“There were twenty-seven strong, fast, with the latest artillery of ships: they surrounded us with a tight, iron ring, proud, intoxicated by yesterday's victory and all the successes of such a happy war for them; we had only four wrecked, old ships, they also had 7 more destroyers. If we take these destroyers for one warship, then the enemy was 7 times stronger than us in number. Taking into account the moral depression experienced by the entire personnel of the remaining ships, after the terrible scenes of the battle the day before, … the complete absence of real shells, old, useless artillery, all this, taken together, made our enemy not in seven, but infinitely stronger than us."
So emotionally and colorfully Warrant Officer Alexander Shamie described the situation in which the detachment of Admiral Nebogatov found itself at 10 o'clock in the morning on May 15, 1905. However, it should be noted that initially there were five ships in it: in addition to three outdated battleships and the "Eagle" battered by shells and tormented by fires, there was also a light cruiser "Emerald", which will be discussed in this article.
"Emerald" was laid down at the Nevsky shipyard in 1902, its construction was mostly completed 28 months later, although some components and systems continued to be checked and accepted already on the transition to Madagascar, in which the cruiser was supposed to overtake the Second Pacific Squadron, which left Reval a month earlier than him. The project was based on the blueprints of the Novik cruiser purchased earlier in Germany. The additional weapons and masts perched on his deck at the behest of the military customer, as well as the replacement of the Shihau boilers with the Yarrow boilers did not benefit the ship: in particular, the maximum speed decreased from 25 to 24 knots, and the cruising range was 12 -ti nodal speed decreased from 2.370 to 2.090 miles.
The workmanship of both the cruiser hull and its various systems also turned out to be not up to par. Here is what the ship's doctor "Izumrud" VS Kravchenko wrote about this in his diary: “The deck is leaking heavily. Almost everywhere the water falls in drops, and where it pours in streams. In the car, then one or the other bearing will warm up, or the "flange" will burst … The electricity makes a fool and once at six o'clock in the evening in the middle of lunch it completely went out - until the morning."
Characteristically, for all the shortcomings, the cost of a cruiser built in Russia turned out to be almost twice that of its German predecessor (3,549,848 rubles versus 2,000,870 rubles). Given this fact, today's discussions about the possibility of acquiring warships from China are beginning to be seen in a very special light. Joining the Second Pacific Squadron, the Emerald made the transition from Madagascar to the East China Sea with it.
On the night of May 13-14, 1905, Admiral Rozhdestvensky's compound consisting of twelve armored ships, nine armored, light and auxiliary cruisers, nine destroyers and eight non-combat ships entered the Tsushima Strait with the aim of a further breakthrough into Vladivostok.
At the beginning of the second hour of the day, combat detachments of Japanese ships led by Admiral Togo appeared at the counter-course of the Russian squadron. At 13:49 the flagship battleship "Prince Suvorov" fired a sighting shot at the Japanese lead ship, thus starting a multi-hour sea battle, later named Tsushima.
At the beginning of the battle "Emerald" carried out the instructions received the day before and stayed abeam the flagship of the second armored detachment, the battleship "Oslyabya", on the side opposite to the enemy. After about 40 minutes, the cruiser changed its position in the ranks, as its commander, captain of the second rank Vasily Nikolaevich Ferzen, noticed that the Oslyabya, badly damaged by enemy fire, was in distress, and turned to him, intending to provide assistance.
However, having approached the place of death of the battleship, the commander of the cruiser decided to confine himself to the fact that he ordered to drop bunks, buoys and one whaleboat without rowers to the people in the water. In a report prepared by Baron Fersen after the battle, it was indicated that he "was forced to give a move and move away from the place of death of" Oslyabya "so as not to interfere with the battleships of the 3rd and 2nd detachments from performing their maneuver."
This explanation raises certain doubts, since the destroyers "Buyny", "Bravy" and "Bystry", which were at about the same time and in the same place, were able to carry out rescue operations without interfering with the battleships, due to which almost four hundred members were raised from the water of the Oslyabi crew. Therefore, it seems more plausible that Baron Fersen hastened to leave the area intensively fired by the enemy solely out of fear of getting hit on his ship.
Having left the place where Oslyabya was killed, the Emerald moved to the right side of the battleship column and, several times changing its position relative to it, eventually ended up abeam the battleship Emperor Nicholas I, on which the junior flagship, Rear Admiral, who took command Nebogatov.
At about half past seven in the evening, the battleship Alexander III, which was in charge of the formation of the Russian ships, banked heavily, rolled to the left and overturned.
According to the aforementioned report of the captain of the second rank Fersen, he “gave full speed and went to the dying battleship in order to save people if possible … Approaching the capsized battleship, which remained to float upward with a keel, he stopped the cruiser and began to lower the rowboat from the rostrum, since the whaleboats by that time I no longer had; simultaneously drop all lifebuoys, belts, and bunks at hand. The enemy armored cruisers, moving quickly, opened fire … When the distance to our terminal battleship became 20 cables, gave full speed, put it to the right on board and went to the squadron. The boat did not have time to launch."
Alas, the rescue equipment thrown into the icy water of the Sea of Japan did not help the drowning people: out of more than nine hundred members of the Alexander's crew, not a single person survived.
On the night of May 14-15, the Izumrud cruiser remained near Nicholas I and the battleships Admiral Senyavin, General-Admiral Apraksin and Oryol that followed him into the wake. After sunrise, the detachment, moving in the direction of Vladivostok, was quickly opened by Japanese reconnaissance cruisers, who accompanied him for several hours, at the same time directing their main forces to him. At about 10:30 in the morning, the Russian ships were surrounded by an enemy many times superior in strength.
Not considering it possible to inflict at least some significant damage to enemy ships, and also, not seeing an opportunity to get away from them, the commander of the detachment, Rear Admiral Nebogatov, decided to surrender. By his order, the signals "Surrounded" and "Surrendered" were raised on the mast of "Nicholas I".
After analyzing the flagship's signals, the commanders of the armored ships ordered him to rehearse on their masts. In contrast to them, the captain of the second rank Fersen decided not to surrender the ship and gave the order to go at full speed into the gap between the enemy cruisers, which still remained in the southeast direction. We should appreciate this act of the commander of the "Emerald" and pay tribute to the fact that instead of the shame of captivity, which nevertheless would certainly have saved his life, and possibly his title (after all, he could always say that he simply obeyed the order of his admiral), he chose to attempt a breakthrough.
The Japanese did not immediately unravel the Emerald's maneuver. When it became clear that he was leaving, the cruisers Niitaka (maximum speed 20 knots), Kasagi (22 knots) and Chitose (22 knots) rushed in pursuit. Niitaka quickly fell behind, but two other Japanese cruisers continued to pursue the Emerald for several hours until it was hidden from them by a veil of thickening fog.
Despite the fact that the Russian cruiser managed to escape from the pursuit, its position remained very difficult for the following reasons:
1. During the battle on May 14, "Izumrud" had to several times abruptly from full forward speed to give full rear or stop the cars, which led to the formation of cracks in the steam line that fed the aft auxiliary mechanisms, including the steering wheel. Having examined the damage, the senior mechanic concluded that the maximum speed that the cruiser could give without the risk of further damage did not exceed 15 knots.
2. Long-term movement at high speed required a significant consumption of the angle, so the available fuel supply on the ship was extremely limited.
3. Avoiding pursuit, the Emerald leaned strongly to the southeast, so that the Japanese cruisers could take positions on a possible route to Vladivostok in order to intercept, which, given the first two points, would have been impossible to avoid.
Taking into account all of the above, V. N. Fersen decided to follow the course NO 43⁰, which allowed, having approached the coast at a distance of 50 miles, to determine the final point of the route.
During the further movement of the cruiser, the aft steam line collapsed so much that it had to be disconnected and drowned out with flanges. This led to the need to reload coal from one hole to another, since its consumption in the stokers located in different parts of the ship was uneven, and it was no longer possible to supply steam from the bow to the stern.
Coal reloading went on continuously, starting from the evening of May 15th, for which the entire crew of the ship was involved, with the exception of the change of gunners, who were near the guns. People were extremely tired: V. N. Fersen noted that "three people had to be assigned to work performed in ordinary times by one." Due to the fatigue of the stokers, the cruiser's speed dropped to 13 knots.
Realizing that malfunctions in the undercarriage of the ship and overwork of the crew, which had no time for rest for more than two days, could become decisive factors in the event of a meeting with the enemy, Vasily Nikolayevich decided to reduce its probability to the possible minimum and gave the order to go to Vladimir Bay, located in 350 kilometers northeast of Vladivostok. Obviously, Posiet and Nakhodka bays located closer to the main base of the fleet were rejected by him for the same reasons as Vladivostok itself: the possibility of interception by enemy ships on the way to them, as well as the risk that they would be mined by the Japanese.
The Emerald reached Vladimir Bay at about 12:30 am on the night of May 16-17. Since by that time the supply of coal on the ship was practically used up and, in addition, all the available wood was burned, with the exception of boats and masts, the commander decided to enter the bay without waiting for dawn.
If the maneuver had succeeded, then between the cruiser and the open sea there would have been the Vatovsky peninsula, which would have hidden the Emerald from the Japanese ships searching for it. Unfortunately, at the entrance to the bay, the navigator officer Lieutenant Polushkin, who was in charge of the positioning of the ship, mistakenly determined the distance to Cape Orekhovy, because of which the cruiser approached it too much and jumped out to the end of the reef going from this cape.
During the night tide, an attempt was made to remove the ship from the shallows. For this purpose, a verp was wound up, and simultaneously with the launch of the spire that selects it, the machines were given full speed. Despite this, the cruiser remained motionless. The measurements carried out showed that for 2/3 of the length of the hull, he sat in the water almost 0.5 meters above the minimum depression.
It made sense to make further attempts to remove it only after unloading the ship, for which it would be necessary to drain the water from its boilers, as well as remove the heavy main-caliber guns and ammunition for them. Naturally, in addition to this, it would be necessary to replenish fuel reserves, since by the time it got stranded, no more than 8-10 tons remained. Most likely, coal was available in the village of Olga, located fifty kilometers south of the location of the cruiser. But in order to use it, it would be necessary to send a rowboat there from the Izumrud, to get the required amount of coal loaded onto a ship that was in Olga Bay, and to bring it to Vladimir Bay.
The execution of all the above actions would require at least 24 hours, which did not suit the ship commander at all, since in the event of the very likely, in his opinion, the appearance of the Japanese, the stationary Emerald, which was an excellent target, could fight with them only two 120 mm guns, and would inevitably be shot or, worse, captured.
The categorical confidence of Baron Fersen that enemy ships are about to appear on the horizon can not be explained by anything other than played out by the imagination and shattered nerves. After all, even if we assume that the Japanese, having figured out his intention not to go to Vladivostok, would have sent one or two of their cruisers in search of the Izumrud, then to inspect all the suitable bays and bays of the southeastern part of Primorye, they would have needed at least several days (in reality, the first Japanese ship entered Vladimir Bay only after a month and a half).
You can also ask fair questions about whether it made sense for "Izumrud" to immediately go to Olga, since it was located closer along the cruiser route, and how V. N. Fersen planned to solve the fuel problem if the staging into the Vladimir Bay was successful.
On the first question in his testimony to the military-historical commission, the cruiser commander explained that “at first he intended to go to Olga, but the senior officer expressed the opinion that this bay was probably mined in order to give shelter to our destroyers from the enemy. Recognizing this assumption as sound, Vladimir chose … "Hiding the" Emerald "in the southern bay of the bay, V. N. Fersen could have dealt with the coal delivery in a relatively calm manner.
Be that as it may, the cruiser was stranded, and its commander decided to blow up the ship. Without collecting a military council, V. N. Fersen discussed his decision with some of the officers. It is known that at least two of them (midshipman Virenius and mechanic Topchiev) spoke out against the immediate destruction of the Emerald. It is not known exactly how many people spoke in favor. The testimonies of the senior officer Patton-Fanton de Verrion and the navigator officer Polushkin that have come down to us do not give their personal opinions, but it is emphasized that the decision on the explosion was made by the captain of the second rank Fersen alone.
So, the fate of the cruiser was decided, and on May 17, 1905, at about 13:30, two charging compartments were blown up on it, causing a fire in the bow of the ship and an explosion of the aft cartridge magazines, which virtually destroyed the entire mouth of the Izumrud. Six days later, by order of the commander, additional explosions were made, which made the cruiser's car completely unusable. After that, the crew of the "Izumrud" on foot went to Vladivostok and reached it in the second half of July.
Subsequently, Baron Fersen was awarded the golden weapon "For Bravery", which gave rise to a certain discontent among the officers. Opinions were expressed that the cruiser was destroyed by the commander almost deliberately in order to avoid further participation in hostilities. Some even believed that "Emerald" did not perform any feat on the morning of May 15th. For example, here is what Warrant Officer Shamie, who was at that time on the battleship Nicholas I, showed about this:
“Izumrud” received permission to go to Vladivostok, gave full speed, over 23 knots, and disappeared. Nobody cut him off from the squadron and he did not make his way anywhere, as it was written in the report, but, simply, using the power of his mechanisms, he avoided the misfortune in which we were put."
Reading such opinions is at least strange, because they are based on the absurd assumption that V. N. Fersen was confident in advance that his ship, with damage to the chassis and a weary crew, would be able to escape the pursuit of the Japanese. In reality, if the "Emerald" had a slightly smaller move, it would have to take an unequal battle with a strong enemy, similar to those in which the cruisers "Svetlana", "Dmitry Donskoy" and "Vladimir Monomakh" were killed.
It seems that in the episode with the breakthrough, the captain of the second rank Fersen showed rare courage and composure, which, alas, not all ship commanders distinguished in that war so unsuccessful for Russia. Unfortunately, Vasily Nikolayevich himself could not demonstrate these qualities either during the battle on May 14, when his ship had the opportunity to help the battleships in distress, or after the Emerald, having escaped from the enemy cruisers, reached the shores of Primorye.
