26 Facts About Zinovy Rozhestvensky

Zinovy Rozhestvensky was in command of the Second Pacific Squadron in the Battle of Tsushima, during the Russo-Japanese War.

Zinovy Rozhestvensky was the son of a physician from St Petersburg, and joined the Imperial Russian Navy at the age of 17.

Zinovy Rozhestvensky graduated from the Sea Cadet Corps, where he mastered English and French, in 1868, and the Mikhailovsky Artillery Academy in 1873.

Zinovy Rozhestvensky initially served with the Baltic Fleet as a gunnery officer.

Zinovy Rozhestvensky volunteered to lead the first attack against the Turkish warships but his torpedo boat became caught up in the rope boom defenses that protected the enemy ships.

Zinovy Rozhestvensky was awarded the Order of Saint Vladimir and Order of St George for this action and was promoted to lieutenant commander.

Zinovy Rozhestvensky designed a defense plan for the Bulgarian coastline, and was one of the founders of the Technology Association of Bulgaria.

Zinovy Rozhestvensky returned to Russian service and was senior officer on the battery ship Kreml and the cruiser Gerzog Edinburgski.

Zinovy Rozhestvensky then commanded the clipper Naezdnik and gunboat Grozyachiy.

Tsar Nicholas II ordered Zinovy Rozhestvensky to take the Baltic Fleet to East Asia to protect the Russian naval base of Port Arthur.

When his battleship fleet set sail in 1904, Zinovy Rozhestvensky's staff ensured that his flagship, Knyaz Suvorov, had a good supply of binoculars on board.

Zinovy Rozhestvensky had a fiery temper when dealing with a subordinate, and both officers and men knew to stand clear of "Mad Dog" when a subordinate either disobeyed orders, was incompetent, or both.

Zinovy Rozhestvensky was ordered to dock in Vigo, Spain, while battleships of the Royal Navy from the British Home Fleet were prepared for war.

The report concluded that once the mistake was known "Admiral Zinovy Rozhestvensky personally did everything he could, from beginning to end of the incident, to prevent [the trawlers] from being fired upon by the squadron".

Remote and distrustful of his staff, Zinovy Rozhestvensky grew increasingly bitter and pessimistic as he approached Asia.

Zinovy Rozhestvensky's objective was to reinforce the Vladivostok Squadron, and then, when the Russian navy felt sufficiently prepared, they would engage the Japanese navy in a decisive action.

Zinovy Rozhestvensky chose the former, and by the evening of 27 May 1905, Rozhestvensky's flagship and the majority of his fleet were on the bottom of the Tsushima Straits.

Zinovy Rozhestvensky then retreated with the other survivors from the conning tower to the lower fighting position before leaving to find somewhere to observe the battle from.

Zinovy Rozhestvensky was later found sitting in the remains of the ship's right 6-inch turret where he remained for about an hour before losing consciousness.

Zinovy Rozhestvensky was taken prisoner when the Bedovy was later captured by the Sazanami of the Imperial Japanese Navy.

In 1906, Zinovy Rozhestvensky faced court-martial for the disaster, along with each of his surviving battleship commanders.

The Tsar's court was fully aware that Admiral Nikolai Nebogatov had surrendered the Russian fleet, as Zinovy Rozhestvensky had been wounded and unconscious for most of the battle, and was very reluctant to accept his statements of responsibility.

Zinovy Rozhestvensky lived out the last years of his life quietly in St Petersburg.

Zinovy Rozhestvensky died in the early hours of New Year's Day 1909 and was buried in the Alexander Nevsky Lavra.

Zinovy Rozhestvensky married Olga Antipova which whom he had one daughter.

Zinovy Rozhestvensky had a number of affairs including beginning around 1900 one with Capitalina Makarova the wife of admiral Stepan Makarov.