Feb-Mar-Apr, May-June-July 1972 - Navy League of Australia

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LETTERS TO THE EDIIOR
Mr Jones' contemporary source
quotation alleging only light
damage as a result of the Japanese
attack on Port Arthur is obviously
of Russian origin. In the light of
Russia's thinly veiled contempt of
Japanese worth and ability, it is
hardly likely that they would admit
to suffering a military reverse at
the hands of those whom they (the
Russians) considered to be very
much their inferiors.
In arriving at my printed conclusions
concerning the Port Arthur
attack. I consulted three separate
and neutral sources, all of which
were in general agreement, with
only detail variations I have in my
possession photographic evidence
that points conclusively to
the truth of these sources. The
exploits of those Japanese personnel
who guided their torpedoes
through the icy waters by hand is
no product of The Brothers
Grimm. The incident has been welldocumented
and. when one recalls
details of the Japanese warriorcode
of Bushido. is entirely feasible.
A horrible but logical extension
of this code resulted in the
Kamikaze and Ohka piloted bomb
suicidal air attacks which
bedevilled the American Navy
during the invasion of Okinawa in
1945
I cannot recall having read any
documents or books written by
Reginald Hargraves. Neither the
Encyclopaedia Bntannica or
Chambers Encyclopaedia mention
this man. However Fred T.
Jane states that Japanese netcutters
appear to v/ork reasonably
well and Oscar Parkes states that
Japanese net-cutters were of the
"scissors'' variety.
I will answer Mr Jones' last two
points in reverse order. Purely for
the purposes of this reply I say
that the Japanese attack on Port
Arthur was repeating nothing.
However I thought I had made it
perfectly obvious that their attack
on Pearl Harbour in 1941 was virtually
a repeat performance, complete
with similar, behind the
scenes, high level diplomatic
wrangling. I cannot enlarge upon
that statement.
As to the second of Mr Jones' last
two points, let me remind him of
the fact that our immensely
valuable and incredibly lucky
country is. militarily, one of the
most vulnerable on earth, and in
the light of current international
tension, we should heed the
ancient Chinese maxim: "The
more you sweat in peace, the less
you bleed in war."
The attack on Sydney Harbour by
Type "A" Japanese midget submarines
was but the tip of the proverbial
iceberg. The frightening
spectre of what could have happened
had the historic battle of
Midway been won by the Japanese
is mercilessly expounded in the
book Battle of Sydney by the Australian
historian. John Vader. The
German poet/philosopher.
Goethe, once said. "Those who do
not understand the past are
doomed to re-live it." For all those
interested in the hypothesis of
repetition. I recommend the
work "It Might Happen Again" by
Admiral of the Fleet Lord Chatfield.
Mr Lee. quite rightly, pointed out
once again the inaccuracy contained
in the caption of the photograph
on Page 9. I have taken steps
to ensure that such a plethora of
errors does not recur.
Various well-recognised naval historians
such as Oscar Parkes. Fred
Jane and Richard Hough are in
reasonable accord on the subject
of the Russian anti-torpedo nets
used by the vessels at Port Arthur.
They were apparently adequate
when assessed by the standards of
the day: these same authors admit
to penetration of those nets by
Japanese torpedoes with varying
degrees of success. Faith in the efficacy
of anti-torpedo net defences
gradually declined to the point
where, as Mr Lee has stated, the
British finally abandoned this cumbersome
system in 1915.
I am grateful to Mr Lee for
reminding me of the capture of
Chemulpo by Togo's forces. It did
not occur to me to mention this in
my article
As a matter of principle. I treat
with a good deal of suspicion Russian
accounts of their activities in
this area of operations. "Janes
Fighting Ships of 1919" states that
the Varlag was di'initely sunk by
naval gunfire at Chemulpo (Korea)
in February. 1904. She was salved
in August. 1905. repaired by the
Japanese and renamed Soya. She
was finally retroceded to Russia by
Japan in March. 1916. and finally
dismantled at Liverpool in 1918.
Various authors have the Novik
being run aground and destroyed
at. alternatively Saghalien. Korsakov
or La Perouse Straits. It is
virtually one and the same area.
Until the advent of Mr Lee's
letter. I was totally unaware of the
existence of a Russian cruiser
called the Boyagra. Not one of my
sources makes any mention of
her. I would be grateful if Mr Lee
could forward details of this elusive
vessel to me
With regard to the quality of Russian
naval personnel in this
period, there appears to be nothing
basically wrong with the inherent
fighting ability of the average
rating.
He appears to have been a rather
hardy soul subjected as he was to
foul living conditions on badly
equipped ships and to extremely
harsh discipline meted out by
officers of sometimes questionable
.ability, although there were
several notable exceptions
amongst the officer corps.
The life-style of these mostly illiterate
sailors was in marked contrast
to that led by their officers:
who were, in the main, of aristocratic
birth. The quality of rations,
for example, varied accordingly
and the vast social gulf endemic to
Russian naval vessels, created
monumental problems of discipline
and crew control
Therefore it can be seen that,
individual ship's commanders'
personal qualities not withstanding.
the basic team spirit on which
a warship's very survival
depended was oft-times completely
lacking and she was therefore
practically useless as a cohesive
fighting unit.
GALATEA
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May/June/July THE NAVY Page Fifty-one