Russia in Trouble this Year?

[Neil]

I'm saying that at the time the Russian fleet was considered to be equivalent or better than the Japanese one.  The superior number of battleships was considered very important.

The Japanese only had 8 armoured cruisers at Tsushima, with the remainder being either protected cruisers or older, unarmoured cruisers.

The Russians would have had a higher throw weight, but that would have been unimportant given the crossing of the T and the fact that secondary, quick-firing guns firing high-explosive shells were probably more important than the main batteries.  The Japanese had learned the usefulness of smashing upworks and sweeping ships with fire during the Sino-Japanese War, where the Chinese had a pair of cruisers who armoured so as to be essentially unsinkable to Japanese naval gunfire.

Part of decisiveness is psychological effect, and the unexpected and annihilating Japanese victory certainly had an effect.

So you are not saying that the Japanese destroyed a superior fleet, but rather a fleet which was perceived to be superior by the racists of the day? (y'know the same schmucks who thought the Brewster Buffalo was good enough to take on Zeros because the Japanese pilots were all near sighted)

Why bring race into it?  Ship-for-ship, the Russians matched up well, but the Japanese crews were battle-tested veterans who had refined their tactics in the war against China, whereas the Russian crews were poor quality and had no combat experience whatsoever.

[Zanza]

[DGuller]

[Admiral Yi]

One of the Jap advantages is that their ships of each class all had the same speed.  The Russians on the other hand had to slow down to match the slowest ship in the fleet.

[Viking]

I'm saying that at the time the Russian fleet was considered to be equivalent or better than the Japanese one.  The superior number of battleships was considered very important.

The Japanese only had 8 armoured cruisers at Tsushima, with the remainder being either protected cruisers or older, unarmoured cruisers.

The Russians would have had a higher throw weight, but that would have been unimportant given the crossing of the T and the fact that secondary, quick-firing guns firing high-explosive shells were probably more important than the main batteries.  The Japanese had learned the usefulness of smashing upworks and sweeping ships with fire during the Sino-Japanese War, where the Chinese had a pair of cruisers who armoured so as to be essentially unsinkable to Japanese naval gunfire.

Part of decisiveness is psychological effect, and the unexpected and annihilating Japanese victory certainly had an effect.

So you are not saying that the Japanese destroyed a superior fleet, but rather a fleet which was perceived to be superior by the racists of the day? (y'know the same schmucks who thought the Brewster Buffalo was good enough to take on Zeros because the Japanese pilots were all near sighted)

Why bring race into it?  Ship-for-ship, the Russians matched up well, but the Japanese crews were battle-tested veterans who had refined their tactics in the war against China, whereas the Russian crews were poor quality and had no combat experience whatsoever.

Because the argument you seem to be making is that the effect/significance of the battle was due to the percieved inferiority of the japanese.

[Neil]

Because the argument you seem to be making is that the effect/significance of the battle was due to the percieved inferiority of the japanese.

That's not necessarily a race thing though.

[Liep]

[Tonitrus]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=vhuzb3WMntc