te of this superiority in armament, and of
fully a knot in speed, Togo hesitated to close to decisive range.
Five hours or more of complicated maneuvering ensued, during which
both squadrons kept at "long bowls," now passing each other, now
defiling across van or rear, without marked advantage for either
side.

At last, at 5.40 p.m., the Japanese got in a lucky blow. Two 12-inch
shells struck the flagship _Tsarevitch_, killing Admiral Witjeft,
jamming the helm to starboard, and thus serving to throw the whole
Russian line into confusion. Togo now closed to 3000 yards, but
growing darkness enabled his quarry to escape. The battle in fact
was less one-sided than the later engagement at Tsushima. On both
sides the percentage of hits was low, about 1% for the Russians
and 6 or 7% for their opponents. Togo's flagship _Mikasa_ was hit
30 times and lost 125 men; the total Japanese loss was about half
that of the enemy--236 to 478.

Much might still have been gained, in view of the future coming of
the Baltic fleet, had the Russians still persisted in pressing onward
for Vladivostok; but owing to loss of their leader and ignorance of
the general plan, they scattered. The cruiser _Novik_ was caught and
sunk, another cruiser was interned at Shanghai, a third at Saigon,
and the _Tsarevitch_ at Kiao-chau. The rest, including 5 of the 6
battleships, fled back into the Port Arthur death-trap. Largely in
order to complete their destruction, the Japanese sacrificed 60,000
men in desperate assaults on the fortress, which surrendered January
2, 1905. As at Santiago, the necessity of saving battleships, less
easily replaced, led the Japanese to the cheaper expenditure of
men.

On news of the Port Arthur sortie, the Vladivostok squadron, which
hitherto had made only a few more or less futile raids on Japanese
shipping, advanced toward Tsushima Straits, and met there at dawn
of August 14 a slightly superior force of 4 cruisers under Kamimura.
The better shooting of the Japanese soon drove the slowest Russian
ship, the _Rurik_, out of line; the other two, after a plucky fight,
managed to get away, with hulls and funnels riddled by enemy shells.

The complete annulment of Russia's eastern fleet in this first
stage of hostilities had enabled Japan to profit fully by her easier
communications to the scene of war. Its final destruction with the
fall of Port Arthur gave assurance of victory. The decisive battle
of Mukden was fought in March