The Vladivostock squadron was defeated August 14 in the Sea of Japan. The cruiser _Rurik_ was sunk. The two other ships of the squadron ultimately reached Vladivostock riddled with shells. Repairs were said to have been completed. A renewal of the naval campaign would probably involve an attack on the sole survivors of the Russian fleet. A final naval engagement was the sinking of the cruiser _Novik_, of the Port Arthur Squadron, which escaped after the battle of August 10. Cruisers of Kamimura's squadron overtook her off Kamchatka, and the ship was beached there, a complete wreck after a fourteen hours' battle. The last act of the naval campaign was the destruction of the Russian battleship _Sevastopol_ outside the harbor of Port Arthur. The _Sevastopol_ took refuge under the Tiger's Tail. Repeated dashes were made by Japanese torpedo boat flotillas and the ship was riddled. Her final destruction, however, was accomplished by the Russians, who mined the ship to prevent possibility of salvage on the fall of Port Arthur. [Sidenote: Siege of Port Arthur] Japan's greatest and only decisive achievement had been the taking of Port Arthur. The investment and actual opening of the siege began May 30, when the Japanese occupied Dalny, with their lines spreading westward to Louisa Bay, completely across the Liao-tung Peninsula. Between May 30 and November 30 the Japanese were engaged in taking position from which the attack on the main defenses of the fortress could be directed. It was tedious work. Probably between 30,000 and 40,000 Japanese lives were sacrificed. In the meantime Fort Kuropatkin, an outer defense north of the Urlung Mountain group of forts, had been captured, while on the west the Japanese, after tremendous efforts, had stormed and taken 203-Metre Hill. The final assault was delivered from saps which had been driven through limestone, up the steep slopes of the hill, a task of enormous difficulty which compelled the victors to share laurels with the engineers who at prodigious cost in men and labor made the assault possible. The capture of 203-Meter Hill gave the Japanese an observatory which looked down on most of Port Arthur. Their artillery, largely 11-inch howitzers, no longer fired at random. Sighting was scientifically directed from the vantage point. Within a week the entire Russian fleet had been destroyed and the whole city lay at the mercy of the irresistible 11-inch shells flung over the mountains with unerring aim.