In January 1903 the aggregate tonnage of the Russian Pacific Squadron stood at some 87,000 tons, the fleet including the battleships _Peresviet_, _Petropavlovsk_, _Poltava_, _Sevastopol_, and the cruisers _Rossia_, _Gromoboi_, and _Rurik_, with other smaller vessels. In March the tonnage went up to 93,000 tons, thanks to the arrival of the cruiser _Askold_ from the Baltic. In May the cruisers _Diana_, _Pallada_, _Novik_, and the battleship _Retvizan_ joined. In June the cruisers _Bogatyr_ and _Boyarin_ reached the scene. In July the battleship _Probleda_ arrived. In November the battleship _Tzarevitch_ and the cruiser _Bayan_ further added to Russia’s strength. In December the battleship _Oslyabya_, the armoured cruiser _Dimitri Donskoi_, the protected cruisers _Aurora_ and _Almaz_, and eleven torpedo-boat destroyers. In January 1904 the battleship _Imperator Alexander III_. leaves the Baltic for the Far East. Russia has laboured under great disadvantages to secure her position in this region. In consequence of restricted shipbuilding resources and owing to an unfortunate geographical position, Russia has not enjoyed those opportunities of adding to her Pacific fleet which have presented themselves to Japan. In effect, if not in fact, Russia is compelled to maintain four navies. Unhappily, each is isolated from the other, many hundreds of miles separating them. Naval squadrons are concentrated in the Baltic, in the Black Sea, in the Caspian Sea and in the Pacific. The Pacific squadron is of recent establishment and of most modern construction. It dates back to 1898, from which time her policy of naval expansion began. Orders were placed with France, Germany and America for cruisers and battleships, coal was bought at Cardiff, and in a short space the nucleus of a powerful fleet had sprung into existence. At the present time these new ships are deficient in the various ratings, and hundreds of mechanics, gunners and engineers have been withdrawn from the Black Sea Squadron to do service with the Pacific Fleet, moving to the Pacific Ocean from the Black Sea by means of the Trans-Siberian Railway. Just now, and until the acute phase of the crisis has disappeared or war has been declared, the disposition of the Russian Pacific Squadron is as follows. At Port Arthur, the battleships _Petropavlovsk_, _Poltava_, _Sevastopol_, _Peresviet_, _Retvizan_, _Probleda_, and _Tzarevitch_; the first-class cruisers _Bayan_, _Askold_, _Pallada_, _Diana_, and _Varyag_; the gunboats _Bobr_, _Gremyashtchi_, and _Koreetz_; the transports _Amur_, _Yenissei_, and _Angara_; the torpedo-cruisers _Vsadnik_, and _Gaidamak_; and the destroyers _Bezshumni_, _Bezposhadni_, _Bditelni_, _Bezstrashni_, _Boevoi_, _Vnimatelni_, _Vnushitelni_, _Viposlivi_, _Vlastni_, _Burni_, and _Boiki_. At Vladivostock, the first-class cruisers _Rossia_, _Gromoboi_, _Rurik_, and _Bogatyr_, the gunboat _Mandchur_, and the transport _Lena_.