Admiral Rozhestvensky - Much more than just torpedo boats

This man was amazing. He's the personification of the maxim: 'If you want a job to get done, give it to the busiest person, not the laziest.'.

“Accomplished Russian naval officer “. A term not used for well over a hundred years.

Torpedos! Torpedos! Aieee....man the lifeboats!!

Drach, I sent you an email regarding your book. Let me know if you got it, thanks.

Imagine spending time in life's character creator personalizing your boat man, all excited to do boat stuff, and then being born into Russian debuffs... a man can not be faulted for being absolutely livid when you have the irl tomato nepo team from World of GameThunder that is so bad miracles can't fix it. And then, they slander your name and deface your grave.
I would like to believe the gods saw this and cursed them to live at the end of Neptune's fork.

Man the Kamchatka lore will never die in these comment sections, i love it.

IMO he was a very competent officer but unable to suffer fools. I wonder how he would’ve fared in other navies of the time?

I was genuinely amazed to learn that Admiral Rozhestvenskiy was part of the Russian officer core that helped buld up the Bulgarian army after the Russo-Turkish war of 1877-78. I am grateful that such an exceptional officer took part in the reconstitution of my country.
Also as a former Airforce officer, I can safely and responsibly say that the great tradition in doubling and tripling of duties has transcended time and branches and is still present today in our Armed Forces.

I was about to leave a comment here, but i was interupted by torpedo boats.

A video on Makarov would certainly be a nice addition as well, he seems to have been rather revolutionary

So basically russian ching lee lol ?

Приветствую! Очень интересное видео! Любитель флота, не мало смотрел и читал про Русско-Японскую войну. Смотрю Вас года два уже, только утром смотрел Ваше видео из рекомендаций - The Russian 2nd Pacific Squadron - Voyage of the Damned и тут вечером по этой же теме новое видео. Понравилось как Вы про пароход Камчатка говорили, (я сам с полуострова Камчатка)), но ведь она действительно что то странное творила... У меня есть книга про адмирала З.П. Рожественского, конечно же на русском языке, сам её еще не читал, нет времени столько материала изучать, но там вроде вся его жизнь описана, много материала, если нужно, могу отправить, скажите только куда.

Bulgaria owes him so much. Wow.

Sorry, I didn't quite get what do you need additional sources for, as there are two in this description, and I imagine there were 'tons' used for Tsushima videos?
btw C. V. Pleshakov might be not the best author for the subject, as his principal research interests lied elsewhere.
There's a generation of 40-50+ years old Russian historians working in archives which might prove better. Their work is in Russian almost exclusively, though, I think.
May I correct you on Rozhestvensky surname pronounciation? Its' /Ro-jEh-stven-ski/, with /j/ like in 'closure'.

Top of the line Zinovy model binoculars are still available as last-minute Christmas gifts for the Naval History buff ion your list: waterproof, buoyant, shock-resistant and colored in Safety Orange to allow for easy recovery by belatedly following maintenance vessels. Available in bundles of fifty. Order now!

Another proof why Russians should stat away from water.

Ooh, get the binocular supply box ready. . .

My man here got sh*t done!

what cause his heart attack...picture of Kamchatka

I have a great book on Rozhestvensky and the events of the 2nd Pacific Squadron titled "The fleet That Had to Die." Old book and out of print but very worth the read!

It would be awesome if you interview a Russian naval historian about the 2nd Pacific Squadron. I assume they have a different view of it, at least in some ways.

I can only imagine that the award he received from Bulgaria came through some very gritted teeth, seeing as he managed to completely reverse-UNO card the Nobility.

I can't think of luck much worse than going up against one of the most technologically advance navies in the world with one that was generally obsolete the moment the boats came out if the slip.

About the only way this could be worse is if the enemy knew you were coming and was waiting in ambush oh wait...

Huh... So I wonder if Rozhestvensky's experience with the Bulgarian navy helped shape him for the second pacific squadron?

Thanks!

The 2nd Pacific Squadron (or Voyage of the Damned) was that rare instance where a total clusterf**k is NOT the fault of the guy in charge.

Thank you Drach for this video. I really think I like this character more and more. Please resech him more. 😊

I would love to see a movie about the good admiral and the Battle of Tsushima.

Russia did not deserve him. I don't think any navy really did, he seemed to have his flaws, but genuinely did his best

I really hope in the future there will be a video telling us about the dreaded torpedo boats that the Kamchatka was so terrified of

So he really DID see torpedo boats!!

HMS Defiant

I've been to the former surgery where the admiral was treated at the Sasebo Chinjufu (Station), its now the US Navy base teen center and can be seen from the road off base.

Our favorite!!

I hope that at least in modern Russia, with the benefit of hindsight, that his accomplishments have been recognised? It seems a shame that such a competent commander bore the blame for something that was mostly out of his control. He seems to have been quite a character.

Salute to the Admiral. From an ex Army dude who avoided oceans other than to admire them safely ashore, he seemed the best sort, intolerant of incompetence wherever it came from and fair to the lower ranks. He deserved better but thanks to Drach, his memory still lives.

It was cool to learn more about Admiral Rozhestvensky aside from his... misadventures with the 2nd Pacific Fleet.

My only question is this: when did he pick up the habit of throwing binoculars in fits of rage?

So, in all seriousness, what would he have thought about naval air power? Would he have been a stubborn “gun club” man who refused to believe anything could shake the primacy of battleships and Pooh-pooed the idea of carriers as a competent weapon as late as the 1930s, like Yamamoto’s detractors? Would he have been doubtful due to the concept being outlandish but swiftly adopt it upon seeing its worth proven? Would he have been someone who immediately saw promise in the concept and pushed for carrier development and a strong naval aviation corps?
He definitely strikes me as a man who was more than ready to embrace tactics and technology that worked and were an improvement, but he also was not a man to suffer fools and the plane proponents often appeared as fools in the early 20th century to those without relevant experience.

Oh no. Somebody gonna get hit by flying binoculars before the end of this video.
👍

It's probably RozhDestvensky (meaning: of Christmas)

Really interesting Video!

Rimsky-Korsakov was also a brilliant composer, and eventually left the navy to devote himself to composing and teaching.
Interestingly, the French composer Albert Roussel was ALSO a navy officer, and actually had a piano onboard, and would compose on deck during nice weather.

The spirit of that doomed voyage lives on in Russian service today

Great vídeo, it is a shame he became remembered mostly for the final battle. What about you continue the series of admirais with one about Ghorskov? Surely there will be some interesting tales about the guy who managed to make the Soviet navy into an Ocean fighting force!

God, I’m so happy you’re revisiting this guy 😂

an admirable job of pronouncing Russian. I have one or two small hints/suggestions. Russians don’t always write diacritics, sometimes an E is pronounced as an e, sometimes it’s pronounced as yo, Petrovich is an example of a word where the E is pronounced as yo, Gorbachev is another. Second, beware of words that have an x or kh, mispronouncing these an end up getting you labelled uncultured.

Pinned post for Q&A :)