Following the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War in 1904, Russian fortunes in the Far East began to decline. At sea, their Pacific Squadron was defeated at the Battles of the Yellow Sea and Ulsan, while ashore the Japanese had laid siege to Port Arthur. To turn the tide, Tsar Nicholas II decided to send five divisions of the Russian Baltic Fleet to the Pacific. Upon arrival, it was hoped that the ships would allow the Russians to regain naval superiority and disrupt Japanese supply lines. In the meantime, reinforcements would be sent overland via the Trans-Siberian Railroad.
Designated the Second Pacific Squadron, the Russian fleet sailed from the Baltic on October 15, 1904, under the command of Admiral Zinovy Rozhestvensky. Steaming south through the North Sea with 11 battleships, 8 cruisers, and 9 destroyers, the Russians were alarmed by rumors of Japanese torpedo boats operating in the area. As a result, the Russians accidentally fired on a number of British trawlers fishing near Dogger Bank. The resultant diplomatic incident led to the Royal Navy shadowing the Russian fleet until a resolution was achieved.
Prevented from using the Suez Canal by the British, Rozhestvensky was forced to take the fleet around the Cape of Good Hope. Due to a lack of friendly coaling bases, his ships frequently carried surplus coal stacked on their decks. Steaming over 18,000 miles, the Russian fleet reached Cam Ranh Bay in Indochina on April 14, 1905. Here Rozhestvensky rendezvoused with the Third Pacific Squadron and received new orders. As Port Arthur had fallen on January 2, the combined fleet was to make for Vladivostok. Departing Indochina, Rozhestvensky steamed north with the older ships of the Third Pacific Squadron in tow.
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