Post by vonfriedman on Apr 28, 2017 8:05:43 GMT -6
After a strenuous RJW campaign, Admiral Goto Heiachiro has submitted to the Imperial Chief of Staff the following report.
"The Japanese Navy has fought this campaign with the utmost determination.
Many battles were fought and the First Pacific Squadron has been gradually annihilated, with some Japanese losses.
It is right to pay tribute to the Russian Admiral Aleksej Ivanovich (AI) Kompioter, a brave and resourceful fighter.
On some occasions he has been able to distract and lure away our ships, while attacking our transport ships and disembarking areas.
The same cannot be said of the commander of the Vladivostock cruisers, whose inertia surprised the Japanese sailors.
Our Fleets have always obeyed the orders issued by the Imperial Staff, even the most crazy, as sinking blockships at the entrance of Port Arthur after the fall of that Russian base. Moreover, our blockships were invited to enter into the harbour while being subjected to gunfire by the forts, which appeared to be in Russian hands as late as August 1905.
In the first part of the campaign the provisions of the Imperial Staff were quite satisfactory for our operations, which were mostly centered in the Gulf of Korea. In the second part of the campaign, after the fall of Port Arthur, these provisions turned out to be utterly inadequate to face the expected arrival of the Russian Second Pacific Squadron.
When we decided to preempt an alleged enemy operation, our ships were placed in zones so distant from the areas to be patrolled, that our cruisers were worn out in useless navigations to reach as soon as possible the approaches of Tsushima and Korea straits.
Our intelligence turned out to be disastrously incapable of providing the Fleet with essential information.
While the newspapers around the world were full of news about the voyage of the Russian squadron, I, Admiral of the Fleet Marquis Goto Heiachiro, did not have the slightest idea where the damn enemy ships were going to be. Only at the end of the war I was informed that the Russian Second Pacific Squadron had stayed at anchor in Cam Ranh Bay. In this way we were deprived of the decisive naval battle.
But, at last, we have won the war. Tenno Heika banzai!"
"The Japanese Navy has fought this campaign with the utmost determination.
Many battles were fought and the First Pacific Squadron has been gradually annihilated, with some Japanese losses.
It is right to pay tribute to the Russian Admiral Aleksej Ivanovich (AI) Kompioter, a brave and resourceful fighter.
On some occasions he has been able to distract and lure away our ships, while attacking our transport ships and disembarking areas.
The same cannot be said of the commander of the Vladivostock cruisers, whose inertia surprised the Japanese sailors.
Our Fleets have always obeyed the orders issued by the Imperial Staff, even the most crazy, as sinking blockships at the entrance of Port Arthur after the fall of that Russian base. Moreover, our blockships were invited to enter into the harbour while being subjected to gunfire by the forts, which appeared to be in Russian hands as late as August 1905.
In the first part of the campaign the provisions of the Imperial Staff were quite satisfactory for our operations, which were mostly centered in the Gulf of Korea. In the second part of the campaign, after the fall of Port Arthur, these provisions turned out to be utterly inadequate to face the expected arrival of the Russian Second Pacific Squadron.
When we decided to preempt an alleged enemy operation, our ships were placed in zones so distant from the areas to be patrolled, that our cruisers were worn out in useless navigations to reach as soon as possible the approaches of Tsushima and Korea straits.
Our intelligence turned out to be disastrously incapable of providing the Fleet with essential information.
While the newspapers around the world were full of news about the voyage of the Russian squadron, I, Admiral of the Fleet Marquis Goto Heiachiro, did not have the slightest idea where the damn enemy ships were going to be. Only at the end of the war I was informed that the Russian Second Pacific Squadron had stayed at anchor in Cam Ranh Bay. In this way we were deprived of the decisive naval battle.
But, at last, we have won the war. Tenno Heika banzai!"
