SunScream
09 Dec 06, 06:04
The relatively dull bit :)
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Rurik had wallowed back to Vladivostock, arriving at the edge of the sea-ice four days after the battle. She followed the icebreaker back into harbour, growlers snarling against the hull and carrying tons of ice aloft in the rigging, and was immediately ordered into the dry dock for repairs. There, while draining the dock, a bulkhead rivet had failed as the water pressure in the flooded compartments exceeded that outside. This had blown a section of plating outwards and dumped the contents of the still partially filled forward boiler room into the dock. Coal, wood and the bodies of men who had been unfortunate to have been trapped when the ship had been torpedoed had been also been washed out. Most alarming of all was the discovery, when the dock was dry and the damage was being inspected, of the unexploded warhead of a Japanese eighteen inch torpedo wedged in the plating outboard of the engine room. Two unsmiling torpedo specialists had squeezed into the hole and disarmed the warhead, although dropping it onto the concrete floor of the dock had caused consternation at the time. In reality Rurik had not been badly knocked about in the battle. The damage had been diminished simply because the heel of the ship as she attempted to turn under full rudder had meant the torpedoes had struck the armoured belt instead of beneath it. Nontheless, the torn plating and flooding was concentrated amidships on either side and there was some relief that her back had not broken.
In the early morning of March 3rd Rossiya and Gromoboi cleared the harbour and disappeared over the horizon. For hours after noon there was a distant rumbling and as night fell the two armoured cruisers followed the icebreaker back to the port, having given an object lesson in why protected cruisers should not tangle with their armoured cousins. Four Japanese cruisers had gone to the bottom, one in an immense fireball which blown the ship to pieces. Three destroyers had also been sunk. However, the Japanese had not just been taught a lesson, they had given lessons of their own too. They had demonstrated just how fearlessly determined they were to strike at their enemy and also how devestatingly accurate their gunnery could be. All the Japanese had been concentrated on Rossiya, which had been hit so many times in places it was impossible to separate one shellhole or gouge in the plating from it's neighbour. Forty-eight dead and nearly three hundred wounded to varying degrees. Half the gun crews had suffered injuries, but the belt and deck armour had not been penetrated once. Gromoboi had suffered a solitary hit, an over.
With the local infirmaries full of Rossiya's injured, Rurik found herself stripped of men as they were reassigned to Rossiya's muster. Lieutenant Ivanov found himself training newly arrived landsmen how to be sailors.
Rurik's dry dock became a scene of activity for weeks. Sounds of rivetting, hammering and sawing, the rattling of chains as cranes moved plating about, the chugging of steam engines echoed across the harbour and the town, only muted by the all too frequent falls of snow. Heated debate broke out in the dockyard about Rurik's boilers and ridiculous sailing rig, but it was decided to retain both the rig and the cylindrical boilers, much to the disgust of many of the ship's officers.
Reports filtered in from Port Arthur and elsewhere. The Japanese had earlier successfully spirited away their two new Italian built cruisers despite legal wranglings by various nations and they had arrived in theatre.
Admiral Stark was still demonstrating his previously unsuspected strategic acumen and aggressively mining possible Japanese sea lanes and ports, including a very contraversial mining of the waters outside WeiHaiWei.
On the seventh of March he had sent the Fast Battle Squadron of Retvisan, Pobieda, and Peresviet out to mine Chenampo, which they did in the small hours of the eighth. An hour before sunrise they encountered the already reduced Chitose cruiser squadron and managed to batter Chitose severely. Just as Chitose was starting to slow due to damage, Commodore Lazarov in Retvisan surprisingly signalled the squadron to break off and return to Port Arthur. The Japanese disappeared into the gloom. At daybreak the whole Japanese battlefleet was revealed just outside gun range astern. The Fast Battle Squadron returned to Port Arthur unharmed.
At dawn on the 10th March the people of Vladivostock discovered that Askold had arrived during the night. She had sailed from Port Arthur on the 6th and carved a path of destruction towards her new base. Two gunboats, two torpedo boats and two marus sunk, three neutrals captured.
Every day the icebreaker and it's attendent destroyer roved back and forth across Amur Bay, a lifeline to raiders seeking sanctuary.
Occasionally the other ships of the augmented Vladivostock Squadron appeared, coaled, rearmed, were patched up if neccesary then left again.
Bitter winter began to hint of spring. The ice began to retreat, snowstorms became sleet then rain. The frozen roads around the town turned to mud. Every few days another trainload of war materiel arrived, but it was never enough. On March 19th the town rang with thunderous crashing and booming noises that lasted for the next two days. The ice was breaking up. With the ice going the Vladivostock rail lifeline became vunerable, running just by the shore, so the destroyers began patrolling Amur Bay to deter the Japanese from bombarding the line.
Gromoboi and Rossiya ran headlong into two Japanese armoured cruisers at night off Niigata and enventually escaped after a three hour running battle having wrecked Asama's forward turret and set her on fire. They returned safely to Vladivostok although the two forces made intermittent contact all the way back. March 26th saw the destruction of Chitose outside Port Arthur by a lurking Fast Battle Squadron, leaving just two cruisers in the blockade force.
On 1st April Rurik went back into the water and was moored up for her final repairs. On the evening of 3rd April the Fast Battle Squadron left Port Arthur on a mining mission. Three hours later a fire damaged Retvizan returned to port. Just over an hour later Peresviet, also damaged, dropped anchor alongside. Alarm was setting in until, three hours later still, Pobieda returned, with only minor damage. The Chitose squadron was no more, but the remaining two ships had inflicted tremendous damage before their demise.
Finally patched up, Angara sailed from Port Arthur on 7th April. She sailed for the east coast of Japan and caused havoc. Two auxiliary cruisers sunk, two Marus sunk and no less than eleven neutrals carrying goods that could be considered contraband captured. By 11th April she was near Hakodate and low on ammunition. Rossiya and Gromoboi went out to escort her through the strait to Vladivostock, but she never appeared. The two armoured cruisers waited as long as they dared but Angara failed to show.
Back at Vladivostock, there was still no sign of the boiler components Rurik needed to complete her repairs. It was not until the 13th April, with spring breaking out all around and the occasional iceberg on the horizon, that the train with these vital components arrived. By the next morning the Captain was able to report that Rurik was ready for sea. In the afternoon Rossiya and Gromoboi returned, without Angara, but with news that the Chiyoda squadron had been encountered in the dark and destroyed. In the evening Rurik's crew was recalled to the ship. They were under orders to sail for Port Arthur.
__________________________________________________ ___
Rurik had wallowed back to Vladivostock, arriving at the edge of the sea-ice four days after the battle. She followed the icebreaker back into harbour, growlers snarling against the hull and carrying tons of ice aloft in the rigging, and was immediately ordered into the dry dock for repairs. There, while draining the dock, a bulkhead rivet had failed as the water pressure in the flooded compartments exceeded that outside. This had blown a section of plating outwards and dumped the contents of the still partially filled forward boiler room into the dock. Coal, wood and the bodies of men who had been unfortunate to have been trapped when the ship had been torpedoed had been also been washed out. Most alarming of all was the discovery, when the dock was dry and the damage was being inspected, of the unexploded warhead of a Japanese eighteen inch torpedo wedged in the plating outboard of the engine room. Two unsmiling torpedo specialists had squeezed into the hole and disarmed the warhead, although dropping it onto the concrete floor of the dock had caused consternation at the time. In reality Rurik had not been badly knocked about in the battle. The damage had been diminished simply because the heel of the ship as she attempted to turn under full rudder had meant the torpedoes had struck the armoured belt instead of beneath it. Nontheless, the torn plating and flooding was concentrated amidships on either side and there was some relief that her back had not broken.
In the early morning of March 3rd Rossiya and Gromoboi cleared the harbour and disappeared over the horizon. For hours after noon there was a distant rumbling and as night fell the two armoured cruisers followed the icebreaker back to the port, having given an object lesson in why protected cruisers should not tangle with their armoured cousins. Four Japanese cruisers had gone to the bottom, one in an immense fireball which blown the ship to pieces. Three destroyers had also been sunk. However, the Japanese had not just been taught a lesson, they had given lessons of their own too. They had demonstrated just how fearlessly determined they were to strike at their enemy and also how devestatingly accurate their gunnery could be. All the Japanese had been concentrated on Rossiya, which had been hit so many times in places it was impossible to separate one shellhole or gouge in the plating from it's neighbour. Forty-eight dead and nearly three hundred wounded to varying degrees. Half the gun crews had suffered injuries, but the belt and deck armour had not been penetrated once. Gromoboi had suffered a solitary hit, an over.
With the local infirmaries full of Rossiya's injured, Rurik found herself stripped of men as they were reassigned to Rossiya's muster. Lieutenant Ivanov found himself training newly arrived landsmen how to be sailors.
Rurik's dry dock became a scene of activity for weeks. Sounds of rivetting, hammering and sawing, the rattling of chains as cranes moved plating about, the chugging of steam engines echoed across the harbour and the town, only muted by the all too frequent falls of snow. Heated debate broke out in the dockyard about Rurik's boilers and ridiculous sailing rig, but it was decided to retain both the rig and the cylindrical boilers, much to the disgust of many of the ship's officers.
Reports filtered in from Port Arthur and elsewhere. The Japanese had earlier successfully spirited away their two new Italian built cruisers despite legal wranglings by various nations and they had arrived in theatre.
Admiral Stark was still demonstrating his previously unsuspected strategic acumen and aggressively mining possible Japanese sea lanes and ports, including a very contraversial mining of the waters outside WeiHaiWei.
On the seventh of March he had sent the Fast Battle Squadron of Retvisan, Pobieda, and Peresviet out to mine Chenampo, which they did in the small hours of the eighth. An hour before sunrise they encountered the already reduced Chitose cruiser squadron and managed to batter Chitose severely. Just as Chitose was starting to slow due to damage, Commodore Lazarov in Retvisan surprisingly signalled the squadron to break off and return to Port Arthur. The Japanese disappeared into the gloom. At daybreak the whole Japanese battlefleet was revealed just outside gun range astern. The Fast Battle Squadron returned to Port Arthur unharmed.
At dawn on the 10th March the people of Vladivostock discovered that Askold had arrived during the night. She had sailed from Port Arthur on the 6th and carved a path of destruction towards her new base. Two gunboats, two torpedo boats and two marus sunk, three neutrals captured.
Every day the icebreaker and it's attendent destroyer roved back and forth across Amur Bay, a lifeline to raiders seeking sanctuary.
Occasionally the other ships of the augmented Vladivostock Squadron appeared, coaled, rearmed, were patched up if neccesary then left again.
Bitter winter began to hint of spring. The ice began to retreat, snowstorms became sleet then rain. The frozen roads around the town turned to mud. Every few days another trainload of war materiel arrived, but it was never enough. On March 19th the town rang with thunderous crashing and booming noises that lasted for the next two days. The ice was breaking up. With the ice going the Vladivostock rail lifeline became vunerable, running just by the shore, so the destroyers began patrolling Amur Bay to deter the Japanese from bombarding the line.
Gromoboi and Rossiya ran headlong into two Japanese armoured cruisers at night off Niigata and enventually escaped after a three hour running battle having wrecked Asama's forward turret and set her on fire. They returned safely to Vladivostok although the two forces made intermittent contact all the way back. March 26th saw the destruction of Chitose outside Port Arthur by a lurking Fast Battle Squadron, leaving just two cruisers in the blockade force.
On 1st April Rurik went back into the water and was moored up for her final repairs. On the evening of 3rd April the Fast Battle Squadron left Port Arthur on a mining mission. Three hours later a fire damaged Retvizan returned to port. Just over an hour later Peresviet, also damaged, dropped anchor alongside. Alarm was setting in until, three hours later still, Pobieda returned, with only minor damage. The Chitose squadron was no more, but the remaining two ships had inflicted tremendous damage before their demise.
Finally patched up, Angara sailed from Port Arthur on 7th April. She sailed for the east coast of Japan and caused havoc. Two auxiliary cruisers sunk, two Marus sunk and no less than eleven neutrals carrying goods that could be considered contraband captured. By 11th April she was near Hakodate and low on ammunition. Rossiya and Gromoboi went out to escort her through the strait to Vladivostock, but she never appeared. The two armoured cruisers waited as long as they dared but Angara failed to show.
Back at Vladivostock, there was still no sign of the boiler components Rurik needed to complete her repairs. It was not until the 13th April, with spring breaking out all around and the occasional iceberg on the horizon, that the train with these vital components arrived. By the next morning the Captain was able to report that Rurik was ready for sea. In the afternoon Rossiya and Gromoboi returned, without Angara, but with news that the Chiyoda squadron had been encountered in the dark and destroyed. In the evening Rurik's crew was recalled to the ship. They were under orders to sail for Port Arthur.