May 28, 1905

Battle of Tsushima

Russian fleet remnants surrender at Tsushima

At about 10:30 that morning five Russian ships were enclosed. Four surrendered; the cruiser Izumrud accelerated through the Japanese cordon and got out.

28 May 1905: surrounded south of the Liancourt Rocks

At dawn on 28 May 1905, Admiral Tōgō Heihachirō's Combined Fleet moved to block the surviving Russian ships' route north. By about 10:30 a.m. it had surrounded Rear Admiral Nikolai Nebogatov's remnant south of the Liancourt Rocks.

Nebogatov surrendered the battleship Imperator Nikolai I, the damaged battleship Oryol, and the coast-defense ships Admiral Apraksin and Admiral Senyavin. The cruiser Izumrud broke through the cordon before the surrender.

Signed aboard Mikasa at 1:37 p.m.

A naval-history account records Russian surrender signals at 10:43 a.m. and Nebogatov signing the instrument of surrender aboard Tōgō's flagship Mikasa at 1:37 p.m.

The morning surrender did not end the day's fighting. Japanese forces sank or captured further ships, and at about 4:45 p.m. the destroyer Byedovy surrendered with the wounded Vice Admiral Zinovy Rozhestvensky and his staff aboard.

Totals that the sources dispute

Tōgō's published report counted about 6,000 Russian prisoners against three Japanese torpedo boats lost, 116 Japanese dead and 538 wounded. A frequently reproduced later Japanese tally gives 117 killed and 583 wounded.

Russian losses vary by account as well; a U.S. Naval Institute account gives 21 ships sunk, 7 captured and 5,045 dead. Contemporary Russian records, on the Julian calendar, date the two days 14–15 May.

Sources

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How this was checked

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What the sources leave uncertain

May 27–28 are Gregorian dates used by Japan and Western accounts. Contemporary Russian records use the Julian calendar, May 14–15.
Personnel totals vary by source and by whether later deaths, missing men, prisoners and internees are counted. Tōgō’s report gives 116 Japanese dead and 538 wounded; the frequently reproduced later tally is 117 and 583. Russian-death estimates range around 4,380–5,045 in modern accounts.
The exact fleet denominator varies because accounts differ over auxiliaries, hospital ships and what counts as a combatant.