The value of superior speed, of accurate long range firing, and of protective armour is the principal lesson of the Battle of Tsushima. The one gives choice of position and all its attendant advantages; the second enables an enemy to be partially crippled so that he can be attacked by torpedo boats and sunk or rendered helpless, or can be overtaken and assailed by a fast cruiser if an attempt be made to escape. The battle also demonstrated the value of uniformity in speed of the principal ships, or ships of the line, for the Japanese admiral, knowing that his six battleships had each a speed of about twenty knots, knew exactly the positions he could expect each one to maintain. He had also a number of first and second-class armoured cruisers, and his scouts were reinforced by some of the best vessels in the Japanese mercantile marine. The actual fighting resulted in the _Osliabya_ being driven out of the fighting line in less than thirty minutes after the battle began, and in about an hour after the first shot, the gun-fire to which she had been subjected had set her on fire and caused her to founder. The _Kniaz Suvaroff_ was obliged to leave the fighting line about forty minutes after the battle commenced, both these ships being rendered ineffective before the Russians had travelled five miles. Becoming isolated from her consorts, the _Suvaroff_ was severely pounded. One of her masts and her two funnels were shot away, and a couple of torpedo boats attacked her and injured her below the water-line, so that she soon had a heavy list, but her watertight bulkheads kept her afloat for a time. Two Japanese destroyers then took charge of her and torpedoed her three times, inflicting such injuries that she soon went down. Shortly before this the _Borodino_ received a shell in her magazine, which blew up and sent her to the bottom. The _Orel_ surrendered after the battle, and presented an excellent object lesson of the service her armour had rendered her, for her partially protected and unprotected parts were wrecked by the Japanese gun-fire, but not one of the shells had penetrated her heavy armour, though it bore ample evidence of the severity of the ordeal through which she had passed. Enough has been written to show that the range at which naval engagements have been fought since steel took the place of iron for guns and armour has steadily increased. The old practice of getting close to an enemy and blazing away as fast as the guns could be loaded, in the hope of smothering his fire and a certainty of hitting something sometimes, has become as extinct as the dodo. Guns are too powerful for anything of the sort to be attempted now, and the object at present is to hit at the longest range at which the guns are considered really effective. The _Dreadnought_ is the logical outcome. [Illustration: THE JAPANESE BATTLESHIP “ASAHI.”] [Illustration: THE RUSSIAN BATTLESHIP “NAVARIN.”] CHAPTER VIII BATTLESHIPS AND CRUISERS