It is known that the Japanese discovered the squadron of Vice Admiral Zinovy Petrovich Rozhdestvensky with the help of a balloon lifted from one of the ships of the Japanese squadron. This was one of the main reasons for the death of the Russian squadron. Why couldn't the Russian ships use balloons to detect the enemy?
It should be noted that by the beginning of the Russo-Japanese War, the Russian fleet did not have a single warship equipped with aeronautical means. All applications of the Ministry of War for purchasing them for the needs of the Navy were rejected by S. Yu. Witte. However, the position of the Russian army on the Japanese front was critical, so Russian intelligence insisted on equipping one of the ships sailing with the Rozhdestvensky squadron with an aeronautical device. But, interestingly, the treasury did not have funds for this. Then Count S. A Stroganov donated 1,500,000 rubles for the purchase of the ship and equipping it with a balloon. With this money, a passenger steamer with a displacement of 9000 tons with kite balloons was purchased from the North German Lloyd company. Hydrogen was extracted by the Schmidt electrolytic method. In addition, the ship also had an alkaline gas production apparatus. (Auxiliary cruiser "Rus", Aeronautical, No. 1, 1905, pp. 43-45).
A team of military aeronautics was formed, consisting of Lieutenant Colonel Belyaev, Lieutenant Martens, Warrant Officer Dorozhinsky, mechanic Rosenberg and Captain Reinfeld. The ship was enrolled in the rank of cruisers and named "Rus". After that, strange things began to happen. The aeronautical cruiser was supposed to join Rozhdestvensky's squadron, but soon after its departure from Libau one of the boilers failed. Small repairs were made, but a strange command came from the naval department that the cruiser "Rus" should return to Libau. Apparently, someone from the top leadership of the Russian naval forces was not interested in strengthening the Rozhdestvensky squadron with such a reconnaissance ship that could warn about the deployment of enemy ships.
The maritime department decided that the balloon could not be used. "The ball, for which the" Rus "is adapted, also cannot be used for military purposes and constitutes a load that can be used only under especially favorable conditions, which are almost never the case at sea." A report with this text was sent to the chief of the Main Naval Staff of Admiral F. K. Avelin from the commander of the Baltic Fleet A. A. Birilyov. What about such a decision? It can hardly be called a mistake. Russian intelligence officers reported that the Japanese widely used aeronautics for military purposes, including in the naval forces. Unsurprisingly, in the midst of the battle of Mukden, the balloons - the eyes of the Russian army - went out of action due to a lack of materials that produced hydrogen. Although at the beginning of January 1905, the commander of the 1st aeronautical battalion A. M. Kovanko reported to St. Petersburg that it was necessary to urgently send additional materials to charge the cylinders.
Can it be called simply negligence that in the decisive battles the Russian fleet did not have modern technical means of reconnaissance? Probably not. Someone's experienced hand in the Supreme Military Leadership of Russia was confidently pushing the country towards defeat in the war with Japan in order to change the political system in Russia.
