Within minutes of Semenoff's astonishing observation, the Russian Flagship - Knyaz Suvorov - would open fire on the lead Japanese ships. Within the hour the Russian battleline would be broken, its flagship crippled and its commander critically wounded. The turn "in succession" that so elated the Russians was to become Togo's masterstroke, allowing his fleet to edge ahead of the massed Baltic columns and close within lethal range where Japanese gunnery proved to be devastatingly effective.