Cabinette Wars

A Russo-Japanese Naval Campaign

A potted history by a partial [1], prejudiced, & ignorant wargamer.

PART ONE – From Disaster at Port Arthur to Recovery at Chemulpo.

As 1903 gave way to 1904, the tension between Russian empire and Japan boiled over and the Japanese decided to get in the first blow.  The Czar’s new naval base at Port Arthur made this the obvious place to strike and the army was ordered to seize it forthwith.  However, the deployment and sustainment of the troops tasked with the capture of Port Arthur was the responsibility of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) who needed to wrest control of the sea from the larger Russian Pacific Fleet.  

Seeking to even the odds the IJN sortied its entire torpedo-boat-destroyer (TBD) fleet (19 vessels) for a pre-emptive night-attack on the Russian battleships (BBs) anchored in the roadstead outside the entrance to Port Arthur.  The northern  attack force slipped in undetected past Russian TBD patrols and shore batteries [on a D6 roll of 1-4].  Unfortunately, the battleship Tsarevich was more alert and spotted the approaching TBDs as they entered searchlight range and opened fire.  As the shore defences slowly came to life an increasing volume of fire lashed the intrepid TBDs as they sought to close to torpedo range.  The flag division of the northern TBDs (Shirakumo & Asashiwo) almost immediately took a series of crippling hits and was forced to retire.  The remaining three divisions managed to close and all six boats delivered a text-book torpedo attack on the stationary battleships.  How the Russians emerged unscathed will probably never be known, but saboteurs in the torpedo depot seems the only credible explanation for every single torpedo failing to strike home [I can think of no other reason for such a poor series of dice throws].  

As the Tsarevich got underway and backed out of her berth the other battleships and shore batteries switched fire from the retiring northern TBDs to the squadrons still approaching from the south.  Undeterred, the TBDs pressed on through a maelstrom of fire from all sides.  But, with four vessels sunk and four more crippled it was clear that not even superhuman courage could prevail against such towering odds.   With sadness in their hearts the southern attack was discontinued and the squadrons withdrew to fight another day.  With a balance sheet showing four TBDs sunk [2] and another five crippled set against a broken night’s sleep for the Russians the campaign was off to disastrous start!

Night Attack on Port Arthur (8/9-Feb-1904):  T = Tsarevich.

The failure of the Port Arthur attack left the Russian numerical advantage in battleships (7 vs. 6) intact and forced the Japanese to reconsider their war plans.  Despite this setback, the High Command’s belief in a bold offensive remained unshaken and provide opportunities they could exploit.  Accordingly, the troop convoys sailed as planned and the battleships were sent to patrol off Chemulpo to block any Russian attempt to interdict them [3].  

The Battle of Chemulpo (10-Feb-1904): 6 hours before sun-set, with squalls from south-west, the Japanese sighted a squadron of four Russian battleships escorted by TBDs sent to assist the Variag (PC) and Korietz (OPC) escape from Chemulpo.  The Japanese immediately rang up full steam ahead and steered to attack.  While the Japanese battleships engaged their opposite numbers the armoured cruisers steered to stop the enemy ships escaping from Chemulpo.  The escape attempt was quickly foiled with the Korietz was sunk and the crippled Variag turning tail and limping back into Chemulpo where she was scuttled to avoid capture.  The battleship contest was also brief with the outnumbered Russians seeking safety in flight.  The Japanese seeking to press home their advantage were thwarted by the unstable Shimoze filling in their shells [4] with many detonating on impact before penetrating the Russian armour.  The fleeing Russians concentrated their fire on the Imperial flagship (Mikasa), which was crippled and forced to fall out of the battle-line.  The Russian admiral then sought to use his TBDs as a shield in an attempt to buy his escape with their lives.  The Japanese battleships contemptuously swept the TBDs aside, sinking and crippling many and still managed to inflict damage on all the Russian battleships before they escaped into the failing light.  The final spiteful act of the fleeing Russian battleships was to cynically target the weaker armoured cruisers (AC).  The Asama (AC), overmatched and crippled, slewed to a halt directly ahead of the Yakumo (AC) which put her helm hard over.  Too late!  The Yakumo crashed into the Asama sending her to the bottom.  The Yakumo damaged in the collision, and the Idzumo (AC), both suffered further hits from the fleeing Russians as they stole away into the murk.  As night fell the Japanese were left in command of the approaches to Chemulpo but at a high price: the battleships Mikasa crippled and the Yashima, Asahi and Shikishima damaged; and, the armoured cruisers Asama sunk, Yakumo crippled and Idzumo damaged.  To set against this loss they had damaged all four Russian battleships, eliminated the protected cruisers Varyag and Korietz, and sunk 8 TBDs and crippled two more.  But more importantly, with the sea swept clear the Chemulpo convoy arrived unscathed.

Battle of Chemulpo: M = Mikasa, A = Asama, Y = Yakumo, V = Varyag, K = Korietz.

In the post-mortem following the battle the Japanese were at a loss to understand why the Russians had only committed 4 battleships leaving them outnumbered in a key action.  They were not left wondering for long as the cruiser escort scouting ahead of the convoy to Chinampo spied the ‘missing’ Russian battleships blockading the port.  The convoy was turned about unnoticed by the patrolling Russians and slipped away back to Sasebo to sail another day.  Reviewing the first weeks of the campaign the Japanese concluded that, after a bad start, they had performed well against the larger fleet only being robbed of a decisive victory by their defective ammunition.  While faulty shells could be replaced it was unlikely the Russians would again commit the error of dividing their battleship force in the presence of the enemy.  However, with 4 Russian and 3 Japanese battleships undergoing repair a small window of opportunity opened during which the Japanese would have parity in capital ships [5].

The next phase of Japanese operations (Late-Feb 1904) started with a bold attempt to bottle up the Russians in Port Arthur.  A small force of cruisers sent to lay a minefield off the port inexplicably encountered no enemy patrols and completed their mission unhindered.  This failure of the Russian high command to grasp the importance of patrolling the approaches to their base was only matched by the dispatch of 7 TBDs to bombard Pitzuwo.  This mission, chased off without loss by a Japanese patrol, was a fool's errand as the TBDs lacked the firepower for an effective shore bombardment [6].  The same could not be said about the force sent to bombard Chemulpo. 

The 2nd Battle of Chemulpo (28-Feb-1904): in rough seas with only 3 hours to sun-set, a menacing line of 3 Russian battleships with an armoured cruiser and other vessels in support closed on Chemulpo with evil intent.  However, before a bombardment could be visited on the unsuspecting port, 3 Japanese battleships hove into sight over the horizon.  The opportunity for an even match was there for the taking and this time the Japanese, having replaced their faulty shells, were no longer fighting with one hand behind their back.   The Japanese, assuming their foe would head out to sea to gain sea room, were wrong-footed and temporarily lost sight of the enemy as they swung around Chemulpo Island.   As the Russians emerged from the far side Japanese fire began to tell and the Peresviet was crippled and, temporarily out of control in the heavy seas, was struck by the following ship, the Retvizan.  As the fatally holed Peresviet slipped beneath the waves the remaining Russian ships fled into the night abandoning the crippled Retvizan to its fate.  The Japanese not wishing to see the helpless crew of the Retvizan consigned to a watery grave accepted its surrender and took it as a prize back to Sasebo. 

Second Battle of Chemulpo: only Russian BBs & AC shown; P = Peresviet, R = Retvizan.

This action, during which the Japanese only suffered damage to the Fuji (BB), marked a turning point in the campaign with the Japanese overturning the Russian superiority in battleships.  It also marked a change in battle tactics with both navies increasing the separation between ships sailing in formation to avoid the catastrophic collisions that both had experienced in the last two actions [7].  

As February passed into March the Japanese admiralty had cause for satisfaction with progress so far. 

Apologies for the lack of photos, those from the earlier games in the campaign were lost when my PC died.  

More to follow... with some photos

Notes.

 

[1]. In that is written entirely from my perspective as commander of the Japanese Fleet.

 

[2]. With 2 TBDs per base the maps only show one ship symbol for every two TBDs.

 

[3]. As explained in the previous post the Japanese accrue victory points (VPs) for successfully convoying their army across to attack Port Arthur.  Convoys may delay their sailing schedule by up to 3 turns and still gain the VPs, thus the Russians are unsure of exactly when they will sail.

 

[4]. In the campaign the Japanese, as happened historically, replace their defective ammunition after the first battleship-vs-battleship action in which they landed hits on Russian battleship.

 

[5]. The Japanese have six shipyards in which ships can be repaired but the Russians with only one shipyard in Port Arthur will take much longer to repair battle damage.

 

[6]. The rules only allow shore bombardment by battleships or armoured cruisers.

 

[7]. Actually, a rule amendment to make collisions less common.