in the Russian fleet. Lacking a real plan of battle, Rozhestvensky's approach to the battle appears fatalistic and reliant on luck rather than skill. Instead, Hough concludes that, "the Battle of Tsushima...was to be lost by the momentary hesitancy of a tired and wasted admiral who could not make up his mind..."

In one of the appendices, Hough includes the post-war account of Rear-Admiral Nebogatoff, who was the Russian second-in-command at Tsushima. Although Nebogatoff's account is very self-serving and designed to cover up his own misdeeds in the battle, he does make some valid points. According to Nebogatoff, the Russian defeat was primarily due to three factors: the deficiencies of the Russian warships and their crews, the poor leadership of Rozhestvensky and the choice of the route through Tsushima Straits. In particular, Nebogatoff criticizes Rozhestvensky's lack of pre-battle instructions and poor tactical handling of the fleet. Nebogatoff also asserts that if he had been asked his opinion, that he would have recommended a passage to Vladivostok through the safer La Perousse Strait. While Nebogatoff ignores the logistic dimension of this longer route, he is probably correct that more Russian ships might have made it to Vladivostok by this more circuitous, but less well-guarded, route. However given the fall of Port Arthur prior to the fleet's arrival in Pacific waters, it is unlikely that Rozhestvensky's poorly-trained armada could have reversed Russia's disastrous military situation even if more of it had reached Vladivostok.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Ballantine Version Used to Be 50 Cents, February 14, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: FLEET THAT HAD TO DIE: New Edition (Paperback)

I can only tell you of the old Ballantine version of this book, a trade paper version of the first edition. A look at the table of contents ot this present edition tells me that this is a modified version. I do not expect that the central text has changed much, but there is additional material here. This is the story of the Russian Baltic Fleet's incredible odessey to the Far East to relieve Port Arthur, and its ultimate destruction at the hands of the Japanese under admiral Togo at Tsushima. The journey of the fleet was an incredible achievement in the days when ships had to transfer coal by hand. The facts that the hostile British did not allow coal to be loaded at their stations and that the Russians had to carry out back breaking coaling at sea (an unheard of practice) from chartered ships or in French ports where the local authorities would turn a blind eye (this was the period in which the British and French hammered out the Entente; so, all French help to their European ally had to be unofficial) make the Russians' efforts to reach the East seem super human. Hough did a fine job with this story in the first edition, as any who know his work would expect. This edition with its added appendicies must be even more authoritative. The Russo-Japanese war has meager coverage in English; so, this book is something of a must have.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The loss of the Russian fleet in the Straits of Korea., September 12, 2005

By 

Kevin M Quigg (Gettysburg, Pennsylvania United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: FLEET THAT HAD TO DIE: New Edition (Paperback)

This is the third book I have read written by Richard Hough. They are all good books, and Hough has a way with describing naval battles. In this book, he describes how the Russian Admiralty collected four good battleships and a motley collection of other ships to lead into the battle with the Japanese. This 10,000 mile journey across half of the world ended in defeat at Tushuma (Donkey's Ears). Hough describes how the failure of the Admiralty, the ship's crews, and the Admiral resulted in one of the most stunning defeats in naval history. There is plenty of blame to go around. Several thousand Russian sailors died as a result.
I agree with some of the other reviewers that more of the writing should have been devoted to the actual battle. In itself, the travel of the Second Pacific fleet was also a naval accomplishment. For a latter and more detailed book of the battle, see The Tsar's Last Armada.