"They read it as a plain intimation that Rojdestvensky intended to put his fate to the test at Tsu-shima, since, had it been his purpose to make for Tsugaru or Soya, he must have retained the services of these auxiliary ships during several days longer. It is apparent, indeed, that the Russian admiral here made his first cardinal mistake; he should have kept his non-combatant vessels out of sight as long as possible. Their absence from the arena would have been a mysterious element, whereas their apparition, especially as a segregated squadron in the Yang-tse River, furnished an unerring clue to expert observers." With the fleet the admiral retained only the hospital and repairing ships and those laden with naval stores for the Vladivostock dockyard. On the evening of the 25th the fleet stood out to sea heading for Tsu-shima. The weather was bad, with a probability that it would be worse. There was a rising wind and sea with cold rain that made a blinding haze, but the Russian staff officers were rather pleased than depressed at such unpleasant conditions. Thick weather would baffle the Japanese scouts and lookout stations, and rough seas would keep their torpedo flotillas at anchor. Out ahead were the fast cruisers of the scouting division, the "Svietlana," "Almaz," and "Ural." After these came the main body of the fleet in line ahead in two columns, the heavy armour-clads on the starboard (right side), the rest of the armoured ships and four cruisers in the port line. Abreast of the leading ships each flank was guarded by a cruiser and two torpedo destroyers. After the fighting lines and between their foaming wakes steamed four store-ships and two repairing ships. Last of all were the two steamers fitted as hospital ships. The arrangement is best shown by a rough diagram:-- _Svietlana_. (Cruisers.) _Almaz_. _Ural_. PORT LINE. STARBOARD LINE. (Cruiser.) (Cruiser.) _Jemschug_. _Imperator Nikolai_. _Knias Suvaroff_. _Izumrud_. 2 torpedo _Admiral Senyavin_. _Imperator Alexander_. 2 torpedo destroyers. _Admiral Apraxin_. _Borodino_. destroyers. _Admiral Ushakoff_. _Orel_. {_Oleg_. _Ossliabya_. Cruisers. {_Aurora_. _Sissoi Veliki_. {_Dimitri Donskoi_. _Navarin_. {_Alexander Monomach_. _Admiral Nakhimoff_. 5 torpedo destroyers. _Anadir_. } _Irtish_. } Store-ships. _Korea_. } _Kamschatka_. } _Svir_. } Repairing ships and tugs. _Russ_. }