Korea Strait, July 19, 2018
Photo: 360tv.ru A Russian warship named in honor of the great St. Dmitry Donskoy has been found after more than a century of sitting at the bottom of the Korea Strait.
The “Dmitry Donskoy” cruiser was sunk during the 1905 Russo-Japanese War, and was found at a depth of 1,420 ft., about .6 miles from the South Korean island of Ulleungdo by specialists of the South Korean company Shinil Group, reports 360tv.ru.
The cruiser was commissioned in 1885 with the name of St. Dmitry Donskoy, the prince of Moscow known for his defeat of the Tatars in the Battle of Kulikovo in 1380, but by 1905 it was used more for training. However, the lack of fighting vessels led to it being used in the Russo-Japanese War in a campaign across three oceans. The cruiser covered other Russian battleships during the famous Battle of Tsushima, but was left alone after the battle, and six Japanese ships later found and badly damaged it. As it was beginning to sink, it was taken to a great depth and flooded so the Japanese could not lift and restore it or remove the weaponry.
Photo: wikimedia According to the specialists, the deck of the cruiser has been preserved intact, although the body of the ship has a number of holes from Japanese ammunition.
“The hull of the ship was seriously damaged as a result of the shelling, the stern is almost broken, but the deck of the ship is well-preserved. On the stern is very clearly preserved the name ‘Dmitry Donskoy,’” said the head of the group.
In addition to the ship itself, the members of the expedition also found well-preserved cannons, machine guns, anchors, pipes, three masts, and even ship armor.
They hope to soon resolve the question of how to raise the ship to the surface.
According to Captain Vladimir Shigin, a naval historian, the ship went down with the Flag of St. Andrew still raised, and therefore it still belongs to Russia. Moreover, if it drowned with the sailors being evacuated, then it is a mass grave, and therefore, Shigin states, the Korean side should coordinate all its further inspections and work on lifting the vessel with Russia.
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