In 1904, during the Russo-Japanese War, Russia realized its Pacific fleet had been completely trapped and battered. In response, Tsar Nicholas II ordered the Baltic Fleet to sail over eighteen thousand miles around Europe and Africa to reinforce them.
What followed became the most comically disastrous naval expedition in modern history.
The fleet was commanded by Admiral Zinovy Rozhestvensky, who was dealing with poorly trained recruits, malfunctioning ships, and extreme paranoia that Japanese torpedo boats were waiting in ambush around every corner.
Just days into the voyage, while crossing the Dogger Bank near England, the panicked Russian ships spotted silhouettes through the fog. Convinced they were under attack by Japanese torpedo boats, despite being thousands of miles away from Japan in British waters, they opened fire.
They had actually ambushed a fleet of unarmed British fishing trawlers.
In the chaotic crossfire, Russian battleships not only sank a fishing boat and killed British fishermen, but they also shot at each other for twenty minutes, badly damaging their own cruiser Aurora and killing a Russian sailor and a chaplain. The British Royal Navy was so furious that twenty-eight British battleships shadowed the Russian fleet, nearly dragging Britain into the war.
The madness did not stop there.
As they continued down the African coast, the flagship's repair ship accidentally managed to signal that it was out of artillery shells before firing on friendly transport vessels. Crew members bought exotic pets during shore leaves, turning the war vessels into floating zoos packed with venomous snakes, monkeys, and even a predatory crocodile. One ship managed to foul its own propeller in its tow cables, while another accidentally fired a live shell into a French port city.
When the exhausted, demoralized armada finally reached the Tsushima Strait after seven months of sailing, the ready and waiting Japanese fleet annihilated them in less than two days, sinking or capturing almost every major ship in the fleet.
Sailing across the globe only to shoot unarmed fishermen, blast your own ships, haul a live zoo, and get wiped out within forty-eight hours of arrival remains the ultimate naval misadventure. That wraps up Day 8 of Crazy History Facts!
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