V. Rudnev and Varyag

V. Rudnev and Varyag

The cruiser caught fire but the fire at the quarter deck was quickly put out by Warrant Officer Chernilovsky-Sokol. The smoke free ammo, the deck and whaleboat No. 1 caught fire. The fire was caused by a shell that hit the deck and put 6 guns out of order. Other shells almost destroyed the main topsail, completely destroyed range-finding post No. 2 and several guns, set fire to the armour deck lockers.

At 12.12 pm on 27 January 1904, the remaining foremast falls were used to raise the signal “P” which meant “I’m turning right”. A chain of tragic events followed after that which sped up the end of the battle.

First, one enemy shell hit the pipe that contained all steering wheel drives. As a result the unmanageable ship was carried by the circulation force on the rocks of the Iodolmi Island.

Almost at the same time the second shell exploded between the landing gun and the foremast. All gunners at the gun No. 35 died in the explosion as did the quartermaster Kostin who was near the cockpit at the time.  The shell fragments flew into the passageway of the cockpit lethally wounding the bugler Nagle and the drummer Korneyev. The cruiser commander got away with a light wound and shell shock. Further ship commanding had to be moved to the steering engine room.

All of a sudden a rattling sound was heard and the ship shuddered and came to a halt. People in the cockpit instantly realised what had happened and came full astern but it was too late. Now, Varyag had its left board exposed to the enemy and became a good target. The Japanese commander saw the plight of the Russians and raised the signal “All close in on the enemy”. All the warships took the new course firing from the bowing guns.

Varyag leaves harbour

Varyag leaves harbour

Seemingly, Varyag was in a hopeless situation. The enemy was closing in fast and the cruiser was sitting on the rocks unable to extricate itself out of the situation. It is precisely during this time that it was hit the hardest.

At 12.25 pm a larger-calibre shell pierced the hull under water and exploded in the coal pit No. 10.

At 12.30 pm an 8 inch shell exploded in the coal pit No. 12. The third fire room started filling up with water fast and its level was approaching the furnace (the water flowed in the fire room through the open doors of the coal pit). The fire room quarter masters Zhigarev and Zhuravliov closed down the coal pit with outstanding selflessness and composure, thus shutting off water access to the fire room.

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