Nikolai Nebogatov

Nikolai Ivanovich Nebogatov (; occasionally transliterated as Nebogatoff; April 20, 1849 – August 4, 1922) was a rear admiral in the Imperial Russian Navy, noted for his role in the final stages of the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905.

Biography Nebogatov was born into the family of a career naval officer in the vicinity of St Petersburg and graduated from the Sea Cadets Corps in 1869. He was promoted to lieutenant in 1874. In 1882–86 he was executive officer aboard the cruiser Razboinik and in 1888 was given command of the gunboat Groza, followed in 1889, by the gunboat Grad. He was in command of numerous Russian warships during his career, including the cruisers Krejs, Admiral Nakhimov (1896), and Minin. He was then appointed head of naval artillery training for the Russian Baltic Fleet, and was promoted to rear admiral in 1901.

During the Russo-Japanese War, the bulk of the Russian Baltic Fleet was renamed the "Second Pacific Squadron", and set sail under the command of Admiral Zinovy Rozhestvensky on an epic journey to relieve the Russian Pacific Fleet, trapped at the Battle of Port Arthur by the Imperial Japanese Navy. Largely for political reasons, calls were made for a "Third Pacific Squadron", consisting of mostly obsolete cruisers and coastal defence battleships to supplement the Second Pacific Squadron. Realizing that the ships were highly unsuited for the task, and faced with untrained crews, a number of Russian admirals refused the command; however, Nebogatov accepted the challenge. Despite several incidents of sabotage by pro-revolutionary or anarchist elements within the crews, Nebogatov sailed in February 1905 with the old battleship (as flagship), cruiser , and coastal-defense battleships , , and , as well as numerous transport ships. The squadron passed through the Suez Canal and crossed the Indian Ocean to rendezvous with the Second Pacific Squadron at Cam Ranh Bay, French Indochina. Rozhestvensky, who had opposed the sailing of the Third Pacific Squadron from the beginning, did not share with him his future strategy and routing even at this late date, and also neglected to advise him of the death of Admiral Dmitry von Fölkersahm on May 24, an event which effectively made Nebogatov second-in-command of the fleet after Rozhestvensky.

During the first day of the Battle of Tsushima on May 27, 1905, the Japanese fleet concentrated its efforts against the Second Pacific Squadron, so Nebogatov's ships survived the fate of Rozhestvensky's battleships. With Rozhestvensky seriously wounded, and most of the Second Pacific Squadron's warships sunk or lost, Nebogatov took over command. After facing repeated torpedo attacks during the night, the remaining Russian warships assembled around Imperator Nikolai I. However, on sighting the main Japanese fleet on the morning of May 28, he realized that his ships were no match for the Japanese fleet, and that the Russian cruiser division under Admiral Oskar Enkvist would not arrive in time to prevent his annihilation. Over the objections of most of his officers, Nebogatov accepted Admiral Togo Heihachiro's terms, signing an instrument of surrender aboard Togo's flagship, the battleship , and turning over control of the remaining battleships Imperator Nikolai I, , General Admiral Graf Apraxin, and Admiral Senyavin to the Japanese.