The Fleet That Could Not Sail Straight

Russia is losing badly to the Japanese. The Czar decides to send the Baltic fleet to assist. This is a hugely long voyage made even more difficult logistically because Russia doesn't have any holdings in Africa or South Asia where they could refuel. Add to that the Baltic fleet spends much of every year frozen in port, so many of the crew are grossly inexperienced and don't know how to do their jobs. Some of the ships are so outdated and in need of repair that they're referred to as the "sink by themselves" squadron.

Upon setting out, there is a (wholly unfounded) paranoid hysteria among the crew. Everyone is jumpy that they'll be ambushed at any moment by Japanese cruisers and torpedo boats.

After several false alarms reporting Japanese ships in the fog, they come near to Britain and encounter a small group of fishing trawlers at Dogger Bank.

The Russians panic. Some charge about with cutlasses expecting to repel boarding parties, some put on life jackets and lie prone on the deck. The whole fleet opens fire on the "Japanese torpedo boats" for twenty minutes. They succeed in sinking one British trawler and damaging two of their own ships. One ship reportedly hits nothing with 500 shells.

This incident comes extremely close to having Britain declare war on Russia, but in the end they withhold themselves to merely denying the Russian fleet use of the Suez canal.

This completely screws up the Russian plans, and they now have to chart a course all the way around Africa, refueling at several points using supply boats provided by the Germans.

They slowly make their way around Africa, fighting off several more "torpedo boats" and picking up a variety of exotic pets like crocodiles and snakes that now roam the ships. Their refrigerated ship fails and they have to dump large quantities of rotten meat, causing a swarm of sharks to follow them around.

They had a long stopover in Madagascar. During a funeral for a crewmember who died of illness, a live shell was mistakenly used in the gunnery salute, hitting the cruiser Aurora.

They order a gunnery practice against a stationary target. They succeeded in scoring only a single hit...on the ship towing the target.

After successfully avoiding mutiny, they finally manage to get in close to Japan. The admiral decides to try and sneak between Japan and Korea under cover of darkness and make for Vladivostok.

All ships extinguish their lights to maintain stealth. Except for the hospital ship Orel, who kept them burning in accordance with the rules of war. A Japanese ship spots Orel, comes close to investigate, and determines it could be a support vessel to a larger fleet. Orel, for its part, misidentifies the Japanese vessel as a Russian one, and signals it to be cautious about the rest of the Russian fleet.

The Battle of Tsushima ensues. 4000 Russians die and 7000 are captured, compared to Japanese losses of ~100 dead. The Russians lose the war soon after in a negotiated peace. Its the first time a European power is defeated by an Eastern one.

The Japanese go on to read very deeply into Tsushima and it informed a lot of their naval doctrine in WWII, but honestly after reading about the misadventures of the Baltic fleet I can't help but feel that they overthink it.