Thirty-five miles to the southeast of Port Arthur the opposing fleets came within range; and then began the most tremendous naval battle--measured by the offensive power of its combatants--that the world has yet seen. The naval world had been waiting almost with eagerness for the present war to afford the spectacle of a fleet action between modern armorclads carrying modern armaments; and this unprecedented event had at last come to pass. The Russian ships were steering for the south, and the object of the Japanese was evidently to head them off. At a range of 6,000 yards, or about three miles and a half, the _Mikasa_, the Japanese flagship, opened fire with her 12in. guns on the leading Russian battleship and immediately the action became general. Admiral Togo concentrated his fire on the Russian battleships, leaving the cruisers very much to chance; and so awful was the effect of this deadly rain of shell, that when at last the sun went down on that eventful day, the Russian fleet was in hopeless disorder, and its stoutest ships were almost unmanageable wrecks. The experience of the _Czarevitch_ and the _Retvisan_, as recounted by survivors on board of those devoted vessels, affords a lurid picture of the appalling nature of a modern naval battle. The _Czarevitch_, which ultimately reached Kiao-chau, was bombarded at close range by several of the Japanese armorclads. In the course of five minutes she was struck by three successive 12in. shells, and that fact--which is an eloquent testimony to the quality of the Japanese gunnery--practically decided her fate. Admiral Witoft was killed by the first shell, and his chief of staff was mortally wounded by the second. The steering gear was knocked to bits, so that the ship was out of control and began to travel in a circle, and the foremast was tumbled over the side; while every man in one of the batteries was blown to pieces. The guns' crews were annihilated at the work, and the deck gear was twisted into fantastic shapes or carried away altogether; and so much of it was afterwards picked up that the Japanese supposed that the _Czarevitch_ had foundered. Poor Witoft--as brave a man as ever sailed--met a terrible death. He was blown to pieces by a shell, and of his body only one leg was ever found. His last signal was: "Remember the Emperor's order not to return to Port Arthur." The decks of the battleship presented the appearance of a shambles; her armor-plating was pierced in four places; her masts were shattered and bent in the form of a cross; her bridge was carried away; and many of her guns were disabled. Steering with her propellers she managed, under the cover of night, to escape the attacks of the Japanese torpedo-boats, and to reach Kiao-chau. Hardly less severe was the mauling which the _Retvisan_ received. This battleship received such a concentrated fire that when she attempted to break from the circle of her enemies, she was literally blown out of her course.