Let's talk about Roger Stefansky, commander of the Russian fleet in the Battle of the Sea of Japan

Russia is known for its strong army, and as for the Russian Navy, it has always been a huge ceremonial force, responsible for the ritual sense of the country, so although the position is very large, it is impossible to really fight a war. In the Russo-Japanese War, the Battle of the Sea of Japan in May 1905, russia's Second Pacific Fleet, in fact the Baltic Fleet, was completely destroyed by the Japanese Combined Fleet.

Composition of the Second Pacific Fleet:

There were eight main combat ships, three battle cruisers, nine cruisers, nine destroyers, and thirty-eight other auxiliary ships.

Composition of the Combined Fleet:

Four main battle ships, two battle cruisers, twenty-three cruisers, twenty-one destroyers, five light gunboats, and thirty-one torpedo boats.

It can be seen that the Russian fleet has the advantage over the huge guns of the big ships.

Naval Battle Outcome:

Russia: Sixteen warships were sunk, including six main combat ships; six warships sank themselves; seven warships were captured; six warships fled to the coast of China and the Philippines; and three warships fled to Vladivostok. Four thousand four hundred men were killed and six thousand one hundred were captured, including fleet commander Roger Stefansky.

Japanese: Only three torpedo boats were sunk and only a hundred and ten were killed.

The results were clear, and Japan won a resounding victory.

The commander of the Russian fleet, Petrovich Roger Stefansky, nicknamed Mad Dog, was born in St. Petersburg, the capital of the Russian Empire, from 1848 to 1909, lived for sixty years, vice admiral of the Imperial Navy, and was awarded the Order of St. Stanisław, First, Second and Third Class.

Roger Stefansky, Vice Admiral

Roger Stefansky was born into a family of physicians. At the age of seventeen, he enrolled in the Russian Naval Officers' Training Corps. He graduated in 1868 and studied English and French while at school. In 1873, he graduated from the Mikhailovsky Artillery Academy, after which he served as an artillery officer in the Baltic Fleet. In 1876, the Black Sea Fleet was transferred.

In 1877, Roger Stefansky, as a junior officer, took part in the Russo-Turkish War.

After 1883, the Russian Navy sent Roger Stefansky to Bulgaria to serve as an adviser to the newly formed Bulgarian Navy and direct the new Yugoslav army.

Thereafter, he served as naval attaché at the Russian Embassy in The United Kingdom in London.

In 1894, he was appointed captain of the armored cruiser Vladimir Monomacher.

From 1896 to 1898, he was the captain of the coastal defense combat ship, The Captain.

In 1898, he was promoted to rear admiral and became commander of the Baltic Fleet Artillery School.

In 1902, Kaiser Wilhelm II and Emperor Nicholas II of Russia, each leading a fleet, met at sea on the Baltic Sea, and Roger Stefansky was responsible for directing the parade of the Russian Navy, which received the attention and weight of Nicholas II and was promoted to chief of staff of the Russian Navy.

In 1904, Roger Stefansky became commander of the Baltic Fleet, and thereafter, fought in the Russo-Japanese War.

The Russian Pacific Fleet, with Lushunkou as its main base and Vladivostok as its second base. In 1904, the Russo-Japanese War broke out, and the Japanese Navy attacked the Russian Pacific Fleet at Lushunkou, paralyzing many of its warships and trapping the rest of its ships in the port of Lushun (known as Port Arthur by Russia).

The Russian Emperor Nicholas II, who was very worried about the situation in the Pacific Fleet, ordered Roger Stefansky to lead the Baltic Fleet to break the siege, and this fleet that traveled thousands of miles to the Asian Strait was renamed the Second Pacific Fleet.

From the Baltic Base to the Lushunkou Base, a voyage of about eighteen thousand miles and nearly thirty thousand kilometers, Russia's advanced warships, all joined the Pacific Fleet, were under siege at this time, and the warships of the Baltic Fleet were either new ships that had not yet been run-in or old ships.

Due to the Anglo-Japanese alliance, the struggling Second Pacific Fleet, it was difficult to obtain coal supply along the way, even if many parties asked for some coal, it would be due to British pressure, so that the fleet could not stop at coastal harbors to refuel coal, and all supply operations could only be carried out at sea.

The difficulties made Roger Stefansky, known as a mad dog, add fuel to the fire, and when he got angry, he would use binoculars to injure his subordinates.

Late one night in October 1904, Russian sailors, while sailing at night, mistook several British fishing boats for Japanese torpedo boats and shelled them, killing several British fishermen. The British government and the populace were so outraged that the Russian government eventually paid sixty-six thousand pounds for it, roughly equivalent to six million pounds in 2000.

The British-controlled Suez Canal did not allow the Russian fleet to pass, and the Russian fleet had to circumvent the Cape of Good Hope on the southern tip of Africa. In early 1905, the Second Pacific Fleet, which was circling the African coast, learned that the First Pacific Fleet at Lushunkou had been sunk by all the heavy artillery of the Japanese Army that had captured the city of Lushunkou, and they had to change their target to Vladivostok.

Roger Stefansky sent a telegram to the emperor saying that with the current situation of the Second Pacific Fleet, it was impossible to reverse the inferiority at sea, and for now, the only way was to station the fleet in Vladivostok (Vladivostok) and use this place as a base to threaten Japan's communication lines.

This fleet, which was worried about both the state of the warships and the morale of its officers and men, had to pass through the strait held by the Japanese fleet as soon as possible and avoid as much conflict as possible with the Japanese ships in order to reach Vladivostok safely.

At this time, the Japanese combined fleet, under the leadership of Admiral Heihachiro Togo, waited for work and waited for the russian fleet to intercept the tired veterans of the division.

In late May, the Russian fleet reached the Tsushima Strait and plunged headlong into the encirclement of the Japanese fleet.

The heavy artillery fire of the combined fleet caused some Russian ships to raise white flags and surrender.

Roger Stefansky, seriously wounded and captured.

The Second Pacific Fleet, almost completely destroyed.

After the war, on 30 May, Roger Stefansky arrived at Sasebo Port on a Russian destroyer, towed by a Japanese ship. Japanese doctors operated on Roger Stefansky, turning him around. On 8 June, Emperor Nicholas II sent a telegram of condolences to Roger Stefansky. A few days later, Dongxiang came to visit and forwarded the Russian Emperor's telegram of condolences to Luo. While recuperating in the hospital, Roger Stefansky was interviewed by the French media, saying that in the first half of the battle, the Russian officers and soldiers showed heroism, but after that, the situation took a sharp turn for the worse, and the Japanese ships used incendiary bombs, causing the Russian ships to burn everywhere, even the commander's tower, and the ubiquitous flames destroyed the will to fight of the Russian officers and men.

At the end of August, Roger Stefansky left the hospital for Osaka. In September, he arrived in Vladivostok by Russian merchant ship and then returned to St. Petersburg by train.

Upon his return to St. Petersburg, Roger Stefansky retired from the Navy and received a lucrative pension.

In 1906, the Russian military tribunal held a closed-door military trial with Nebogatov, who had finally led the fleet to surrender under the command of Roger Stefansky, as well as the captains of the surrendered ships, and the fleet staff. Roger Stefansky insisted on being present and defending his subordinates.

All of them were eventually sentenced to prison terms.

Roger Stefans died of a heart attack in St. Petersburg in early 1909.

Many Russians believed that Roger Stefansky was responsible for the defeat at the Battle of the Tsushima Strait. Indeed, compared with the several commanders of the Pacific Fleet who died in succession, such as Stark, Makarov, and Wittevt, this Roger Stefansky lacked the experience and experience of serving on the main battleship for a long time, nor did he actually command the fleet to fight, but russia at that time, after a series of famous generals, could not find more experienced candidates, only the shuzhong general, Liao Hua as the vanguard.

Despite his defeat, Roger Stefansky commanded the fleet to complete eighteen thousand miles, which earned him international fame, such as Kaiser Wilhelm II, who praised him.