noon
These important positions in their possession , the tide of war at once turned in favour of the Japanese , for the heights commanded not only the town but the harbour of Port Arthur ; and the big 11-inch howitzers , as well as a battery of naval 6-inch and 47-inch guns , were at once brought up , and the bombardment of the Russian warships was begun . On 6th December the _ Poltava _ was sunk by the Russians to save her from destruction by the Japanese fire . Next day the _ Retvisan _ met a like fate , while a fire broke out aboard the _ Peresviet _ , and on the 8th she and the _ Pobieda _ were at the bottom of the harbour , while the _ Pallada _ was obviously following them . On the following day the _ Bayan _ was hit no less than twenty-two times , bursting into flame shortly before noon and burning until shortly after four o'clock in the afternoon , while the _ Sevastopol _ was seriously damaged . The mine-laying ship _ Amur _ was also hit and sunk . The dockyard sustained serious damage , yet , strangely enough , all through this bombardment the Russians did little by way of reply ; they seemed overwhelmed and paralysed at the misfortunes which were now befalling them -- or else , as some of us began to shrewdly suspect , their ammunition was at last exhausted . On the 9th of the month the _ Sevastopol _ -- the only Russian battleship still remaining afloat in the harbour -- moved from her moorings and sought refuge behind a big boom under the guns of Mantushan fort , on the Tiger peninsula , where , a few nights later , she was energetically attacked by our destroyers .