The Russian fleet advanced in a double line, the battleships on the side away from the Japanese coast; the inner line, nearer Japan, made up of cruisers and light craft. Admiral Togo swung northward of Tsu Island, then turned sharply toward the southeast, thus moving parallel to the line of bows of the Russian ships, opening the broadsides of all of his ships, while through practically all of the first day's battle the Russians had only available bow and forward guns, a manoeuvre which eliminated enough of the effectiveness of the Russian battleships to give Togo an advantage despite his weakness in these floating fortresses. It had been planned that the initial attack should be made by the giant twelve-inch guns of the Japanese big ships, and that under cover of this bombardment the torpedoers and destroyers should dash for the leading Russian ships and attempt to throw the enemy's column into confusion. The commanders of the torpedoing flotilla had previously been summoned and had been notified in a few words by the admiral of the desperate service that was required of them and of the small chance of any of them reporting again for duty. They were told, in fact, that it was a simple case of sacrifice, and they accepted it so willingly that the admiral found it difficult to detail a torpedo reserve in case the first division failed in its task. Until sunset the heavy guns of the Japanese battleships and the ten-inch battery of the cruiser _Kasuga_ roared and fired at the oncoming Russians, while the Russian guns roared in reply. [Sidenote: Borodino First to Go Down] First of the Russian battleships in line behind the protected cruiser _Jemtchung_ was the 13,000-ton _Borodino_, and these two soon showed that they were receiving the brunt of the shelling. The cruiser _Nakhimoff_, in the van of the Russian port column, was also observed to be in distress, and then, the sun having set and the quick-setting darkness having come, the torpedoes were sent out under cover of a still heavier cannonade. The flotilla formed into two divisions, one heading for the battleship column of the Russians and the other for the cruisers. The searchlights of the Russian fleet threw out their great beams and their small gun batteries swept the sea but the swift hornets of the sea went wallowing and buzzing on their way. They circled and swept, and then came the dull roars and heaving fountains that told that the torpedoes had been loosed from their tubes and were doing their deadly work. Again and again came the roars, and as the Japanese searchlights swept across the field of fight and then went out it was seen that the great battleship _Borodino_ was sinking; that the protected cruiser _Svietlana_ was a wreck; that the battleship _Alexander III_ had gone; that the two armored cruisers _Dimitri Donskoi_ and _Nakhimoff_ were out of the fighting. A far-sailing shell had also reached and sunk the supply ship _Kamchatka_. Thus ended the first day's fight.