When the captain of the "Varyag", Admiral Rudnev, found that the port of Hakodate was already densely covered with warships flying the dragon flag and the rising sun flag, the first thought that came to his heart was: "Break through and go to Vladivostok to join the main forces of the fleet." ”

Located at the southern tip of the island of Hokkaido, Hakodate has been under the occupation of Russian forces since 1895, where Russian troops built a military port and fortress, and Russian immigrants also built a new Russian-style city called "Novorostov", which houses the "New North Island Governor's Palace", which was appointed by the Tsar himself to be responsible for the administration and military rule of the entire Hokkaido region.

By 1903, more than 200,000 Russian residents had moved to Hokkaido, who had cut down forests, cleared land, developed animal husbandry, and built a large number of Russified villages and towns under the organization of the local government. These measures greatly strengthened Russia's dominance and defense in Hokkaido, making it difficult for the coalition forces to regain the region.

When the headquarters of the East Asian Allied Forces decided to start a war against Russia, it had already decided to use more than two-thirds of the standing strength of the Japanese Army to cooperate with part of the strength of the Allied Third Mobile Fleet to carry out the operation of capturing Hokkaido. The Army formed the Hokkaido Army Corps under the command of General Seiki Okazawa, which consisted of the 2nd and 3rd Infantry Divisions of the Japanese Army, the 21st and 23rd Separate Infantry Brigades, and the 1st Marine Brigade, totaling 103,000 men.

The navy formed the Hokkaido Raiders Support Fleet (hereinafter referred to as the Support Fleet) with Vice Admiral Yan Fu as Commander and Vice Admiral Heihachiro Togo as Chief of Staff, including four second-class battleships "Longwei", "Fengxiang", "Zhenyuan" and "Dingyuan" of the 11th and 12th Reserve Fleets of the Chinese Battleships, two armored cruisers "Iwate" and "Takasago" of the 2nd Japanese Armored Patrol Squadron, four protective cruisers of the 2nd Chinese Light Patrol Squadron, and 8 light cruisers of the 1st and 3rd Japanese Light Patrol Squadrons. The Chinese army expelled 8 destroyers of the 2nd Sentai and the Japanese expelled 8 destroyers of the 1st Sentai Force, a total of 12 light cruisers and 16 destroyers.

On September 7, 1903, the support fleet secretly assembled in Miyako Bay in northeastern Honshu, and on the night of September 8, the fleet set sail for Hakodate, and appeared outside Hakodate Port the next morning. Hakodate, also known as Hakodate, was one of the first ports that Japan was forced to open to the outside world after the "Black Ship Sailing" incident of the American Perry Fleet, and was forced to open to the outside world, and successively built consulates and concessions of Britain, France, the United States, Russia and other powers.

In the first year of Japan's Meiji era (1868), the vice president of the Shogunate Navy, Natsu (formerly known as Muzuo Xia Right), led the main force of the Shogunate Navy to flee here and formed the "Ezo Republic", which collapsed in less than six months, and Natsumoto surrendered to the government army. The old city has long been dilapidated, while the "New Rostov-on-Don City" is prosperous, and the consulates of various countries have long abandoned the old and replaced the new, that is, they have indirectly recognized Russia's ownership of this place.

According to the provisions of the Russo-Japanese Treaty of 1896, Hokkaido is still Japanese territory, and Japan has the right to send administrative officials to Hokkaido, but because the treaty also stipulates that Japan is not allowed to send military and police into Hokkaido, this means that Japan is in fact unable to administer Hokkaido at all, so the "Hokkaido Governor" sent by the Japanese government to Hakodate is like a consul stationed in a foreign city.

In order to be able to maintain Hokkaido for a long time, Russia has continuously strengthened the defense of Hakodate Port, which is the most complete port in Hokkaido. From 1897, the Russian army began large-scale construction of the fortress complex near Hakodate, and by early 1903, the first phase of the fortress was completed, with the construction and expansion of 5 permanent batteries along the coastline and 3 fortresses, 2 support points and 2 batteries inland. By the time the war broke out, there were 11,000 Russian troops stationed in the fortress, another 9,000 on the outer defensive line, 36 large and medium-caliber coastal guns installed on the coastal batteries, and about 100 artillery pieces and 20 machine guns in the fortifications of the land defense line.

In the early morning of September 9, four Russian warships were moored in the port of Hakodate, they were the cruiser "Varyag" of the first class, the cruisers "Bayan" and "Russia" of the second class, and the gunboat "Korean", these warships constituted the "North Pacific detachment", the main task of this detachment was to assist the army in the defense of "Novorostok", but in the opinion of the commander of the "Varyag" and the commander of the detachment, Admiral Rudnev, in the face of the overwhelming superiority of the enemy detachment outside the port, The detachment's four small and medium-sized warships could not play a substantial role in the defensive battle of the port, so it was better to rush back to Vladivostok and join up with the main fleet, where the batteries were equipped with a large number of huge guns, which were safer than this small port, and more importantly, the armored ships of Vladivostok must have urgently needed the assistance and protection of the cruisers.

The cruisers "Varyag", "Bayan" and "Russia" all reached a speed of 23 knots and could easily get away from the pursuit of large enemy warships, but the gunboat "Koryo" had a speed of less than 18 knots, which was easily captured by the enemy and could also drag down the overall speed of the formation - the maximum speed of the warship formation was determined by the slowest ship in the formation.

At 10 a.m. on September 9, Colonel Rudnev summoned a meeting of the senior officers of the four warships to announce the outbreak of war, which had been informed half an hour earlier by Androusha, the governor of the "New North Island" (the Russian colonial name for Hokkaido). Rudnev then elaborated on his idea, and everyone agreed to break out, but a dispute arose over whether to keep the "Korean" behind. "No, we're going to go back too, even if we're not with the cruiser, we'll be able to stand out on our own."

So said the captain of the "Korean". "You can't rush out, your warship will soon be finished, burning, and reduced to pieces, and everyone will have to feed the fish, man, stay, it's not about honor."

Rudnev said, but failed to convince the other side, the captain of the "Korean" shouted that he was not afraid of death, and that no one on his ship was afraid of death, and that even if the ship sank, they would swim back to Vladivostok. "Then you're good to swim, but you'd better swim this way, it's closer."

Rudnev said that despite the opposition of the captain of the "Korean", a decision was made: before 16 o'clock in the afternoon, the three cruisers managed to break through and return to Vladivostok, and the gunboat "Korean" remained in Hakodate.

While the Russian warships were preparing to break through, the Japanese 20 transports were already carrying 34,000 officers and men of the 2nd Infantry Division and 120 large and small guns, and under the cover of two Chinese armored cruisers "Kenbei" and "Kennan", four Japanese light cruisers and eight Japanese destroyers, they landed at Washinogi, north of Hakodate, where Takehiro Natsumoto's shogunate army landed and subsequently conquered Hakodate 35 years ago. Vice Admiral Yan Fu, commander of the Allied Support Fleet, sat high on the command platform of the flagship "Longwei", and by his side stood the chief of staff, Vice Admiral Heihachiro Togo.

Nine years ago, Yan Fu was the captain of the sister ship "Fengxiang" of the "Longwei", and Dongxiang was the captain of the cruiser "Naniwa" of the Japanese Navy. Nine years have passed, and the rivals of the past are now on the same ship, supporting each other as comrades-in-arms, although they never imagined it back then, but they can't make the two of them too surprised.

Yan Fu once wrote in his post-war memoirs: "...... Togo was a good chief of staff, and his opinion was very important to me, but he didn't seem to like the interpreter I sent him, and always liked to speak directly to me in his broken Chinese, and the consequence of this was that I had to send him another interpreter who didn't speak Japanese, and I stayed by his side at all times, talked to him, and became familiar with his broken Chinese. From then on, I waited for Togo to finish everything before I asked the interpreter to explain it to me......"

Heihachiro Togo wrote in his memoirs: "...... General Yan was a good eater of desserts, and before every war, he munched on pastries and sweets collected from all over the world, and never asked me if I would like to taste them, as if he had known me well for a long time, and knew that I liked light food......"

At this time, the two stood side by side on the tall command podium, looking at Hakodate Port from afar, and the weather was fine that day, and the shadow of the Russian ship in the port could be clearly observed from the telescope. "There are only 4 warships at the mooring, the entrance and exit are a bit narrow, and torpedo attacks are difficult...... The important thing is the fort, the coastal fort seems to be very strong, you can't see the thicker barrel, I heard that it is equipped with several ground trap guns......" Yan Fu whispered, he knew that Dongxiang could hear it, and at least half of it, and that was enough.

The so-called ground trap cannon is that the artillery will be placed in the underground fortifications, when it needs to be fired, it is lifted with the help of a mechanical device, and then retracted into the ground to reload after firing, which can effectively avoid enemy artillery fire, so it has extremely high survivability, but because of the complex structure, difficult to move, expensive, and difficult to be widely equipped, it is only suitable for large-caliber fortress guns. "Let's try to attack it, see what the strength is, and if possible, clean up those 4 obstructive boats by the way."

Yan Fu said, glancing at Dongxiang, who nodded very seriously, as if he understood completely. "Did he really understand it all?" Yan Fu thought worriedly, summoned the herald, and issued an order: the captains of all cruisers and above and the commanders of the destroyer squadrons gathered at the flagship for a meeting.

At the operational meeting, Yan Fu quickly issued a combat order: "...... All ships above the cruiser were organized into a single column, in the order of ...... The Japanese expelled the 1st squad on the left cover, and the Chinese expelled the 2nd squad on the right cover...... At 15:30, the main force of the fleet was drawn and broke through from the northwest, and the staff officers of each ship paid attention to recording the position of the enemy's coastal guns, and did not enter the harbor without the commander's order, and paid attention to maintaining the formation, but they could maneuver in a small area to avoid the enemy's shore artillery fire, and when encountering the enemy ships, they would meet them with the main gun fire, and if the enemy ships tried to escape to the open sea, the armored cruiser "Iwate" would be responsible for leading all the cruisers in pursuit, and the destroyer team would be on standby to attack......

In the afternoon, white clouds are flakes, and from time to time a circle of shadows sway across the sea, and the waves are surging, but they are like an elegy. At 15:20, in the port of Hakodate, Colonel Rudnev ordered all the personnel of the "Varyag" to line up on the deck and announce the order to break out.

"We must break through and return to the main fleet, where we are needed even more. We're going to break through and fight the enemy's detachment with several large ships, no matter how strong they may be...... It will not stop our determination to return to Vladivostok, we must go back, even if we fight to the last one! Rudnev didn't think at the time that if they all died in battle, how would they go back to Vladivostok.

Five minutes later, the whistle sounded on the "Varyag", the stern of the ship rose a wave of waves, the thin and tall bow split the sea, and sailed out of the harbor, followed by the cruisers "Bayan" and "Russia", the "Korean" was abandoned and left alone in the warship mooring, but this may have been its luck.

At 15:30, the coalition support fleet assembled at a distance of about 10,000 yards northwest of the port began to move, led by the battleship "Longwei", the capital ships were organized into a single column, and the battleships "Fengxiang", "Zhenyuan", and "Dingyuan", the armored cruisers "Iwate" and "Takasago", and all 12 light cruisers. Eight destroyers were placed on the left and right to cover it.

Because of the drag of the old battleships "Zhenyuan" and "Dingyuan" in the formation, the maximum speed of the formation can only reach 13 knots, but if the cruiser is in a separate formation, it can reach the maximum formation speed of 21 knots. "Enemy ship activity was detected at 3 o'clock, 3 ships in number, at a speed of more than 20 knots, and on a course of 270 degrees (due west)."

When he heard this report, Yan Fu had already spotted the Russian ship fleeing with all its strength from the telescope, and Vice Admiral Dongxiang beside him blurted out: "Is the sand stuffy to burn?" The translator immediately explained beside Yan Fu: "Are they looking for death?" "That's what I thought, too." Yan Fu said with a smile and called the herald.

A series of signal flags were immediately raised on the mainmast of the flagship "Longwei": "The cruiser squadron broke away from the formation", "The cruiser squadron pursued the enemy ship", and "The battleship squadron followed the flagship movement......

The armored cruiser "Iwate" quickly turned around and led its sister ship "Takasago", as well as the protective cruisers "Dadao", "Modao", "Long Knife" and "Sabre" of the 2nd Chinese Light Cruiser, the light cruisers "Asahi", "Kasuga", "Nisshin" and "Nisshin" of the 1st Japanese Light Cruiser, and the light cruisers "Toba", "Myoko", "Tone" and "Mogami" of the 2nd Japanese Light Cruiser to chase and kill the three Russian cruisers like hungry wolves.

Vice Admiral Yan Fu personally led four warships and 16 destroyers to continue approaching the port, and after a while, the Russian shore guns opened fire, the water column rose one after another, and the clouds and mist washed away, and the four battleships that had made outstanding achievements in the Sino-Japanese War moved zigzag to avoid the enemy's shore artillery fire under the exquisite command of Vice Admiral Yan Fu, and at the same time, the staff officers of each ship kept observing the positions of the enemy guns on the shore and recorded them one by one on the drawings.

At 15:50, "Longwei" first fired at the enemy's shore artillery position 5,500 yards away with two 305 mm/24 diameter guns on its front turret, and then "Fengxiang", "Zhenyuan", and "Dingyuan" fired in turn, and "Zhenyuan" and "Dingyuan" were able to exert the firepower of all four 305 mm/24 times diameter main guns because the two twin armored main turrets were arranged on the left and right sides of the bow. The 350-kilogram blasting shells exploded into brilliant fireballs on the enemy positions, and clouds of black smoke rose from the ground, swirling and dissipating - this black smoke was the basis for the gunners on the Chinese warships to calibrate their shots.

The Russian shore artillery roared even harder, more than a dozen heavy guns of more than 254 mm were fired one after another, the Chinese battleships staggered through the water columns, and a dozen thin destroyers did not dare to approach, and they all followed from a distance of 1,000 yards. "The chicken quinoa is too close, this mother is paralyzed in the stomach of the chicken, backwash and threshing......"

Dongxiang suggested this, and Yan Fu nodded in agreement. "That's right, that's what I thought too......" Yan Fu then put his ear to the translator's mouth. He said, it's too close, you'll get shot if you go on like this, turn right and get out of it......" "Okay, that's it, that's it, herald!" ”

At about 16 o'clock, the "Longwei" ship turned to the course of 270 degrees (due west), turned the two twin 305-mm main guns to the port side, and fired fiercely at the enemy's shore gun positions at a distance of 4,000 to 6,000 yards. During the artillery battle, there was a sudden earth-shattering noise on the enemy's shore artillery position, and a column of smoke with sparks and debris flew up dozens of meters into the air...... It was later found out that a bunch of large-caliber shells placed in the open air by the Russian army at that time were hit and exploded, causing damage to a 254-mm heavy gun, and all the gunners of this gun did not survive.

After 20 minutes of bombardment, the "Longwei" turned to a course of 300 degrees (west-northwest) and led the ships out of battle. During the battle, none of the Chinese warships were shot, and none of the officers and men were killed or wounded, but a small number of sailors on the "Fengxiang" were doused by the huge waves stirred up by the near-miss.

Lieutenant General Yan Fu's memoirs read: "...... In this battle, our troops were unscathed, and the morale of the officers and men was greatly boosted...... Maybe a ammunition depot was wrecked, one or two guns were broken, but more importantly, we wrote down the exact location of all the enemy's heavy guns...... I estimated that it might be difficult to pursue the escaped Russian ships, so I sent Major Tayugo's 2nd Sentai to support Rear Admiral Guasheng's cruiser force......"

According to Russian records, during the battle of Hakodate on September 9, the Russian shore artillery fired 156 large-caliber shells at the Chinese warships, damaging one or two Chinese warships, and its own losses were: 1 254-mm cannon and 1 152-mm cannon were damaged, 2 artillery pieces were damaged, 27 officers and men were killed and 39 wounded.

In addition, the three Russian cruisers that tried to break through were led by Colonel Rudnev, and the "Varyag", "Bayan" and "Russia" were all at full speed, speeding westward at a formation speed of 22 knots, and 9,000 yards to the north of them, 14 allied cruisers pressed at a 45-degree angle to the course of the Russian ships, in an attempt to cut off the route of the Russian ships.

However, the speed of the coalition cruiser formation could only reach 21 knots, and if the oblique route was taken, it would not be able to catch up with the Russian ship at all, and by 16:20, the coalition cruiser formation was already on a course parallel to the Russian ship formation, and the distance between the two sides had expanded to 12,000 yards.

Rear Admiral Gua, who was in charge of the battleship "Iwate", ordered: "The 1st Sentai detachment is out of formation, pursue and intercept the enemy ships!" ”

After receiving the order, the four fast cruisers "Asahi", "Kasuhi", "Nissin", and "Nisshin" with a maximum speed of 26 knots broke away from Rear Admiral Guasheng's formation and rushed after the Russian ship, and after 50 minutes, they finally approached within the effective range of the artillery less than 4,000 yards away from the Russian ship.

At 17:20, the eight 960-ton destroyers of the 2nd Squadron of China's expulsion team, "Haoyue", "Yunyue", "Liyue", "Hanyue", "Zhenyue", "Jiuyue", "Riyue", and "Duyue", under the leadership of Major Tian Yuhou, rushed to the battlefield at a maximum speed of 30 knots, and while firing at the Russian ships with 120 mm rapid-fire guns (3 per ship), they approached with maneuver and launched a torpedo attack.

At about 17:30, Major Tian Yuhou's flagship "Haoyue" approached the "Russia" that had already caught fire, and fired four torpedoes one after another.

"Varyag" and "Bayan" were still stubbornly resisting, and the gunners of the "Varyag" first broke the mast of the Japanese cruiser "Asahi" with an accurate salvo, and then destroyed the bridge and aft turret of the "Kasuga". The Bayan opened heavy fire on the approaching Chinese destroyers, inflicting heavy damage on the "Cold Moon", damaging the "Wine Moon" and "Twilight Moon", and preventing the rest of the Chinese destroyers from reaching to launch a torpedo attack.

Shells also continued to fall on the Russian ship, many sailors on the upper deck of the "Varyag" were injured by grenades, and the captain of the ship, Colonel Rudnev, was wounded in the head, but he was still wearing a bloodstained uniform, bareheaded, and climbed to the command platform and shouted to the sailors: "Brothers, aim at the enemy and hit hard!" We're all going to go back alive! ”

The entanglement with 4 Japanese light cruisers and 8 Chinese destroyers seriously affected the speed of the Russian ships, and Rear Admiral Guasheng's 2 armored cruisers, 4 protective cruisers, and 4 other light cruisers finally caught up with the Russian formation at about 18 o'clock, and the armored cruisers "Iwate" and "Takasago" immediately bombarded the Russian ships with their 203-mm main guns, and the four Chinese protective cruisers "Dadao", "Modao", "Long Knife", and "Sabre" immediately joined the battle with their 210-mm main guns.

There is no hope for the Russian ship to return. Soon, all the cannons on the "Varyag" were destroyed, the captain's command station and wheelhouse were reduced to a pile of burning scrap metal, sea water poured into the cabin through the bullet holes on both sides, the speed of the warship became slower and slower, the deck was getting closer and closer to the water, and when the "Varyag" finally lost power, its upper deck was completely submerged in water.

At about 18:20, the "Varyag" sank, 398 officers and men below the captain Colonel Rudnev were killed, and the remaining 175 crew members were rescued by Chinese and Japanese warships. A few minutes later, the "Bayan", which burned "like a palace on the sea," was sent to the bottom of the sea with a torpedo, the flagship of Major Tian Yuhou.

Tian Yuhou wrote in his memoirs: "...... On that day, we killed and captured a thousand Russian naval officers and men in 3 hours, and the losses were very small, only 23 were killed and 76 wounded, of whom less than a third Chinese, which is nothing, because we are shamefully numerous...... But victory is always victory, and the winner is not to blame. Seeing the Russian cruiser Bayan, burning like a palace at sea, I think it is reasonable for us to get drunk on our return to rest, and then go to the main Russian fleet hiding in Vladivostok to settle the score, until there are no more than half Russian warships in the Pacific......"