The Tsar's Last Armada: The Epic Voyage to the Battle of Tsushima [Paperback]

Constantine Pleshakov (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 29, 2003

On May 14-15, 1905, in the Tsushima Straits near Japan, an entire Russian fleet was annihilated, its ships sunk, scattered, or captured by the Japanese. In the deciding battle of the Russo-Japanese War, the Japanese lost only three destroyers but the Russians lost twenty-two ships and thousands of sailors. It was the first modern naval battle, employing all the new technology of destruction. The old imperial navy was woefully unprepared. The defeat at Tsushima was the last and greatest of many indignities suffered by the Russian fleet, which had traveled halfway around the world to reach the battle, dogged every mile by bad luck and misadventure. Their legendary admiral, dubbed "Mad Dog," led them on an extraordinary eighteen-thousand-mile journey from the Baltic Sea, around Europe, Africa, and Asia, to the Sea of Japan. They were burdened by the Tsar's incompetent leadership and the old, slow ships that he insisted be included to bulk up the fleet. Moreover, they were under constant fear of attack, and there were no friendly ports to supply coal, food, and fresh water. The level of self-sufficiency attained by this navy was not seen again until the Second World War. The battle of Tsushima is among the top five naval battles in history, equal in scope and drama to those of Lepanto, Trafalgar, Jutland, and Midway, yet despite its importance it has been long neglected in the West. With a novelist's eye and a historian's authority, Constantine Pleshakov tells of the Russian squadron's long, difficult journey and fast, horrible defeat.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

It took the Russians nine months to sail their navy 18,000 miles from the Baltic Sea around the horn of Africa and to the Sea of Japan in 1905, where their Japanese enemies wiped them out in just a few hours at the Battle of Tsushima. The Japanese triumph and Russian disaster, "largely forgotten in the West," according to Constantine Pleshakov, marked a vital turning point in world history. Not only did it inaugurate a new era of naval technology, but it also announced Japan's ascent as a global force (which would culminate during the Second World War) and Russia's collapse into "the dark tsardom of Bolshevism." Pleshakov ranks the battle alongside other classic naval engagements, such as Lepanto, Trafalgar, Jutland, and Midway. Yet the bulk of The Tsar's Last Armada focuses on the Russians' long journey to doom, led by the "frightfully imposing" and "savage" admiral Zinovy Petrovich Rozhestvensky. Pleshakov has a good eye for little details. As the fleet approached the tropics, he reports, the humidity became so bad that the crew's "towels and underwear would not dry." The Battle of Tsushima receives full coverage at the end of the book, but Pleshakov's engaging account of what preceded it is what readers will find most memorable. --John Miller --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

In 1905, with the Russian imperialist excursion into China teetering on the brink of collapse, Russia's vast Trans-Siberian Railroad threatened, its Pacific Fleet bottled up in Port Arthur and its eastern army besieged on the peninsula protecting the port of Vladivostock, the czar conceived a bizarre plan, deciding to assemble a new fleet and sail it more than 18,000 miles to defeat the Japanese navy and relieve his forces at Port Arthur. Though the second fleet comes to a disastrous end, the battle does not begin until page 260 (and it is all over by page 285): the story here is in the arduous journey. Passing fearful allies and belligerent neutrals as well as dealing with impossible supply lines, difficult communications and inept leadership both by the government in St. Petersburg and by his subordinates Adm. Zinovy Petrovich "Mad Dog" Rozhestvensky emerges as the tragic hero of this "epic." In the unfolding of these details, Pleshakov provides a clear view of the politics and history of the time, as well as of Rozhestvensky. In clear and convincing English from the admitted nonnative speaker Pleshakov, the book moves inexorably toward its inevitable end with the power of a giant dreadnought at full steam, affording a moving portrait of a capable leader placed in a situation where he could not possibly prevail. Against all odds, and by this point against even the reader's better judgment, the Russian fleet arrives at the Sea of Japan to do battle with the newer, faster, more powerful, better trained and freshly maintenanced Japanese fleet, and is quickly defeated.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: Basic Books (April 29, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0465057926
• ISBN-13: 978-0465057924
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (37 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #580,897 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The Tsar's Loyal Admiral, May 7, 2002

By 

J. Miller (Fayetteville, NC (Legionnaire Outpost)) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Tsar's Last Armada: The Epic Voyage to the Battle of Tsushima (Hardcover)

A good modern history of the battle of Tsushima has yet to be written, I would recommend KAIGUN as a great place to start for the early history of the Japanese Navy. Co-Author David Evans was my college professor, his death is a great loss to Japanese Naval historiography. I agree with reviewers who note the lack of detail and accuracy (I thought the ALEXANDER III had a few survivors?), in general terms, the author does tells us important facts about the superior Japanese shells and the flawed dispositions of the Russian squadron prior to the battle. I wonder if the Russians would have made it if they did not have a lighted hospital ship (with the Admiral's girlfriend onboard) following the squadron as it tried to slip through the straits. If the fleet had slipped through to Vladivostok intact the course of Japanese and Russian history might have changed. I sense that Admiral Rozhestvensky almost wanted a clash of fleets, despite his comprehension of the inferiority of his squadron. The book is really a command history of the Squadron and the Russian Naval Bueracracy. One is left with a good sense of the personality of Rozhestvensky (I think this makes the book worth the purchase, as I learned alot I did not know). One is left feeling sympathy for him, but the book does mention that he botched his pre-battle deployment, a deployment he had months to plan for and coordinate. This probably ruined what little chance the Russians had. But the Russians shooting was not good enough, and too few of their hits did critical damage. I always thought the focal point of any Tsushima account should be the heroic struggle of the Borodino class battleships. Their fate was a terrible one, as anyone who views pictures of the damage to the surviving ORYEL can testify. I would like to visit the monument to the ALEXANDER III in St. Petersburg. The losing Admirals in history's decisive naval battles make for interesting reading. I would recommend XERXES AT SALAMIS by Peter Green, THE GALLEYS AT LEPANTO by Jack Beeching, THE DEFEAT OF THE SPANISH ARMADA by Howarth, TRAFALGAR, COUNTDOWN TO BATTLE by Alan Schom and GRAF SPEE'S RAIDERS by Yates.

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Mad Dog Rozhestvensky, May 19, 2002

By 

R. A Forczyk (MD, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Tsar's Last Armada: The Epic Voyage to the Battle of Tsushima (Hardcover)

The Tsar's Last Armada is an interesting Russian-oriented account of the fateful voyage of the Russian Baltic Fleet to the Pacific Ocean in 1904-1905, where it was destroyed at the Battle of Tsushima. Not many books are written about the Russo-Japanese War and this well written book is a welcome addition to the small circle on English language books on that subject. The author, currently a Russian native now turned US professor at Mount Holyoke College, has expertly mined Russian archives and diaries for a treasure trove on information about the epic voyage. The narrative of the voyage itself revolves more around personalities, rather than military or technical details. Overall, The Tsar's Last Armada is an excellent book on the subject, but other books should be consulted to provide the Japanese perspective.

The Tsar's Last Armada consists of three main sections: covering predeployment activities, the voyage of the fleet to Asian waters and the final Battle of Tsushima. There are two significant structural weaknesses in the book: use of maps and dates. Only four large scale, poor quality maps are provided to show the route of the fleet and there are no maps to depict the tactical dispositions or movements in the Battle of Tsushima. Furthermore, the author's use of old-style Russian dates is confusing and readers must remember to add 13 days to any date given. Although the author has added a section on photographs, only a few are relevant to the cast of characters or the Russian Fleet and the reader might wonder why he bothered. Nevertheless, these technical glitches are annoying but only detract slightly from an otherwise well written book.

The main focus in Pleshakov's account is the commander of the Russian 2nd Pacific Squadron (the first squadron was destroyed at Port Arthur), Vice-Admiral Rozhestvensky. At times, the reader will sympathize with the admiral who was assigned this near-impossible task, to take a fleet of warships 16,000 miles around the world to fight a strong enemy fleet. Rozhestvensky was a strict disciplinarian and he tried to mold a motley collection of warships into a fighting force, without much help from his subordinates or the Russian Naval Ministry. On the other hand, at other times Rozhestvensky appears to have been a completely paranoid fool, particularly in the Dogger Bank incident where he ordered his warships to open fire on what he thought were Japanese torpedo boats; instead, he sank a British fishing trawler and caused a major international incident with England. Later, Rozhestvensky's orders resulted in the breaking of the Europe-Africa underwater cable at Tangiers and he almost provoked a military confrontation with Portugal. His sailors also rioted in Crete and caused trouble everywhere they landed. In probably never occurred to the Russians to bring a few diplomats along on the mission, in order to arrange better cooperation. Rozhestvensky's decisions at Tsushima - ordering first column, then line, then back to column - only served to disorganize his fleet and make it easy for the Japanese to slaughter. Perhaps the best that one can say about Rozhestvensky is that he was Russia's best admiral in 1905, but that was not good enough.

Military readers may be disappointed by the fairly short shrift given to technical details in this account, which focuses more on people than ships. The fact that the voyage was delayed until the four Borodino class battleships could be completed and that they sailed without "shakedown" cruises, should have been mentioned to help explain the untried nature of the four best Russian warships. Nor are logistic issues addressed in any real detail, although it would have been interesting to read how the Russian Naval Ministry planned and paid for coaling operations; nothing like this had ever been tried before. The Battle of Tsushima itself is covered in less than 50 pages and total casualties for each side are not mentioned. On the other hand, readers will learn more about the Russian sub-commanders, Nebogatov and Enkvist, than standard accounts offer. In particular, Nebogatov's surrender of several elderly Russian battleships without firing a shot is very indicative of the low quality of Russian naval leadership at this time.

The best thing about The Tsar's Last Voyage is the valuable lesson it teaches about knowing when to quit. With the fall of Port Arthur five months before Rozhestvensky's fleet reached the Pacific, the Russians lost their best naval base and the main reason for sending the fleet. Indeed, Rozhestvensky expected the fleet to be recalled, but the Tsar was obstinate. After the fall of Port Arthur, continuing the mission was virtual suicide, but the Russian High Command became irrevocably committed to a course of action despite changing battlefield realities. While recalling the fleet would have been embarrassing, allowing it to proceed to its virtual annihilation was humiliating. Thus, this book provides interesting insights into the Tsar's pig-headedness that would ultimately lead to war, disaster and revolution.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining naval travelogue; devastating naval defeat, February 8, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: The Tsar's Last Armada: The Epic Voyage to the Battle of Tsushima (Hardcover)

I read this book primarily as a travelogue learning more about the coasts of Western Europe, Africa, the Mediterranean, Southern Asia than I had ever before known. But that is not the book's primary focus. It can be read on several levels, one of which is surely as a travelogue. But it is also a story of startling mismanagement. The Russian Admiral, who is the book's principal figure, is opposed to the mission from the start,because the Russian naval fleet is outmoded, but Nicholas II , driven by revenge, and his advisers press on with the war armada. One of the most interesting facts is that the Russian armada was actually composed of 4 armadas which by circuitous routes joined together for the final devastating defeat near
Shanghai. The book is loaded with fine detail about the sailors' and officers' lives on board and at ports of call, which were mainly coal refueling stops; with details about the Russian, British, and Japanese spy network;about the fall of Port Arthur to the Japanese; and with details about the numerous cables between St. Petersburg and the doomed fleet. A fine and rather easy read for anyone interested in this forgotten page of history.