Sarah Paine

His ship hits a mine and he goes down with a ship.

All right.

That is a tactical error.

And he's a dead man because of it.

However, there's a much more important strategic error that follows.

Two weeks later, Nicholas II decides to send his Baltic fleet, named for the Baltic, that's where it is, all the way around to come and relieve the siege at Port Arthur in order to avenge all of this thing.

Okay, what's the problem with that plan?

Well, that's the problem with that plan, right?

It's a long way to go.

There is no air conditioning for the sailors, right?

They come from northern climes.

By the time they arrive, they're mutinous.

Their ships are covered with barnacles, which means they don't move very fast.

Meanwhile, once Port Arthur has fallen,

the Japanese immediately refit their navy so they were good to go.

And so the way this blunder plays out, well, if you think about Britain, Britain will do these worldwide adventures, but they had a complete basing system across the globe so that their ships had coaling stations, they could refit, put more water on, give people some R&R time, relaxation and things.

And also the British were very careful to fight on their own terms whenever possible.

You don't wanna fight on the enemy's terms.

Well, guess what?

You're gonna be fighting right next to Japan, barnacle ships and mutinous crews.