''Kamchatka'' was an armed auxiliary vessel of the Russian Navy. The ship was launched in 1903. Its short career during the

Russo-Japanese War The Russo-Japanese War ( ja, 日露戦争, Nichiro sensō, Japanese-Russian War; russian: Ру́сско-япóнская войнá, Rússko-yapónskaya voyná) was fought between the Empire of Japan and the Russian Empire during 1904 and 1 ...

was plagued with unfortunate incidents, which ended in her sinking at the

Battle of Tsushima The Battle of Tsushima (Japanese:対馬沖海戦, Tsushimaoki''-Kaisen'', russian: Цусимское сражение, ''Tsusimskoye srazheniye''), also known as the Battle of Tsushima Strait and the Naval Battle of Sea of Japan (Japanese: 日 ...

Service history

Originally built as a collier, she was converted to a repair ship while still under construction. The Kamchatka entered service in the Russian

Baltic Fleet , image = Great emblem of the Baltic fleet.svg , image_size = 150 , caption = Baltic Fleet Great ensign , dates = 18 May 1703 – present , country = , allegiance = (1703–1721) (1721–1917) (1917–1922) (1922–1991)(1991–present) ...

in 1903. Her main features were a large hold and large cranes that made her ideal for the role as a repair ship. The ship was infamous for its actions during the voyage of the Second Pacific Squadron, where it precipitated the

Dogger Bank incident The Dogger Bank incident (also known as the North Sea Incident, the Russian Outrage or the Incident of Hull) occurred on the night of 21/22 October 1904, when the Baltic Fleet of the Imperial Russian Navy mistook a British trawler fleet fro ...

.Dogger Bank – Voyage of the Damned
('Hullwebs – History of Hull' website(Archived). Retrieved 12 July 2022.) It also was involved in numerous other incidents including misidentifications of neutral vessels as Japanese

torpedo boats A torpedo boat is a relatively small and fast naval ship designed to carry torpedoes into battle. The first designs were steam-powered craft dedicated to ramming enemy ships with explosive spar torpedoes. Later evolutions launched variants of se ...

and mistakenly firing at the Russian cruiser ''Aurora''. While stopping in Madagascar several ships in the fleet acquired several local predatory animals, Kamchatka being no exception. The ship was lost with all hands when it was sunk in 1905 during the

to Japanese shell fire. The ship is also known in popular media for its habit of transmitting the query "Do you see torpedo boats?" in situations where enemy torpedo boats could not possibly have been present, nevertheless causing panic aboard other ships of her squadron.

References

External links

"Kamchatka - Guide 151"
video on YouTube

article on Hullsweb Steamships of Russia 1903 ships Shipwrecks in the Sea of Japan Maritime incidents in 1905 Auxiliary ships of the Russian Navy Ships of the Imperial Russian Navy Ships lost with all hands {{Russia-mil-ship-stub