A War, a Venomous Snake who Loved Vodka, and a Stupidly Long Voyage
by Thomas Hibbert
In 1904, Russia and Japan went to war. The Japanese had a modern - military, and began destroying the Russia in battle, taking the Russian port of Port Arthur in China. The Russians needed reinforcements, so they sent the Russian Baltic Fleet. The problem with this was that the war was near Japan, and the Russian fleet was near Sweden. So, the Tsar of Russia proposed a crazy plan. The fleet would go across the ocean to attack the Japanese, and because it was such a … decent plan, the Russian Baltic fleet embarked on the adventure of a lifetime, under the command of Admiral Rozhestvensky, nicknamed Mad Dog because of his fits of anger. So much so, that his crew kept a box of binoculars, because he would throw so many of his binoculars overboard whilst raging. His crew were the best sailors Russia could get. They were untrained peasants who were barely literate. Truly the best of Russia ’ s naval manpower.
Heihachiro Togo
Zinovy Rozhestvensky
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